Dr. José Ávila Ramírez begins his neurosurgery practice.
After completing his neurosurgery training at the Instituto Nacional de Neurología y Neurocirugía and his postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Toronto, Dr. José Ávila Ramírez opens his private practice — combining private clinical work with institutional service. The starting point that would, over decades, become CICOVE.
Three decades across the full breadth of neurosurgery.
For more than thirty years, the practice covered the full range of the discipline: cranial neurosurgery, peripheral nerve surgery, brain tumors, and spine pathology. This period accumulated the surgical volume and case complexity that would later inform the decision to specialize.
The practice takes shape as Avineuro.
After more than three decades of individual practice, the clinic is formalized under the name Avineuro — a general neurosurgery center attending cranial, peripheral nerve, tumor, and spine conditions. The formal structure allows the practice to scale beyond individual work.
Six years later, a decision that would redefine the practice: to stop being everything to everyone — and become the best at one thing.
Dr. Rodrigo Ávila Cervantes joins — the spine focus is defined.
Dr. Rodrigo Ávila Cervantes — trained specifically in spine surgery, and a fellow of both the American Association of Neurological Surgeons (FAANS) and the Congress of Neurological Surgeons (FCNS) — joins his father's practice. Together they make a strategic decision: to concentrate the practice on spine surgery, with particular focus on revision spine surgery and minimally invasive techniques.
A new identity is needed to reflect the change.
Dr. Saúl Solorio Pineda joins. CICOVE is founded.
That same year, Dr. Saúl Solorio Pineda — trained at the Instituto Nacional de Rehabilitación with a fellowship in spine pathology from Universidade de Caxias do Sul, Brazil — is invited to join. With three spine-focused neurosurgeons working together, the specialization is complete. The team designs the brand CICOVE — Centro Internacional de Columna Vertebral, defines the concept jointly, and establishes the operating principles that still define the center today: coordinated case review, revision spine surgery as a core competency, and international-standard care.
Six associate physicians join the team.
Starting in 2022, six associate physicians began joining CICOVE — Dr. Isaac Tello Mata, Dr. Ángel Octavio Soto Hernández, Dr. Jair Obet Canela Calderón, Dr. Roberto Coronado Ramírez, Dr. René Domínguez Hertz, and Dr. Miguel Ángel Velasco Castillo. Each brings complementary expertise, and every case is reviewed collaboratively so the patient receives one coordinated team recommendation rather than fragmented individual opinions.
In February 2024, the three co-founders were featured together on the cover of Elite Liderazgo Magazine — a recognition of the CICOVE model of coordinated spine care.