Bio

Dr. Mok is a board-certified, fellowship-trained spine surgeon with the Stanford Medicine Spine Center in Redwood City. He is also a clinical associate professor of medicine in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery.

Dr. Mok diagnoses and treats a wide range of degenerative spine conditions, including disc herniations, spinal stenosis, myelopathy, and spondylolisthesis, as well as patients who have had previous spine surgery. He specializes in minimally invasive surgical techniques and strives to perform the least invasive procedures with the highest chances of success. His surgical specialties include minimally invasive microdiscectomy and laminectomy, minimally invasive spinal fusion, and artificial disc replacement.

Prior to Stanford, Dr. Mok worked as an orthopaedic spine surgeon with the NorthShore Orthopaedic and Spine Institute, the only dedicated orthopedic specialty hospital in the Chicago region. He was previously Associate Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery and Rehabilitation Medicine at the University of Chicago.

Dr. Mok served on active duty in the United States Army Medical Corps with the rank of Major. His military experience included deployment to the Iraq theater as an orthopaedic surgeon and spine surgery consultant.

Dr. Mok has published work in many leading journals in his field, including The Spine Journal, Spine, and Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery. He has presented to his peers at international, national, and regional meetings, including annual meetings of the North American Spine Society, the Society for Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery, and the American Association of Orthopaedic Surgeons.

Dr. Mok is a member of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, the American Orthopaedic Association, the North American Spine Society, the Scoliosis Research Society, and the Society for Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery.

Clinical Focus

  • Orthopaedic Surgery of the Spine

Academic Appointments

Professional Education

  • Internship: UCSF Dept of General Surgery (2004) CA
  • Board Certification: American Board of Orthopaedic Surgery, Orthopaedic Surgery (2012)
  • Fellowship: The Spine Institute (2010) CA
  • Residency: UCSF Dept of Orthopedic Surgery (2009) CA
  • Medical Education: Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons (2003) NY

Contact

  • Clinical (Primary)  Stanford Orthopaedic Spine Center in Redwood City 420 Broadway St Pavilion D MC 6415 Redwood City, CA 94063 (650) 721-3411 (fax)

Additional Clinical Info

Additional Info

  • Mail Code: 6342

2025-26 Courses

All Publications

  • Dental Composite Offers Comparable or Greater Pullout and Shear Strength to Lateral Mass Screw Fixation in a Human Cadaveric Model. International journal of spine surgery Wadhwa, H., Castro, J., Okoli, O., Chan, C., Ahmad, S. H., Karnowska, A., Hu, S. S., Koltsov, J. C., Bruckman, K. C., Mok, J. M. 2026

    Abstract

    Lateral mass screw fixation is the common method of fixation for an instrumented posterior fusion of the subaxial cervical spine. While screws have established efficacy, adhesive material that can be applied to the bony surface may be a promising alternative strategy owing to ease of application, size, and avoidance of screw loosening, malposition, or fracture.Eighteen fresh frozen human cadaveric subaxial cervical vertebrae were prepared for biomechanical testing. In each vertebra, 1 side underwent lateral mass screw fixation, and the contralateral side underwent composite fixation. On the screw side, a 12 × 3.5-mm lateral mass screw was inserted using a standard free-hand technique by a spine surgeon. For the dental composite side, the lamina was treated with etching acid solution and a dental bonding agent over a 10-mm diameter area before an orthodontic metal bracket was attached using dental composite. Nine specimens in each group were subjected to an axial load to failure (pullout) test, where the load was perpendicular to the vertebral surface. The remaining specimens were subjected to cyclical testing, where the load was applied cranially (shear) relative to each vertebra and gradually increased with each cycle until failure occurred. Differences were assessed with paired t tests with a 2-sided level of significance of α = 0.05.Under axial load (pullout), the dental composite (203.4 ± 43.4 N) showed higher ultimate load than the screws (127.7 ± 21.2 N; P < 0.001). The predominant failure mode under axial load was the composite pulling off the cortical bone surface, whereas the screw pulled through the cancellous and cortical bone. In cyclical testing, the ultimate shear load of dental composite (163.7 ± 48.4 N) did not differ from lateral mass screws (173.6 ± 65.5 N; P = 0.7). The composite failure mechanism under shear loading for half of the specimens was composite separation from bone, whereas the rest failed due to fractures distant from the composite site, indicating robust fixation integrity of composite to bone.Dental composite displayed similar shear strength and greater pullout strength compared with lateral mass screws.An adhesion-based fixation strategy may serve as a viable alternative to traditional screws in specific clinical scenarios that are worthy of further investigation.

    View details for DOI 10.14444/8871

    View details for PubMedID 41932832