William S. Marras holds the Honda Chair in Integrated Systems Engineering at the Ohio State University and serves as the Director of the Spine Research Institute at the Ohio State University. Dr. Marras holds joint academic appointments in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, the Department of Neurosurgery, and the Department of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation. His research is centered on understanding multidimensional causal pathways for spine disorders through quantitative epidemiologic evaluations, laboratory biomechanical studies, personalized mathematical modeling, and clinical studies of the lumbar and cervical spine.  His findings have been published in over 300 peer-reviewed journal articles, hundereds of refereed proceedings, and numerous books and book chapters including a book entitled The Working Back: A Systems View. Professor Marras has been active in the National Research Council (NRC) having served on over a dozen boards and committees and has served as Chair of the Board on Human Systems Integration for multiple terms. He has also served as Editor-in-Chief of Human Factors and is currently Deputy Editor of Spine. Dr. Marras is an elected member of the National Academy of Engineering (the National Academy of Science, Engineering and Medicine), recorded a TEDx talk entitled “Back Pain and your Brain” and has been featured on NPR’s All Things Considered.