Hillsdale Hospital: DR. LOGANATHAN Story by Elyse Apel
Now, Amritraj lives out that dream with his own private practice called Jackson Spine, while also providing neurosurgery services to the Hillsdale community through Hillsdale Hospital. A graduate of The Ohio State University College of Medicine, Amritraj completed his residency at Wake Forest University in North Carolina. He has now been practicing neurosurgery for 11 years, serving as vice chief of surgery at Henry Ford Hospital in Jackson for a number of years. Amritraj says that a few years ago he realized he wanted a change. “I’d always been an employee for somebody else, so I started my own practice,” he says. “At that point, I realized I also didn’t want to work for a big hospital where I had to be on call for trauma or things like that anymore, and so Hillsdale was a perfect fit.” Amritraj started at Hillsdale Hospital in December 2023. There, he does both patient consultations and surgeries. Now, he specializes in outpatient spine surgery, which includes minimally-invasive spine surgeries, spine fracture treatments, treatment for cervical and lumbar herniated discs, disc replacements, and more. “Being in an environment in a small community has allowed me to really provide more direct and better care to my patients,” he explains. Amritraj says he finds it satisfying to be in a specialty where he is able to provide patients with such dramatic improvement.
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ince he was a small child, Dr. Amritraj Loganathan knew he wanted to be a neurosurgeon. “I was actually interested in medicine, specifically neurosurgery, from a young age. When I was four years old, somebody got me a book called the Charlie Brown Encyclopedia of the Human Body and there was a page on the brain,” Dr. Loganathan explains. “My whole life after that when people asked me what I wanted to do when I grew up, I said that I wanted to be a neurosurgeon.” 14 Fall/Winter 2024
“Back pain is the number one reason people see a doctor in the world, so being able to treat spine conditions, whether it is somebody’s back or neck, is satisfying,” he says. “That’s especially true when it’s something that I can treat with surgery.” He adds that it is frustrating how common back pain is and how sometimes the treatment that worked for one patient, might not work for another patient. “Back pain is a really common problem that up to 40% of people experience at some point in their lives,” he explains. “Because back pain and spine problems are so common, only a small subset of those people can be treated with surgery. It’s so frustrating when sometimes we can’t help people.” Amritraj says that, because of that, it is critical to have good communication with patients.