About

About Arien J Smith

Arien J Smith, MD, is an American neurosurgeon and the head of the Brain and Spine Institute of New York and New Jersey. A native of Seoul, South Korea, Smith specializes in complex spine surgery for adult and pediatric patients. Fellow-trained and board-certified by the Fellow of the American College of Surgeons (FACS) and Neurological Surgeons (FAANS), Dr. Smith has been practicing medicine for over 20 years and is affiliated with several top-performing hospitals, including Hackensack University Medical Center and the Robert Wood Johnson University Hospitals of New Jersey, along with Mount Sinai West and Kings County Hospital Center in New York.

Dr. Smith has gained an impressive reputation for treating patients with disorders associated with the brain and spine, including back pain caused by degenerative conditions, spine fractures caused by trauma, spine deformities including scoliosis and spinal stenosis, along with disk herniation, a common and painful back condition often caused by repetitive motion or a sports or auto injury.

A graduate of Yale University Medical School of Medicine, Smith was awarded a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Research Fellowship, a prestigious program that offers entrance into an immersive community of peers with the aim of promoting professional development and mentorship with established physicians and scientists. Here, Arien Smith collaborated with Dr. Robert Schulman to publish the landmark paper “Cerebral Energetics And Spiking Frequency: The Neuropsychological Basis Of fMRI (2002)”. Since then, Smith has been a research partner and writer of an impressive portfolio of important medical abstracts, presentations, and white papers. 

Education

Arien J Smith attended North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics, a residential high school with a competitive academic criterion and an acceptance rate of only 24 percent for the under 400 spots made available each junior class. Arien enjoyed learning and undertook the serious study of the Spanish language in addition to his advanced placement in science, technology, and math. He completed his undergraduate studies in 1998 at the University of Rochester, where he earned his Bachelor of Arts in Biology and Spanish.

His early academic success paved the way for Smith to enter Yale University Medical School, where his independent learning and critical thinking skills were instrumental in successfully obtaining his Doctorate of Medicine in 2003. Arien completed his post-doctoral residency and his surgical internship at Mount Sinai Medical Center Department of Neurosurgery, where he worked to master surgical procedures about the brain and spine, judging expected outcomes and foreseeing complications.

After residency, Arien finished his medical training with a fellowship in orthopedic complex spine surgery at Beth Israel Medical Center in New York. 

Career

Arien J. Smith decided to capitalize on his status as a board-certified neurosurgeon and launched his medical practice, the Brain and Spine Institute of NY and NJ. Here, he devotes his attention to diagnosing patient symptoms through a comprehensive examination and medical history assessment. With this level of personalized care, Smith has been able to build relationships with his patients and follow their progress from treatment to rehabilitation.

In addition to being the owner and medical director of the Brain and Spine Institute of NY/NJ, Dr. Smith is also an attending neurosurgeon at Kings County Hospital Center in Brooklyn, NY. In this position, Arien contributes to patient care and plays a pivotal role in training resident physicians and first-year interns as they gain hands-on experience to ensure the future medical force is built on quality training and professional oversight. 

Prior to launching his medical practice a decade ago, Dr. Smith gained valuable experience working as a locum tenens physician in the Department of Neurosurgery at Kings County Medical Center and with Advanced Neurosurgery Associates. This type of medical employment offered Arien a wider variety of patient experiences, including primary care, urgent care, and outpatient clinics. 

Certifications 

Arien Smith, MD, is licensed to practice medicine in both New Jersey and New York, and he holds the following medical certifications:

• National Board of Medical Examiners
• American Board of Neurological Surgery
• Approved MAF Physician for the NFL Concussion Program 

Professional Societies 

Smith’s entrance into the following professional societies demonstrates his excellence in medical diagnostics and surgical procedures, along with maintaining an outstanding record of quality performance as a private practitioner:

• Member: Congress of Neurological Surgeons 
• Fellow: American Association of Neurological Surgery 
• Fellow: American College of Surgeons 

Publications and Abstracts

Arien Smith has a long history of contributing to the research and writing of many important published abstracts and medical white papers, including:

• Smith AJ, Blumenfeld H, Behar KL, Rothman DL, Shulman RG, Hyder F. 

Cerebral energetics and spiking frequency: the neuropsychological basis of fMRI

• Hyder F, Kida I, Smith AJ, Blumenfeld H, Shulman RG, Rothman DL. (2002)

Quantitative fMRI of rat brain by multi-modal MRI and MRS measurements. 

• Kida I, Smith AJ, Blumenfeld H, Behar KL, Hyder F. Lamotrigine suppresses neurophysiological responses to somatosensory stimulation in the rodent. 
• Chang D, Stokking R, Studholme C, Smith A, Smith J, Corsi M, Morano G, Ostroff R, Seibyl J, Zubal IG, Spencer SS, and Blumenfeld H. 

Regional cerebral blood flow measured with SPECT difference imaging during electroconvulsive therapy (ECT)-induced seizures.

• Smith AJ, Ullman J, Snyder BJ, Gilad R, Singh H, Meyer S. 

Effect of alcohol and antiplatelet consumption on worsening intracranial hemorrhage in head trauma 

• Presentation – Society for Neuroscience annual meeting. 

Smith AJ, Blumenfeld H, Behar KL, Rothman DL, Shulman RG, Hyder F. 

Cerebral energetics and spiking frequency: the neurophysiological basis of fMRI. 

• Presentation – American Association of Neurological Surgeons annual meeting

Smith AJ, Singh H, Meyer S, Gilad R, Snyder BJ, Ullman J. Effect of alcohol and antiplatelet consumption on worsening intracranial hemorrhage in head trauma.