Dr. Roland S. Kent is a fellowship trained Spine Surgeon. Fellowship training is the highest level of training available for spine surgical care in the United States. He specializes in minimally invasive spine surgery, alternatives to bony fusion including disc replacement, fracture care, bone health, sacroiliac (SI) joint disease, revision spine surgical care, and complex spinal disorders. Dr. Kent is excited to finally be back home. After graduating from Coeur d’Alene High school he received a Bachelor’s degree from Brigham Young University and then joined the Navy. He attended medical school at Uniformed Services University in Bethesda, Maryland and then internship and residency at the Naval Medical Center in Portsmouth, Virginia. He graduated from the combined Neurosurgery and Orthopedic Spine Fellowship at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, Washington, where he performed complex surgical care at Harborview, the University of Washington, and Seattle Children’s Hospital. He returned to the Navy as the chief of Spine Surgery at Naval Medical Center Portsmouth, where he taught spine surgery to resident physicians and managed the Navy’s highest volume interdisciplinary spine practice with physical therapists, chiropractors, acupuncturists, pain psychologists, physical medicine specialists and other spine surgeons. There, he built a comprehensive spine surgical practice specializing in cutting-edge technologies and time-honored surgical strategies. He presented academic papers at national and international spine meetings and helped to establish a standardized curriculum to teach young surgeons spine surgical techniques and principles.

Additionally, he provided expert spine surgical care to active duty military members, the elite Navy special warfare community, military retirees and their families. During his two decades in the US Navy, he served in Washington, DC, Virginia, Diego Garcia, Italy, Cuba, Afghanistan and finally in Spokane as a Navy reservist. In 2015, Dr. Kent joined the Rockwood Clinic in Spokane, Washington as the Spine Surgery Section Head where he helped develop the interdisciplinary spine surgical program at Rockwood Neurosurgery and Spine, integrating the efforts of surgical and non-surgical spine specialists.

Dr. Kent has returned to North Idaho as a co-founder of Axis Spine Center and the only fellowship trained spine surgeon in the area. He has a passion for returning patients to function through the careful utilization of non-surgical spine treatment strategies combined with the appropriate, evidence-based application of successful surgical interventions.

List of surgical specialties:

• Minimally invasive spine surgery
• Alternatives to bony fusion including disc replacement
• Fracture care
• Bone health
• Sacroiliac (SI) joint disease
• Revision spine surgical care
• Complex spinal disorders