Richard D.Guyer MD is a orthopedic spine surgeon and is one of the founders of Texas Back Institute and served as its President.  He also serves as the Chairman of the Board of Directors for the Texas Back Institute Research Foundation and has been Director of the Spine Surgery Fellowship program since its inception in 1986. 

Dr. Guyer did his medical school and residency training at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and completed two spine fellowships, one at Case Western Reserve University with Henry Bohlman, MD in Cleveland, Ohio and the other with Leon Wiltse, MD in Long Beach, California.  He holds many patents in spine surgery and has published over 100 peer-reviewed articles and 45 chapters presenting his research at national and international spine conferences.  While the majority of the research work has dealt with the diagnosis and treatment of painful degenerative spinal conditions, he is also one of the pioneers in early minimally invasive surgery and lumbar and cervical disc replacement.   In the early 1980s he worked with his former mentor Parviz Kambin who pioneered endoscopic discectomy.   In 2000 he performed one of the first disc lumbar disc replacements in the USA and has been an investigator in nearly a dozen US IDE studies of both cervical and lumbar disc replacements.  He continues to research and publish in this area as well as in motion preservation and minimally invasive treatments. 

Dr. Guyer has been very active with various spine societies including NASS, CSRS, ISSLS, and ISASS serving as President of NASS during the 2006-2007 year and serving on various committees of the ISASS.  He is on the board of directors of the American Board of Spinal Surgery.