About Daniel Tobert, MD
Dr. Dan Tobert is a board-certified, fellowship-trained orthopaedic spine surgeon at Massachusetts General Hospital who specializes in the treatment of adult spinal disorders. He received a BS degree from Hope College, majoring in Chemistry. He subsequently received a MD degree from Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. He trained in orthopaedic surgery at the Harvard Combined Orthopaedic Residency Program before undergoing sub-specialization training in spine surgery at the University of Utah. This fellowship with a renowned group of spine surgeons specifically focused on surgical management of complex spinal disorders.
Dr. Tobert's clinical interests are degenerative disorders and spine oncology. Through multidisciplinary collaborations with the Center for Sarcoma and Cancer Center at Mass General, he treats patients with primary and metastatic tumors of the spinal column and sacrum. Additionally, he treats patients for more common conditions such as stenosis, spondylolisthesis and disc herniations in the cervical, thoracic and lumbar spine. His primary goal is to provide excellent patient care on an individual basis.
Dr. Tobert is actively engaged in research efforts on degenerative and oncologic disorders to improve patient care. Additionally, he focuses on understanding contemporary patient-reported outcome measures to optimize patient care. He is an active member of the spine research community as a member of numerous academic spine societies and sits on the editorial board of Spine. He believes clinical research forms the foundation for empathic and individualized patient care.
Departments, Centers, & Programs:
Clinical Interests:
- Adult and pediatric spinal tumors
- Adult spine reconstruction
- Cervical spine
- Cervical stenosis
- Degenerative spinal conditions
- Laminectomy
- Lumbar spine
- Lumbar stenosis
- Metastatic bone disease
- Minimally invasive spine surgery
- Myelopathy
- Sarcomas
- Spinal fusion
- Spondylolisthesis
- Thoracolumbar spinal injuries
Treats:
- Adult
Locations
Orthopaedic Spine Service
55 Fruit St.
Yawkey Center for Outpatient Care
Suite 3A
Boston, MA 02114
Phone: 617-724-8636
Orthopaedic Spine Service at Newton-Wellesley Hospital
159 Wells Ave.
Newton, MA 02459
Phone: 617-724-8636
Mass General Brigham Healthcare Center at Foxborough
22 Patriot Place
Foxboro, MA 02035
Phone: 617-724-8636
Medical Education
- MD, Columbia University College of Physicians & Surgeons
- Residency, Massachusetts General Hospital
- Fellowship, University of Utah Hospital
American Board Certifications
- Orthopaedic Surgery, American Board of Orthopaedic Surgery
Accepted Insurance Plans
- Aetna
- Beech Street
- Blue Cross Blue Shield
- Blue Cross Blue Shield Medicare
- Cigna
- Commonwealth Care Alliance
- Coventry
- Fallon Health
- Harvard Pilgrim Health Care
- Humana
- Maine Community Health Options
- Mass General Brigham Health Plan
- MassHealth
- Medicaid CT
- Medicaid ME
- Medicaid NH
- Medicaid RI
- Medicare
- Medicare ACO
- Multiplan
- Railroad Medicare
- Senior Whole Health
- TriCare
- Tufts Health Plan
- Tufts Medicare Preferred
- United Health Care
- Wellpoint
- WellSense
- WellSense NH
Note: This provider may accept more insurance plans than shown; please call the practice to find out if your plan is accepted.
Research
Dr. Tobert's primary research focus is optimizing patient outcomes through improved decision making. Specifically, this involves utilizing improved metrics and statistical techniques to better understand which patients benefit from surgical or non-surgical treatments.
Dr. Tobert is a Principal Investigator in the the Orthopaedic Augmentation, Surgical Innovation, and Interactive Systems Lab (OASIIS). Dr. Tobert is working on projects related to the Mass General Brigham orthopedic registry. As part of this work, Dr. Tobert and his team have developed dashboards that allow a surgeon to assess and address their own surgical outcomes in real-time.
Publications
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Select publications:
- Tobert DG, Kelly SP, Xiong GX, Chen YL, MacDonald SM, Bongers ME, Lozano-Calderon SA, Newman ET, Raskin KA, Schwab JH. The impact of radiotherapy on survival after surgical resection of chordoma with minimum five year follow-up. Spine J. 2022 Apr 22. PMID: 35470086
- Tobert DG, Yeung CM, Morse CR, Lee SG, Schwab JH. Anterior Column Reconstruction with Vascularized Rib After Thoracic Spondylectomy: A Case Report. JBJS Case Connect. 2022 Jan 20;12(1). PMID: 35050933
- Schoenfeld AJ, Ferrone ML, Blucher JA, Agaronnik N, Nguyen L, Tobert DG, Balboni TA, Schwab JH, Shin JH, Sciubba DM, Harris MB. Prospective comparison of the accuracy of the New England Spinal Metastasis Score (NESMS) to legacy scoring systems in prognosticating outcomes following treatment of spinal metastases. Spine J. 2022 Jan;22(1):39-48. PMID: 33741509
- Karhade AV, Bono CM, Schwab JH, Tobert DG. Minimum Clinically Important Difference: A Metric That Matters in the Age of Patient-Reported Outcomes. J Bone Joint Surg Am. 2021 Dec 15;103(24):2331-2337. PMID: 34665785
- Bernstein DN, Lans A, Karhade AV, Heng M, Poolman RW, Schwab JH, Tobert DG. Are Detailed, Patient-level Social Determinant of Health Factors Associated With Physical Function and Mental Health at Presentation Among New Patients With Orthopaedic Conditions?. Clin Orthop Relat Res. 2022 Oct 6. PMID: 36201422
- Karhade AV, Bernstein DN, Desai V, Bedair HS, O'Donnell EA, Tanaka MJ, Bono CM, Harris MB, Schwab JH, Tobert DG. What Is the Clinical Benefit of Common Orthopaedic Procedures as Assessed by the PROMIS Versus Other Validated Outcomes Tools? Clin Orthop Relat Res. 2022 Sep 1;480(9):1672-1681. PMID: 35543521
- Tobert DG, Le HV, Blucher JA, Harris MB, Schoenfeld AJ. The Clinical Implications of Adding CT Angiography in the Evaluation of Cervical Spine Fractures: A Propensity-Matched Analysis. J Bone Joint Surg Am. 2018 Sep 5;100(17):1490-1495. PMID: 30180057
Knowledgeable and caring. Explain things in a very logical way that a layperson can understand.
Dr tobert was wonderful, listened to me and understood my pain, he spent a lot of time explaining the procedure to me, very good experience!
Dr. Tobert was personable, engaging, and attentive to my concerns. Appreciated his candor very much. [redacted]
Dr. Tobert provided me with some very insightful information. We went all through my MRI images and he answered all my questions thoroughly. I was very pleased with my visit. On top of that, I arrived 15 minutes before my visit and was taken in right away.
He was very professional and caring . He listened to what I had to say and answered my questions very well and understandable .
This was my first encounter with surgeon. It was a zoom visit so no med review except maybe there were pre visit on line questions about meds. I don't remember. I was not aware visit was to be on Patient gateway. I thought information would come by email. I was a bit confused and anxious about being late but it was ok as I finally figured to go ... Read More
I was very impressed with Dr. Tobert. He was extremely knowledgeable in terms of the best treatments available right now for my injury. He had already looked at my scans, my PET scan, my MRIs, and was prepared to answer any of my questions, which he did. I was quite relieved when he told me that I was doing what I should be doing for my injury. ... Read More
Dr.Tobert is wonderful and knowledgeable
He was very polite, respectful, and explained everything in a calm demeanor. I felt very comfortable speaking with Dr. Tobert.
Hi there. Thank you for giving me this opportunity. I was very apprehensive upon the surgery that I knew I have to have and I went to a provider somewhere else and was absolutely determined not to get any surgery. When I met Dr. Tobert, not that I want to have this surgery, but it's necessary, I feel at most, I don't know, positive I suppose. He ... Read More