NASS DFNS CLASS OF 2026
Volodymyr Radchenko, MD
Retired
Kharkiv, Ukraine
Orthopedic Surgeon
NASS Member Since 2010
How has your involvement with NASS influenced your professional growth or career journey?
Initially, my acquaintance with NASS took place in the information field, during the Soviet Union and the Iron Curtain (I performed my first personal spinal surgery operation - anterior interbody fusion L4-5, in 1984). Direct contacts at that time were sharply limited and practically impossible. However, information about the work of NASS members in the form of books and articles arrived. Deep and fundamental research and new technologies that were absent in the USSR aroused increased interest and awakened a desire to join this community of professionals.
Later, after Ukraine gained independence, the situation changed, which made it possible to take part in the work of the Society and attract the attention of specialists in the field of spinal pathology of our country, to familiarize with new technologies by organizing conferences under the auspices and with the participation of NASS members. The years have shown the prospects of cooperation, which has not lost its importance even in recent years, despite the hostilities on the territory of our country.
What originally drew you to the field of spine care?
Having four years of practical experience in the field of orthopedics and traumatology, for advanced training, I entered a two-year advanced training course at the Sitenko Kharkiv Institute of Orthopedics and Traumatology. According to the existing program, I was assigned two supervisors of professors. In practical and scientific areas. Both of them were specialists in the field of spinal pathology. It was they who instilled in me a love for this branch of medicine. I was attracted by the rapid development of science in this field, the complexity of challenges, the solution of which requires knowledge of related branches of medicine, and the achievement of these goals significantly strengthens character and allows you to maintain motivation.
Tell us about one of your mentors and the best piece of advice they gave you.
My teacher Professor Alexander Prodan, a man of difficult fate, who survived the years of the Second World War, evacuation to Central Asia, years of work in remote areas of the country and in the end, achieved impressive results in the science and practice of spinal pathology, he owns several innovative solutions in this area, and some operations were performed by him for the first time in the world.
His advice: "Watch, learn, acquire skills, analyze, form your opinion and try to defend it.