Maximilian Ries

Ries took on the newly created role of Executive Vice President, Business Development and Operations at joimax^®. In this position, based in Germany, he will be responsible for scaling global operations to ensure joimax^® continues its exponential growth. Formerly the General Manager, for the past six of his 13-year tenure with joimax^®, Ries built out the United States and Latin American markets.

Tony Troncale

Troncale was promoted to General Manager; he was formerly Vice President of Marketing and Business Development at joimax^® Inc. Over the past two years, Troncale, in addition to increasing his responsibilities, successfully capitalized on the significant interest in endoscopic techniques to expand US sales operations. He joined joimax^® in 2021 bringing 20-years of experience in the spinal device industry where he served in sales and marketing leadership roles at Stryker, K2M, and Synthes Spine. Contributing to the global organization’s continuous strong sales growth was the launch of a new surgical access system, “Tessys^® Trans SAP” and the global expansion of the ESPINEA^® Education Academy.

Wolfgang Ries

“I am extremely pleased with our 2022 global performance and the significant interest in endoscopic spine surgery,” stated joimax^® Founder and CEO Wolfgang Ries. “With Max and Tony in their new roles, our market-leading endoscopic spine technologies, and our anticipated launch of two more new surgical access systems later in 2023, we are well positioned for another very successful year.”

Karlsruhe (GER) — German-based joimax^®, the market leader in technologies and training methods for full-endoscopic and minimally invasive spinal surgery, is excited to announce a major spike in attendance at its Endoscopic Spine Academy (ESPINEA^®) workshops, which contributes to sustainable growth after another year of record revenues in 2021.

The growing interest can be attributed to increased coverage in literature and publications as cited on PubMed^®. Moreover, the joimax^®-initiated workshop program, now under the umbrella of ESPINEA^®, offers optimal training for a variety of applications and procedures, making it attractive to a broader audience. 

joimax^® established ESPINEA^® three years ago. In Fall 2020, the Endoscopic Spine Academy was accredited by the Royal College of Surgeons Edinburgh (RCSEd). It is one of only four Accreditation Centers that meet its strict rigorous internal quality assurance processes. Together, with its growing team of faculty, joimax^® developed the complete six-step curriculum to bridge the learning curve for spine surgeons. The curriculum, which was approved by the RCSEd, is developed as an educational program from beginners to masters alike.

J.N. Alastair Gibson DSc MD FRCSEd, a RCSEd and ESPINEA^® Advisory Board Member sums it up: “The ESPINEA^® mission is to serve endoscopic spine surgeons by providing a growing global network for lifelong learning to best benefit the patient. Our vision is to be the world’s leading interdisciplinary community in endoscopic spine surgery.”

In addition to holding ESPINEA^® courses at the joimax^®-owned premises in Karlsruhe (Germany) and Irvine (USA), they are also held at ORSI Academy (Belgium) and at other prestigious universities, such as Paracelsus Medical University Salzburg (Austria). Recently, ESPINEA^® was rolled out in Thailand. Prior to the July PASMISS Meeting, the courses will be launched in Singapore for the APAC region, and following the October SMISS Meeting, launched widely in the U.S.

“Given the ongoing development of endoscopic spine surgery with more and more technological options, the benefits for the patients, along with the substantial publication, I am convinced that endoscopic spine surgery is now the gold standard,” states Iprenburg Spine Clinic Founder and ESPINEA^® Advisory Board Member Dr. Menno Iprenburg.

With the ESPINEA^® courses, surgeons can train on different procedures using the joimax^® TESSYS^®, iLESSYS^®, CESSYS^®, MultiZYTE^®, EndoLIF^®, Percusys^® based on the latest NAVENTO^® tower. Most of the courses are conducted in a hybrid mode — online and on-site presentations and lectures combined with in-person hands-on training using models, simulators and anatomical specimens.

ESPINEA^® was established as an open education platform for other players in the field of spinal surgery as well. Therefore, further supporters have already joined and new entrants are welcomed.

Karlsruhe/Irvine, October 29^th 2013

Dear partners and friends,

it was our great pleasure to launch and present our latest product developments at the major spine congresses: EuroSpine as the most important spine congress on the European level and NASS as the most renowned and biggest one in the US. Please find here some impressions of both of the venues in Liverpool and New Orleans.

At both congresses our novel EndoLIF^® and Percusys^® (both not yet FDA cleared) technologies for endoscopic lumbar interbody fusion and percutaneous fixation were in the limelight, besides the earlier in the year launched CESSYS^® and Multiuse RT systems.

We are now looking forward to welcoming you at our booth at the Annual Meeting of SMISS November 1 to 3, 2013 and DWG, the German Spine Society, December 5 to 7, 2013. See you in Las Vegas and Frankfurt!

Karlsruhe, 12^th April 2013. April is the month of international workshops for joimax^® – with its holistic Education Program and 4 cadaver workshops in total in the US and Germany the leading provider of instruments and techniques for minimally invasive endoscopic spine surgery starts into spring.

The starting signal sounded on 5^th April in Irvine, California, where the subsidiary joimax^®, Inc. is located. The two-day cadaver lab attended by 10 surgeons at the Advanced Med Institute let the spine physicians from around the United States experience the joimax^® TESSYS^® (Transforaminal Endoscopic Surgery System) surgery technique for the endoscopic access to the spinal column step-by-step. Reference surgeon Dr. Carl Spivak, neurosurgeon at Bassett Hospital Cooperstown in New York, talked about the anatomy of the lumbar spine, the transforaminal access to the vertebral canal and suitable indications. During the wet lab hands-on session on 3 workstations the surgeons were able to intensively try and train the minimally invasive operation technique for the treatment of disc herniations and spinal canal stenosis. „The technical performance of the joimax^® procedure and the approach to the pathology have impressed me. After the workshop I feel very comfortable expanding my indications and applying endoscopy for the spine“– that’s what stated one of the attendees.

A real highlight of the spring education initiative is the first joimax^® balloon-kyphoplasty workshop on 12^th April at the Clinic for Accident, Hand and Restorative Surgery at the UKGM in Gießen, Germany. Besides interesting scientific presentations on balloon-kyphoplasty and osteoporosis therapy, the workshop’s main focus lies on the practical training of this minimally invasive surgical technique for the gentle treatment of vertebral fractures. Under the guidance of the instructors Professor Christian Heiß, Associate Professor Dr. Wolfgang Böcker and Dr. Markus Engelhardt their experiences and expert knowledge will be directly transferred to the 8 attendees.

The end of this training-intensive month forms an exclusively held workshop for a Chinese group of physicians at the University Medical Center of the Johannes-Gutenberg-University in Mainz, Germany. Under the guidance of Dr. Michael Schubert (Munich) und Dr. Guntram Krzok (Friedrichroda), the top delegation of 6 spine specialists from China will receive phase-on training on how to perform endoscopic spinal surgeries using the specific transforaminal and interlaminar joimax^® access and decompression procedures.

Particularly exciting for the joimax^® Faculty is 14th April when the already 5^th international User Meeting will be hosted right after the Chinese Workshop. Here, the brand new joimax^® products will be presented on the anatomical specimen – starting with CESSYS^® (Cervical Endoscopic Surgical System) for the therapy of herniated discs on the cervical spine through to the next generation of TESSYS^® with the quick FastTrack-access. Specifically designed for experienced users, the fine-tuned FastTrack surgical instruments allow for the transforaminal acces to the spinal canal in fewer steps. A very special highlight is, however, the EndoLIF^® System (Endoscopic Lumbar Interbody Fusion) for spinal stabilisation, which is going to be presented for the first time. Various cage technologies and spinal implants have been designed specifically for the minimally invasive endoscopic lumbar spine fusion procedure; the access to the disc space is based on the well-proven TESSYS® and iLESSYS®-systems – thus this is the world’s first fusion procedure under endoscopic view.

You can find all workshop dates for 2013 at p478114.webspaceconfig.de/en/doctors/education