About Me

Dr. Houten is a leader in the area of advanced image-guided and minimally invasive techniques to more safely and accurately treat conditions needing spinal surgery. After completing his undergraduate studies at Yeshiva University with summa cum laude honors, he graduated from New York University School of Medicine where he was elected to alpha omega alpha and was awarded the Valentine Mott medal in surgery. Dr. Houten served as Chief of the Division of Spinal Neurosurgery at Montefiore Medical Center for over a decade and was recognized as a gifted teacher and prolific researcher. He was ultimately promoted to the academic rank of Professor of Clinical Neurosurgery at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. During the academic year of 2015-2016, Dr. Houten created a spinal neurosurgery program at the Marcus Neuroscience Institute at Boca Raton Regional Hospital. He then returned to New York where he assumed the positions of Professor of Clinical Neurosurgery at the Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra Northwell and Director of Spinal Neurosurgery and Neurotrauma at Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn. In addition to seeing patients in the office and performing surgery, Dr. Houten is actively conducting clinical research in many facets of spinal degenerative disease and has published more than 40 peer-reviewed journal articles. He serves as Section Editor for Spine and Neurotrauma for the journal World Neurosurgery and Editorial Advisor for BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders. He also serves as a reviewer for more than a dozen other scientific journals including Neurosurgery, Pediatric Neurosurgery, Journal of Neurological Sciences, British Journal of Neurosurgery, and Journal of Robotic Surgery. Dr. Houten lives in Midwood section of Brooklyn, NY, with his wife, Dr. Gila Weinstein, a plastic surgeon with whom he has collaborated on number publications describing specialized closure techniques for spinal surgery.