Board-Certified Physician in Pain Management

Dr. Sophia Yae obtained her Bachelor’s degree in Biology from Columbia University. She pursued her passion for osteopathic medicine and graduated from Touro University of California with a Master of a Master of Science in Medical Health Sciences. She completed a preliminary surgery year at UCSF East Bay in Oakland, CA and went on to complete her residency in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at Good Samaritan University Hospital/Mercy Hospital in Rockville Centre, NY. At Mercy, she received specialized training in electrodiagnostics, ultrasound guidance, musculoskeletal medicine, traumatic brain, and spinal cord injuries while completing additional training to perform medical acupuncture.

Following residency, Dr. Yae continued her specialized training at a nationally recognized North American Spine Society accredited fellowship in Interventional Spine and Musculoskeletal Medicine at Virginia iSpine Physicians in Richmond, VA. During her fellowship, she learned the art of minimally invasive and percutaneous spine and joint procedures: epidural steroid injections, nerve ablations, peripheral joint injections, spinal cord stimulator trials, trigger point injections, kyphoplasty and ultrasound guided injections.

Dr. Yae has a true passion for rehabilitation medicine and works closely with her patients- focusing on movement and function restoration to improve their quality of life. Her multimodal and holistic approach with a primary focus on accurate diagnosis of painful spine and musculoskeletal conditions is designed to provide care that combines compassion and innovation.

Dr. Yae stays up to date with the latest treatment options through numerous academic and professional organizations including the North American Spine Society, Spine Intervention Society, American Society of Interventional Pain Physicians and the American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. Beyond her professional pursuits, she enjoys trivia nights, painting, and spending time outdoors with her family while trying her best to avoid being eaten by mosquitos.

Born in Rome, Italy, October 7th 1959, I grew up in Eternal City were I completed all my schooling. I entered Medical School in 1978 at the prestigious Catholic University of the Sacred Heart in Rome and obtained my MD degree in 1984. Between 1984 and 1986 I was involved in bench research in liver transplantation and published many articles on the feasibility of transplanting portions of liver from a living donor to a recipient. At that same time I was accepted in the Vascular Surgery Residency at the Catholic University, a Program which I completed in 1990.

In 1986 I moved to the USA, still maintaining the Italian Vascular Residency, and after spending one year at Hackensack Medical Center and two years at Monmouth Medical Center General Surgery Residency, I transferred to Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, where I completed my General Surgery Residency in 1992. I was then accepted in the Vascular Fellowship Program at Henry Ford Hospital under the late Dr. Calvin Ernst and graduated from the program in 1994.

In 1994 I joined the Staff at Hackensack Medical Center and witnessed the growth of the Center from Hospital to University Medical Center, to now Hackensack University Medical Center and Hackensack Meridian Health Network. During my years at HUMC I served as President of the Medical Staff in 2009 and Chairman of the Medical Executive Committee in 2010. In 2006 I was appointed Chief of Vascular Surgery and since 2011 I have served as the Director of Vascular Services. From June 2012 to 2014 I was asked to serve as the Acting Clinical Co-Chair of the Department of Surgery. From 2014 to 2019 I was the vice chair of the Dept Of Surgery at HUMC and also the Director of the Vascular services. From May 2019 to May 2021, I became the interim chair of the Department Of Surgery and was instrumental in the work necessary to overcome the Covid pandemic in our institution. During those challenging times I was instrumental in developing a “Line Service” staffed by the Vascular Surgeons at HUMC and dedicated to central line, arterial line and dialysis catheter placement in the hundreds of COVID ICU patients at HUMC. This allowed for better utilization of resources for the Critical Care physicians. At the same time I implemented Network wide weekly video meetings with all the Peri-operative Services to discuss utilization of resources and coordinate standardization of care of the COVID patient in the operating room.

For years I lobbied with the HUMC Leadership to have a stand-alone Department of Vascular Surgery and in November 2020 the newly formed Department was instituted and I was appointed Interim Chair. I have served on many committees of the hospital and of HackensackMeridian Health and have been the Co-Chair of the Medical Council Committee of the Hackensack Meridian Health and then the Chair of the Quality and Patient Safety Committee of the Board Of Trustees of HMH. As Co-Chair of the Medical Council Committee, I helped unify the Medical Staff Bylaws of the newly formed Hackensack Meridian Health Network. My Academic appointments are with Rutgers New Jersey Medical School as Assistant Professor of Surgery and at the new Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine as Associate Professor of Surgery.

My passion is in process and quality improvement and standardization of care. One of my strengths is to be able to communicate and implement change by listening to people’s concerns and then implementing process that is aimed to a common goal.

I am a fellow of the American College of a surgeons and a member of the Society for Vascular Surgery, for which I have served on the Membership Committee from 2021 to 2023.

I am thrilled to have joined University Spine Center and to be able to serve the community, offering all spectrum of Vascular procedures, from spine exposure to complex open operations, from clearing arteries and veins using minimally invasive procedures to treatment of painful varicose veins.

University Pixl Spine Center

Fellowship-Trained & Board-Certified Spine Surgeon

Dr. Sahai is a fellowship-trained orthopedic spine surgeon. He completed the John Moe fellowship at the Twin Cities Spine Center in Minneapolis, one of the most well-known training programs in the country.

Dr. Sahai performs surgery on all aspects of the spine to treat neck & back pain, sciatica, deformity, spinal cord compression, nerve root compression, and spinal trauma in adults and children. He also performs revision surgery for patients with chronic pain from previously failed neck or back surgery. He believes in surgery as a last resort. Many of his patients don’t require surgery and are successfully treated using non-surgical options. If surgery is necessary, he believes in an individualized treatment plan achieved through patient education and shared decision-making with his patients and their families.

Dr. Sahai has an interest in using the most minimally-invasive techniques to help patients reach their goals. He has trained extensively with robotics and navigation which help ensure accuracy while minimizing tissue disruption. He aims to avoid fusion when possible for his patients. He prefers motion-preserving options such as limited decompression or disc replacement if surgery is necessary.

Dr. Sahai has published extensively on the use and outcomes of minimally invasive options for a wide range of spinal pathology, ranging from pinched nerves in the neck to traumatic thoracolumbar fractures. He has lectured and presented his research both nationally and internationally and his work has been cited over 100 times. He is still actively involved in ongoing research and education as part of his role as academic faculty at St. Joseph’s University Medical Center’s Orthopedic Residency Program.

Dr. Sahai has office locations in Morristown, Wayne, and Clifton.

Links to his CV and most widely-cited research are available below.

• Minimally Invasive Posterior Cervical Foraminotomy as an Alternative to Anterior Cervical Discectomy and Fusion for Unilateral Cervical Radiculopathy
• Comparing Mid-Term Outcomes Between ACDF and Minimally Invasive Posterior Cervical Foraminotomy in the Treatment of Cervical Radiculopathy
• Minimally invasive posterior cervical foraminotomy with tubes to prevent undesired fusion: a long-term follow-up study
• Incidence of Neuraxial Abnormalities Is Approximately 8% Among Patients With Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis: A Meta-analysis