About Dr. Boody
A spine surgeon whose other job is teaching spine surgery.
Barrett S. Boody, M.D. is a board-certified, fellowship-trained orthopedic spine surgeon at Indiana Spine Group. He treats adults and adolescents, from minimally invasive procedures to complex revision surgery, and trains the surgeons who will do the same.
Barrett S. Boody, M.D.
Orthopedic spine surgeon, Indiana Spine Group
Adjunct Clinical Assistant Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery, Indiana University School of Medicine
Biography
Chicago, Philadelphia, then home to central Indiana.
Dr. Boody earned his medical degree at the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine. He completed his orthopaedic surgery residency at Northwestern Memorial Hospital and the McGaw Medical Center of Northwestern University in Chicago, then a spine surgery fellowship at the Rothman Institute at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia.
At Indiana Spine Group he provides comprehensive surgical care of the spine for adults and adolescents. His practice concentrates on the cervical spine (pinched nerves, spinal cord compression, and ossification of the posterior longitudinal ligament), spine trauma and spinal cord injury, revision surgery and adjacent segment disease, and minimally invasive lumbar procedures such as far-lateral microdiscectomy, TLIF, and percutaneous screw fixation.
He is an Adjunct Clinical Assistant Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery at Indiana University School of Medicine and core faculty for Indiana Spine Group's spine surgery fellowship. He has authored more than 80 peer-reviewed publications, books, and book chapters, serves as Section Editor for Spinal Trauma in The Textbook of Spine Surgery, 4th edition, is Lead Editor of The Fellows Manual: Techniques of Spine Surgery, and sits on the editorial board of Clinical Spine Surgery. He is principal investigator on a national FDA trial at Indiana Spine Group and advises surgical device companies on new technology.
He sees patients in Carmel, Fishers, Greenfield, and Muncie, and operates at Indiana Spine Hospital and North Meridian Surgery Center in Carmel.
Education and training
Three programs, one specialty.
- 1
University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine
Doctor of Medicine.
- 2
Northwestern Memorial Hospital / McGaw Medical Center
Orthopaedic surgery residency, Chicago.
- 3
Rothman Institute / Thomas Jefferson University Hospital
Spine surgery fellowship, Philadelphia.
Board certified
Orthopaedic surgery
AAOS
American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons
NASS
North American Spine Society
CSRS
Cervical Spine Research Society
Indiana
Indiana State Medical Association; Indiana Orthopaedic Society
Teaching and editorial work
Why teaching makes him a better surgeon for you.
A surgeon who trains fellows has to justify every decision out loud, every week, to people who will ask why. That habit carries into clinic. You get the reasoning, not just the recommendation.
Editing a textbook section and a technical manual means keeping current with what the evidence actually supports across the whole field, not just one surgeon's habits. Running an FDA trial means seeing new technology with the skepticism it deserves before it reaches patients.
Recognition
Recognized by peers, repeatedly.
Peer-nominated lists are not outcomes data, but consistency across six years says something about how colleagues regard his work.
- Castle Connolly Top Doctor, 2021 through 2026
- Indianapolis Monthly Top Doctor, 2023 through 2025
- Castle Connolly Rising Star in orthopedic surgery, 2021 and 2022
- Becker's Spine Review, "10 Spine Surgeons to Know"
- Becker's Spine Review, "15 Rising Stars in Spine Surgery to Know"
- Avant-Garde Healthcare, Research All-Star, 2024
In his words
Care philosophy
"Ultimately, I believe the way spine surgeons stay at the forefront of spinal techniques, technology, and knowledge is to stay actively involved in education and research. The surgical evaluation and treatment of my patients will always be at the core of what I do as a spine surgeon, and I am incredibly fortunate to have the ability at Indiana Spine Group to pursue my interests in medical education and research."
Barrett S. Boody, M.D.
Diagnosis first
Your history and exam decide what the imaging means, not the other way round. Surgery for a finding that is not causing your symptoms does not help.
Non-surgical care when it works
Most spine problems improve without an operation. The exceptions, such as progressive weakness, cord compression, and unstable injuries, are specific and he will name them.
The right-sized operation
From far-lateral microdiscectomy to multi-level revision, the skill is matching the operation to the problem, then explaining why.
Request an appointment with Dr. Boody.
Carmel, Fishers, Greenfield, and Muncie. Bring your imaging and your questions.