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9.03.04 Dr. Christie Mina performs surgery Erskine alumna featured in M.D. News Christie Bankes Mina has made quite an impact on the neurosurgery field since graduating from Erskine College in 1991 with a biology degree. Her work is so significant that M.D. News, a business and lifestyle magazine for physicians, featured her in the August South Carolina Upstate/Western North Carolina edition. Mina, who practices in Greenville with Piedmont Neurosurgical Group, P.A., was the subject of a feature titled “Dr. Christie Mina Brings Expertise in Spinal Surgery to the Upstate.” The story centers on Mina’s success in bringing one of the leading technological advances in back pain reduction surgery to Greenville. A Greenville native, Mina graduated from Southside High, then Erskine, before continuing her education at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC). She then completed a neurosurgical residency as well as a Complex Spinal Reconstruction Fellowship at the University of Tennessee. While at the University of Tennessee, she had a chance to learn from Dr. Kevin Foley, who invented the minimally invasive spine surgery technique and accompanying device. Mina said the procedure is “extremely different” from the way back pain reduction surgery has been done in the past. In fact, the procedure didn’t even exist when Mina completed medical school in 1995, so she had a chance to work under Foley during the inception of his ideas. “I was there from the beginning,” she said. There are several benefits to the procedure, including fewer of the cosmetic and muscular problems that sometimes result from back pain reduction surgery. Also, the risk of infection is lower, Mina said, because the procedure is so minimally invasive. She said she has been involved in about 55 such operations and no infections developed. Mina remains grateful to Erskine College for the education she received while on the Due West campus. She said there were numerous influences on her at Erskine, citing two biology professors, Dr. Jan Haldeman and Dr. Mary Lang Edwards, along with physics professor Dr. Bill Junkin, described by Mina as “just awesome.” Mina herself has already begun influencing the lives of a new generation of Erskine students. Her return to Erskine as the speaker for the Frances Cardwell Lecture in March 2003 was her first visit in a while, she said. “Now that I’m closer to Erskine, I’ll be able to come back more often." She offered an externship in January 2003 and hopes to be able to do that again. Externships are offered for credit at Erskine during Winter Term and allow students to spend a month learning from a professional sponsor in such fields as medicine, law and business. “Any way I can be involved with Erskine, I’ll be more than happy to do that,” Mina said. Mina’s husband, Al, is a family practicioner in Travelers Rest. The Minas have a six-year-old son, Julian, who is already aware of his mother's alma mater. "He's got an Erskine T-shirt," she said.
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