Mark Santman, M.D.

Dr. Mark Santman graduated from Temple University School of Medicine, where he was elected to the Alpha Omega Alpha medical honor society. He then travelled to New Orleans for residency training in Orthopedic Surgery at Tulane University. His resident research project on the use of a bone growth protein to speed healing won an international award.

Later, Dr. Santman travelled to the University of California at San Diego for fellowship training in Adult Spine Surgery with Dr. Steven Garfin, one of the pioneers of modern spine deformity surgery.

Although he maintains a special interest in complex cervical spine surgery, Dr. Santman’s practice encompasses all areas of adult spine surgery, including lumbar and thoracic deformity, scoliosis, cervical and lumbar spinal stenosis, myelopathy, spondylolysis and spondylolisthesis (instability), radiculopathy (aka “sciatica” = pinched nerves from herniated disks), tumors and fractures. He provides evaluations for patients with neck or back pain with or without extremity pain, numbness, tingling and/or weakness.

The majority of our patients do not require surgery; however, when surgical intervention is called for, Dr. Santman and his team are well-versed in traditional techniques as well as minimally invasive spine procedures. These include cervical, thoracic and lumbar surgeries performed from the front, side and/or back of the spine utilizing small tubular retractors and a high-powered microscope.

Outside of the operating room, Dr. Santman enjoys spending time with his family, attending his son's soccer games, food and traveling. He is an avid cook who loves to feed his friends and family.

Mr. Rudi Dimas grew up in Texas before he joined the Air Force in the early 1990’s. Rudi attended the military’s Physician Assistant (PA) Program and graduated with a Master’s Degree from University of Nebraska in 2000. He continued to serve our country while working as a Family Medicine PA until 2004. He received an honorable discharge after making the rank of Captain and relocated to St Petersburg, Florida.

Mr. Dimas received additional on-the-job training in Neurological Surgery (spine and brain surgery) while living in St. Petersburg, Florida. He has had the opportunity to serve as an associate/adjunct professor for both the University of Utah’s PA Program and Barry University’s PA Program. Rudi went back to college and obtained a doctorate degree in 2012. He met his wife, Karen, before they relocated to Austin, Texas the following year to start a family.

Although Rudi has over 16 years of clinical experience in family medicine, occupational medicine, orthopedic surgery, neurosurgery and spine surgery, his passion in medicine is to help patients with neurological and spine injuries return to a healthy life.

Outside of the operating room, Rudi enjoys spending time with his family, wakeboarding, snowboarding, golf, live music and traveling.