Scoliosis Research Society Announces Recipient for the 2026 Lifetime Achievement Award

During the 61st SRS Annual Meeting in Sydney, Australia, the Scoliosis Research Society (SRS) announced the recipient for the Lifetime Achievement Award -- David W. Polly, Jr., MD. The SRS Lifetime Achievement Award honors a member for distinguished service to the Society, as well as significant contributions to spinal deformity care.

Dr. David W Polly, Jr. graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point. He is an Army Airborne Ranger and Pathfinder qualified and served two years in the Army Corps of Engineers. His military career continued in medical school at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Maryland; followed by training at Walter Reed Army Medical Center as an intern; at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research as a surgical researcher and a resident in Orthopaedic surgery. 

Dr. Polly did his Spine Fellowship at the University of Minnesota and returned to Walter Reed as Chief of Spine Surgery, where he helped establish the first combined orthopaedic and neurosurgery spine service. He went on to serve as Chair of the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery and Rehabilitation at Walter Reed until the fall of 2003 when he retired from the Army.  At that time, he returned to the University of Minnesota as the Chief of Spine Surgery and served in that role until his retirement in 2025. 

While retired from clinical practice, he continues to engage in spinal research and surgical education, continuing to move the field forward and train the next generation.  An accomplished researcher with over 350 publications and more than 24,500 citations, the common thread is to do impactful research by answering the questions: what are we doing, what are the results, and can we do better? 

Dr. Polly has contributed a life of service to the SRS, serving on committees, the board of directors, as secretary, and then SRS President in 2015–16. Dr. Polly continues to be a leading thinker,

innovator, and teacher in new techniques to advance patient care, from thoracic pedicle screw fixation to interbody fixation and fusion, as well as working with others on minimizing the density of spinal implants without compromising the outcome, through the Minimize Implants Maximize Outcomes RCT for pedicle screw density in AIS, funded by OREF and SRS. 

To know Dr. Polly is to know of his fondness for “bad dad jokes.” His favorite bad dad joke is- why didn’t the skeleton climb the mountain? Didn’t have the guts!
Read more about the award winners in our Annual Meeting Program.

About Scoliosis Research Society
The Scoliosis Research Society is a non-profit, professional organization, made up of physicians and allied health personnel. Our primary focus is on providing continuing medical education for health care professionals and on funding/supporting research in spinal deformities. Founded in 1966, SRS has gained recognition as the world's premier spine deformity society. Please visit www.srs.org for further information. Also follow us on X, Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram.