Dr. Bartels received his MD and MPH degrees from Columbia University College of Physicians & Surgeons and completed an internship and internal medicine and rehabilitation residencies at New York-Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center in New York.
Prior to becoming the Chairman of the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at Montefiore Medical Center/Albert Einstein College of Medicine in September 2013, Dr. Bartels directed Cardiopulmonary Rehabilitation and the Human Performance Laboratory at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center, where he has served as director of cardiopulmonary rehabilitation and founder and director of the Human Performance Laboratory.
Over the years, Dr. Bartels has also been recognized for his commitment to educating future physicians, including those outside of his specialty of rehabilitation medicine. While at Columbia, he served as a clinical mentor to two first-year medical students each year and coordinated research teaching for the Rehabilitation residents. He also participated in lecture series events for fellows in the areas of Cardiology and Pulmonary Medicine, sharing the rehabilitation perspective for each specialty.
Dr. Charla Fischer one of New York City’s top minimally invasive spine surgeons. She specializes in lumbar disc herniations, lumbar spinal stenosis, lumbar degenerative disc disease, instability, and cervical spine degeneration. She is also an expert in advanced minimally invasive spine surgery techniques such as minimally invasive microdiscetomy, MIS lumbar fusions, robotic-assisted spine surgery, and advanced MIS techniques.
Dr. Fischer completed her residency at Columbia after completing both medical school and undergraduate school on a full academic scholarship at University of Southern California. She spent a year specializing in spine surgery at NYU-Hospital for Joint Diseases.
As an associate professor of spine surgery at NYU Langone Medical Center, Dr. Fischer regularly teaches residents and medical students in the areas of compassionate patient care and minimally invasive spine surgery. She has received grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Orthopedic Research and Education Foundation (OREF). The funding helps her pursuits in the advancement of minimally invasive surgical techniques, and quality of life improvements after spine surgery. She routinely publishes in the top peer-reviewed journals and presents her findings at internationally attended academic meetings. She serves on the SRS Research Committee and is an Associate Editor for the prestigious Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery.