Walter P. Blount Humanitarian Award Recipient for 2025

During the 60th SRS Annual Meeting in Charlotte, North Carolina, the Scoliosis Research Society (SRS) announced Gregory M. Mundis, Jr. MD as the Walter P. Blount Humanitarian award winner.

The Walter P. Blount Award is given to an individual who has provided outstanding service for those with spinal deformities, through their generous actions out of a sense of service to larger social and professional goals.

Dr. Mundis was born into a family of Missouri missionaries who moved to Austria early in his life. Service has always been in his DNA.  It was on a trip to Calcutta, India when he felt called to medicine. This experience as a young man fueled his passion not only for orthopedics but more importantly, his passion to help those in need. 

Soon after completing his residency at the University of Oklahoma and Fellowship at the San Diego Spine Fellowship, Dr. Mundis was eager to put his faith into action. 

His journey started with joining several different organizations to provide pediatric spine surgery on five continents. In 2016, Behrooz A. Akbarnia, MD, connected Dr. Mundis with Anthony Rinella, MD, the founder of Global Spine Outreach (GSO) who was leading a mission in Cali, Colombia and was motivated to see GSO grow. This relationship would prove to be critical to his love for outreach work.  Partnered with Dr. Rinella, Mundis initiated the Chihuahua GSO site and within four years hosted numerous deformity symposia in Mexico, started the Monterrey GSO site, and more recently, added Joinville, Brazil to the cities where GSO serves twice a year. 

Dr. Mundis was the CEO of GSO from 2018 to 2023, leading the organization through many transitions including financial viability, new executive leadership, creating a sustainable model of growth, recruiting committed surgeons, and partnering with industry and on-site hospitals to make these humanitarian efforts possible. He has also presented at the podium more than 490 times worldwide and presented 175 invited lectures.

Dr. Mundis is currently a Professor of Orthopedic Surgery at the Scripps Clinic in San Diego, California, the President of the San Diego Spine Foundation, Director of the San Diego Spine Fellowship and board member of Global Spine Outreach.

“As surgeons, we have been called to something really special,” he said at his award acceptance.” Every person we touch, every family we help, is a blessing.”

About the 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.