Peter McCunniff, MD

Dr. Peter T. McCunniff is an Orthopedic Spine surgeon in the greater Phoenix area (Glendale, Peoria, Phoenix, Scottsdale) and is the newest, fellowship trained Spine surgeon at Advanced Spine and Pain (ASAP). This partnership with ASAP has created the first comprehensive spine care model in the Southwest for patients that begins with non-operative therapy and medication management, followed by procedural interventions with the interventional pain management physicians. For those patients who have failed those conservative steps and are still having significant pain and disability, they’re referred to Dr. McCunniff for minimally invasive surgical consultation. This “Right patient, right provider, right time” model helps patients to avoid unnecessary surgeries and the comfort knowing that all providers along the way work closely together to create a unique care program tailored to their specific needs.

He received his medical degree from University of Iowa. He completed his residency at Case Western / University Hospitals in Cleveland, OH and completed an additional year of fellowship training in Spine Surgery in Scottsdale, AZ. His fellowship focus was on minimally invasive spine surgery techniques for all areas of the spine and was mentored by both Orthopedic and Neurosurgical spine surgeons. He has now been in practice 6 years here in the Valley and brings cutting-edge expertise to the ASAP, including minimally-invasive procedures, disc replacements and other motion preserving techniques that allow appropriate patients to avoid fusions, as well as navigation and robotic-assisted spinal surgery that increases safety for the patient.

He performed the first cervical artificial disc replacement at the Arizona Surgical Specialists Center in September 2023. He also performed the first-ever navigated, single-position lateral anterior-posterior lumbosacral spine surgery at Banner Thunderbird Medical Center in June 2025.

He continues to be active in research with over 12 peer-reviewed publications and 20 presentations primarily focused on different areas within spine surgery. He is also one of the few surgeons in the valley that perform a unique oblique lumbar surgery that helps to restore alignment from the front of the spine. Research suggests this can decrease the risk having issues at other levels down the road, which can be a common complication of more traditional spine surgery techniques. This is different from the more common technique in which surgeons go through the major muscle along the spine which may place important nerves at increased risk. He has been a part of the surgeon led research and development team for these tools and implants for the past several years.