Faculty

Mert Akbas,  MD, is an associative professor of Anesthesiologist and Pain management physician at Akdeniz University, School of Medicine in Turkey. He joined the Akdeniz University faculty in 1993. He is the associative proffesor and clinical instructor at division of Algology.
He earned his medical degree at Akdeniz University, School of Medicine in 1999. He completed his anesthesia residency in Akdeniz University, Antalya, and started his pain management fellowship program first as an observer doctor at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center in Pain Management Clinic, Lubbock/TX-USA and later on as an clinical doctor in Istanbul University Faculty of Medicine, Division of Algology, Istanbul/TURKEY between the years 2004 and 2006.
He is Algology Board certified and pain specialist in Turkey is since 2007, and FIPP since 2006.
His areas of clinical interest are neuromodulation and decompressive neuroplasty.
Dr. Akbas is the current chair of WIP Turkish Section and a member of WIP, INS and Turkish Society of Algology.

Dr Al-Kaisy is currently Clinical Lead of the Pain Management and Neuromodulation Centre at Guy’s and St. Thomas’ NHS trust. He trained in Chronic Pain Medicine at The Walton Centre for Neurology and Neurosurgery, Liverpool. He has a fellowship in Chronic Pain Management at University of Toronto Hospital, Canada. Dr Al-Kaisy has an international reputation as a leading expert in Pain Management and has extensive experience in working toward the advancement of electrical neuromodulation techniques within this specialty. Dr Al-Kaisy led the first multicenter and multinational study on the safety and efficacy of 10kHz SCS in the management of Failed Back Surgery Syndrome (FBSS). He has subsequently clinically pioneered the use of this novel therapy in the management of different chronic pain conditions including the feasibility study on chronic back patients without prior surgery. He has successfully designed groundbreaking research including a randomized double blind placebo control study examining different frequency in the management of FBSS. He is the innovator of a number techniques including transgrade dorsal root ganglion stimulation using monopolar electrical stimulation. Dr Al-Kaisy continues to teach and lecture on essential and pioneering topics in pain management in the United States, Europe, Australia and Asia. He is the chair of the biannual London Spine Pain Symposium at Guy’s and St. Thomas’ Hospital.

Adesanya Tolu Alugo, MD, MSC, CAPM, FCARCSI, FIPP, CIPS, ASRA-PMUC, CAMH(opioid) is a fellowship-trained interventional pain Specialist. Completed both FIPP&CIPS in one sitting. Currently the Director of chronic pain management services at the Saint John Regional Hospital Canada. Well published and author of book chapters. Special interests include MSK ultrasonography, Complex regional pain syndrome, Persistent spinal pain syndrome, Fibromyalgia, and neuromodulation. He teaches chronic pain both locally and internationally.

Dr. Javier De Andrés Ares is a board certified Anesthesiologist since 1997. He graduated from Universidad Complutense-Madrid in June 1990, completed his anesthesiology residency at Complejo Hospitalario de Toledo 1996 and is Fellow in Interventional Pain Practice from the World Institute of Pain 2008. He obtained Hassenbusch Award in 2008 from the World Institute of Pain. He currently is the Head of Pain Unit at Hospital Universitario La Paz-Madrid, and is Director at “Clínica Analgesia y Manejo del Dolor -Toledo” and co-director at “Clínica del Dolor Hospital Santa Elena-Madrid”. He is an Assistant Clinical Professor in Universidad Miguel de Cervantes and collaborates with Universidad Rey Juan Carlos. He is Head of Spanish Pain Radiofrequency Interest Group, from the Spanish Pain Society (IASP). He is an active member of several societies, including the World Institute of Pain, Spine Intervention Society, and Spanish Pain Society.
He has more than 20 years’ experience as a pain clinic director in public and private practice and speaks nationally and internationally on topics of pain medicine and interventional pain management. He has special interest in Spinal and Facial Pain.
Dr. De Andrés Ares is the current Chair of WIP Iberian Section.

Fabricio Assis, MD is one of the founders of the Brazilian Society of interventional Pain Physicians (SOBRAMID) and its first president 2013-2015. Dr. Assis is involved in lots of educational projects and had trained physicians in interventional pain all over the world in he last 10 years. Nine years ago, he started a very successful training program in Interventional Pain in Brazil, where physicians from all over the country and neighbor ones from Latin America come once a month during a year. This project was replicated in Budapest in 2017 named as Pain School International. Dr. Assis is also one of the directors of the WIP Workshop in Miami.
Dr. Assis became a certified pain specialist at the Universidad de Barcelona, Spain, in 1998. Since that he began his work in interventional pain management and focused his work mainly on chronic pain patients, performing all kinds of procedures. He had participated in courses and traineeships in Hungary, England, Turkey, the Netherlands, the US, and several other countries. In 2007 he became a WIP-certified Fellow of Interventional Pain Practice (FIPP). Today Dr. Assis works as director at Singular – Pain Management Center, an EPP (Excellence in Pain Practice) Center in Campinas, SP, and is a member of the pain team at the Albert Einstein Israelite Hospital in São Paulo.

Douglas P. Beall, MD, attended medical school at Georgetown University School of Medicine in Washington, DC, and completed his residency at The Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland. Following residency, he was Chief of Interventional Services at Sheppard Air Force Base in Wichita Falls, Texas. He then completed a fellowship in Musculoskeletal Radiology at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, where he was trained in interventional spine techniques before returning to the US Air Force as Division Chief of Musculoskeletal Radiology. Following the service in the US Air Force Dr. Beall was chief of Musculoskeletal Radiology and Fellowship Director at the Univiersity of Oklahoma prior to entering private practice as the Chief of Services. 41 In addition to his expertise in musculoskeletal imaging and interventional spine care, Dr. Beall is actively involved in teaching and research. He is board-certified in Diagnostic Radiology, has an added fellowship in Musculoskeletal Radiology, is a Diplomate of the American Academy of Pain Management and is a Fellow of Interventional Pain Practice and board certified by the World Institute of Pain. He is currently in private practice focused on interventional pain management and orthopedic imaging. Dr. Beall has published more than 200 articles in peer-reviewed journals, authored four textbooks and 11 textbook chapters, given more than 500 invited lectures and scientific presentations and has participated in 37 clinical research trials. He is currently the Chief of Radiology Services for Clinical Radiology of Oklahoma as well as the Division Head of Interventional Spine Care and Director of Pain Management Fellowship Programs at the Spine Fracture Institute and Summit Medical Center.

Dr. Bhaskar is the Immediate-Past President of the British Pain Society and has served two terms as an elected member of the Council. Dr. Bhaskar is also the present Chairman of the UK Section, of the World Institute of Pain.  Dr Bhaskar works as a Consultant at the Pain Management Centre, Charing Cross Hospital, Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, London, and has special interests in complex pain, including cancer pain, neuropathic pain, visceral & pelvic pain, pain interventional procedures and neuromodulation. He has also a specific interest in opioid management. Dr Bhaskar is on the faculty of many courses, including the European Pain School, and is an examiner for the European Diploma in Pain Medicine and also the FIPP examination for the World Institute of Pain.

Dr. Kenneth Chapman is the director of pain management at Staten Island University Hospital, part of the Northwell Health System, and is an assistant clinical professor at NYU Langone Medical Center. He completed his Interventional Pain Management Fellowship at the Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, Ohio, and his Anesthesiology residency at the Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center in New York, New York.
Dr. Chapman directs the fellowship program at the Spine and Pain Institute of NY and is actively involved in teaching and lecturing both nationally and internationally. Dr. Chapman also frequently serves as a pain management Board Examiner for certification on the Fellowship of Interventional Pain Practice Pain Boards. He has won numerous peer validated awards including ‘America’s Best Anesthesiologists’ and ‘Most Compassionate Doctors,’ and was one of the youngest physicians to ever be named as both a NY Times ‘Super Doctor’ and NY Magazine ‘Top Doctor’ when he first received the recognition in 2014. While at the Cleveland Clinic Dr. Chapman also received the “Ethlene R. Smith’s Most Outstanding Fellow” award. He is Vice President of the NYS Interventional Pain Society and on the advisory board to the NYS Worker’s Compensation Board responsible for writing the NYS Worker’s Compensation Guidelines, which all injured workers in the state are treated by.
Dr. Chapman’s interests include translational research pertaining to spinal cord stimulation and dorsal root ganglion stimulation mechanism of action, and studies involving the use of DRG-S to treat conditions traditionally considered to be mechanical pain syndromes.

Aaron Kenneth Calodney, MD is Past President of the Texas Pain Society and Past President of the American Society of Interventional Pain Physicians (ASIPP). He has served on the board of the International Spine Intervention Society for many years and was Director of Education. Dr. Calodney is board certified in Anesthesiology and carries subspecialty certification in Pain Management through the American Board of Anesthesiology. Dr. Calodney earned his medical degree from the University of Missouri School of Medicine and completed a family medicine internship at St Joseph’s Hospital in Syracuse, New York. His residency in anesthesiology and subsequent interventional pain management fellowship was completed at the University of Texas Health Science Center at 31 Houston. He subsequently completed a fellowship in pediatric anesthesia at the Denver Children’s Hospital. With particular interest in Spine and special interests including Neuromodulation and Intrathecal Drug Delivery, Biological treatment of the painful degenerative disc, Peripheral nerve injury, and Radiofrequency ablation, Dr. Calodney has presented and published many articles and textbook chapters. He is actively involved in clinical research and has delivered over 400 invited lectures in the US and abroad. Dr. Calodney is a member of the American Society of Anesthesiologists, American Society of Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine, and many other professional societies. He is an author of the first Evidenced Based Treatment Guidelines in Interventional Pain and Evidenced Based Guidelines for the Use of Opioids published in the Pain Physician journal and on the National Guideline Clearinghouse. Dr. Calodney previously was appointed by the governor of Texas to serve on the Advisory Committee on the Regulation of Controlled Substances Act.

Dr. George C. Chang Chien specializes in musculoskeletal medicine and comprehensive pain management. He has authored over 100 manuscripts on the diagnosis and treatment of pain and musculoskeletal injuries. He is currently the Director of Pain Management at Ventura County Medical Center, and Director of the GCC Institute where he practices Regenerative Medicine, and Medical Aesthetics.

Dr. Ethan Dalley was born and raised in Lubbock, Texas. After graduating from Lubbock High School and receiving a Bachelor of Sciences degree from Brigham Young University, he was accepted for post baccalaureate studies at the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center (TTUHSC) from which he received a medical degree.

Following completion of medical training at Texas Tech, he attended Johns Hopkins University for residency training in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. While there he received “The Hopkins Healer Award” for outstanding service as a resident. Dr. Dalley was also selected to be Chief Resident for the Department of PM&R his final year at Johns Hopkins. He then returned to TTUHSC for continued training in Pain Management in the Department of Anesthesiology.

Dr. Dalley is married to Krista Dalley and has six beautiful children, daughters Brynlee and Addyson, and sons Trey, Kaden, Gavyn, and Wyatt. Of all the places he has lived, Lubbock is the favorite – it is home. He enjoys reading, firearms, exercise and Texas Tech sports!

His professional interests include musculoskeletal medicine, non-operative sports medicine, chronic pain management with pharmacological and interventional techniques, neuromodulation, intrathecal drug delivery, and nerve conduction/EMG.

Miles R. Day, MD (Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, Lubbock). Dr. Day is the medical director of The Pain Center at Grace Clinic, pain fellowship program director at Texas Tech, and the Traweek-Racz Endowed Professor in Pain Research in the Department of Anesthesiology at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center in Lubbock. He is a diplomat of the American Board of Anesthesiology with subspecialty certification in Pain Medicine. He also serves as an examiner for the World Institute of Pain. Previously, he served as the director and associate professor at the Eugene McDermott Center for Pain Management at the UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. He serves on the editorial boards of Pain Practice and Pain Physician. He is the past-president of the Texas Pain Society and past-chair of the Board of Examination for the World Institute of Pain. Dr. Day received his medical degree from Texas A&M University Health Science Center in College Station and completed his general surgery internship at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center. He completed his anesthesiology residency and pain fellowship at Texas Tech as well. He is the author of numerous articles and book chapters in well-known publications. He has educated physicians globally to further the specialty of interventional pain medicine.

Dr. Christ Declerck MD, FIPP, CIPS, ASRA-PMUC is a board certified in anesthesiology and intensive care medicine. Since 2019 he has been the Head of the Multidisciplinary Pain Center in Bruges, Belgium. The MPC Bruges consists of five full-time Pain Physicians in the Tertiary Referral Hospital Saint Jan and General Hospital Saint Lucas. He is teaching for the WIP organization and is an examiner for the FIPP and CIPS certification at the World Institute of Pain in Miami. He teaches at the Pain International School in Budapest and also at the ISURA organization. Dr. Declerck ’s interests include basic and advanced interventional pain therapy more specifically US-guided nerve ablation techniques, Neuromodulation, cryoneurolysis of peripheral nerves, SI joints, and cervical facet syndromes.

Marshall Devor is the Alpert Professor of Pain Research at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI). He was born in Toronto, Canada in 1949. His bachelor’s degree is from Princeton University (1970) and his PhD from MIT (1975). He was a postdoctoral fellow with the pain research pioneer Prof. P.D. Wall at University College London and subsequently at HUJI. There he progressed from Research Associate (1977) to Senior Lecturer, Associate Professor and finally Professor in 1988. His research has focused on the neurobiology of neuropathic pain, and more recently also on mechanisms involved in loss of consciousness and pain-free surgery. His laboratory has published extensively in the pain field, with work of a notably integrative nature involving neurophysiology, computer simulations, neuroanatomy (light and electron microscopy), genetics, and behavioral models. He is author of ~310 publications, career citations ~24,000, h-index = 77.

Dr. Sudhir Diwan, nationally and internationally recognized as a key opinion leader in the field of pain management, is the President, Park Avenue Spine and Pain, New York, Associate Clinical Professor at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New York. Dr. Diwan was the former Director of the Tri-Institutional Pain Fellowship Program and Division of Pain Medicine at Ivy League Weill Medical College of Cornell University for more than a decade, where he also served as associate professor of clinical anesthesiology, and on the faculty at the world renowned New York Presbyterian Hospital.
Dr. Diwan has published extensively in prestigious peer-reviewed medical journals and medical books on a variety of pain management topics. He is on the Editorial Board for the Pain Physician – an official journal of the American Society of Pain Physicians (ASIPP) since 2008, and Pain Practice – official journal of World Institute of Pain (WIP) since 2009. He was invited Guest Editor for Journal of Techniques in Regional Anesthesia and Pain Management 2009. Dr. Diwan is the Examiner for the Certification Board for American Board of Interventional Pain Physicians (ABIPP) and Fellow of Interventional Pain Practice (FIPP) offered by the World Institute of Pain. Dr. Diwan is Co-Editor for Intrathecal Drug Delivery for Pain and Spasticity, Vol 2, Timothy Deer, Series Editor, Elsevier-Saunders 2012, and Co-Editor for Diwan-Staats’s Atlas of Pain Medicine Procedures, McGraw Hill Education 2015, and Advanced Procedures for Pain Management, A step-by-step Atlas, Springer US, 2018
In addition to his busy pain management practice in New York City, Dr. Diwan lectures extensively and interacts regularly with experts in the field of pain medicine nationally and internationally. He has been guest speaker for many noteworthy organizations including the American Society of Interventional Pain Physicians (ASIPP), and State Societies Pain Meetings, the World Institute of Pain, NANS, INS, and numerous International pain specialty societies and congresses nationally and internationally. Currently he is Executive Director of NYSIPP and Course Chairman of the Annual NYSIPP/NJSIPP Pain Medicine Symposium, and President of ASIPP.

Dr. Lorand Eross is the head of the Functional Neurosurgical Department and Center of Neuromodulation at the National Institute of Clinical Neurosciences in Budapest. He is the Director of Research and Innovation. He leads the Epilepsy Surgery Program at the institute. He got his PhD degree at Semmelweis University in 2010 in epilepsy surgery. His main interest is epilepsy surgery, movement disorder surgery, neurosurgical treatment of pain, spasticity and neuromodulation. He has an active reasearch group in the field of epilepsy, chronic pain. He developed new intraoperative localisation method for invasive recordings in epilepsy surgery. His activity includes research and development of in vitro and in vivo electrophysiological and optical investigation methods. He is a lecturer at the Medical Faculty of the Semmelweis University and at the Pazmany Peter Catholic University, Faculty of Information Technology in bionical sciences.

Prof J C Flores Anestesiólogo, Prof Universit; FIPP and CIPS, Phd; Director of CAIDBA Premiado EPP Award 2011-2015; President of CAIDBA Foundation; Assoc Prof of Anatomy Univ Nacional de La Plata, Argentina; Past Chairm Latin American Sect WIP 2 times; Chief of Pain Medicine Clínica San Camilo from 1994 (29 years); Director Workshop Universitario CAIDBA Técnicas Interv Tratamiento del Dolor Refractario (24 Workshops CAIDBA); Director “Postgraduate Universitary Training” in Interventional Ref Pain Fund CAIDBA and Univers Nacional de La Plata. JCF organized 1st Cadaver Workshop Latin América May 2001 (Racz, Calvillo y Fundación Dolor) and has worked with WIP and CLASA since 2004 como Instructor y Examinador. Past President FAAAAR, Pain Foundation, Textbook Pain Medicine, Research in anatomy.

After completing his residency in anesthesiology and pain at Monmouth Medical Center in New Jersey, Ira B. Fox, MD, DABPM, FIPP, ABIPP founded Anesthesia Pain Care Consultants. The former chief anesthesia resident has spent more than 30 years treating patients with acute and chronic pain. Dr. Fox maintains five board certifications: Fellow of Interventional Pain Practice (FIPP); American Board of Interventional Pain Physicians (ABIPP); World Institute of Pain (WIP); American Board of Pain Medicine (DABPM); and the American Board of Anesthesiology with added certification in Pain Management. He also serves as an examiner for the FIPP Board Certification and prior ABIPP Interventional Practical Examination. As past chairman of the World Institute of Pain (WIP) Committee on Project Development, Dr. Fox’s mission was to help patients across the world find solutions to ease their suffering. In addition, he is a past Chairman of the Advisory Board, Honorary Treasurer, and had been a member of the Executive Board for 7 years. He also served as a trustee for the World Institute of Pain Foundation and is the current president of the World Society of Pain Clinicians, as well as a lifetime member of the American Society of Interventional Pain Physicians, Dr. Fox holds the distinction of being the Inaugural Executive Examiner at the WIP and American Academy of Pain Medicine Ultrasonography (AAPMU) 1st Annual WAPMU International Congress. On both a national and international level, Dr. Fox has conducted Comprehensive Review Courses and Cadaver Workshop conferences. He co-founded an annual conference and FIPP Board Examination in Miami that is bi-lingual and attracts physicians from throughout the US and southern hemisphere. Dr. Fox has focused on expanding the field of interventional pain management across the world to offer pain relief to citizens of less developed countries by helping train local physicians. That’s why he had organized and sponsored the Anesthesia Pain Care Consultants annual Pro/Am Charity Golf Tournament for six years, raising thousands of needed dollars to provide scholarships to these dedicated physicians. Since 1996, Dr. Fox and his dedicated staff of interventional pain management physicians and paraprofessionals have been committed to providing continuing education for area physicians, healthcare clinicians and workers’ compensation professionals. This will be Anesthesia Pain Care Consultants’ 22nd year conducting the APCC Pain Symposium, which features leaders in the field of pain management, and provides continuing education in the area of pain medicine. The hard work and commitment Dr. Fox and the APCC team devote to helping those who suffer from acute and chronic pain has not gone unnoticed. He was elected “America’s Top Physician” by the Pain Management Consumers’ Research Council of America, and is listed as a Top Doctor in Broward County by Castle Connolly Medical Ltd. every year for more than a decade. Anesthesia Pain Care Consultants won the South Florida Business Journal Award for Excellence in Health Care in 2008. He has been published extensively and is frequently called on as an expert by print, television and online media reporters and editors. He lectures internationally and has had numerous media appearances which can be seen on the Anesthesia Pain Care Consultants website.

Since 2008 Chairman and Professor at the Mare Clinic Kiel Orthopaedic Surgery & Traumatology.
Since 2006 Senior Consultant and Professor at the Technical University Munich.
Since 2010 Chairman and Professor at the medical University of Kiel – Orthopaedic surgery & Traumatology.

Clinical focus: Joint Arthroplasty, Revision, Surgery, Joint preserving techniques, Tumor Surgery, Spine Surgery, Pain management.

Scientific focus: Clinical Trials, Evidence based Medicine

Awards

1. SICOT Award 2002
2. SICOT Award 2003
3. DIGEST Preis 2003 (Deutschsprachige Internationale Gesellschaft für Stosswellentherapie)
4. AAOS Award outstanding lecture
5. DIGEST Preis 2005
6. Lecture Award outstanding lecture Korean Orthopaedic Association 2006
7. ACFAS Award 2007

Prof. Dominic A. Hegarty
BSc., BMedSc., MB., MSc. (Pain Management), PhD. FCARSCI, FFPMCAI, FIPP
Consultant in Pain Management and Neuromodulation, Mater Private Hospital Cork, Ireland.
Clinical Director Mater Private Hospital Cork, Ireland.
Assoc. Professor in Pain Medicine, UCC & ASSERT, Ireland.
Honorary Consultant, Guy’s & St. Thomas’ Hospital, London, England.
Clinical Lead Neuromodulation Research, Tyndall National Institute, Ireland.
Clinical Director Pain Relief Ireland (www.painreliefireland.ie)
President-Elect World Institute of Pain (WIP)

Dr Kirkor is an Independent Consultant in Anaesthesia and Pain Medicine and Expert
Witness. He was a Clinical Lead for Pain Services at Shrewsbury & Telford Hospitals NHS Trust from 2010 till 2019. After retiring from NHS in 2020 he runs his own private clinic in London and collaborates with a private MSK/spine clinic in Gdansk, Poland.
He qualified from Medical University in Gdansk, Poland in 1987. He completed his formal training in anaesthesia in 1994 and held several consultant posts in Poland. He obtained his Ph.D. in medicine in 1996. He moved to the UK in 2005. Dr Kirkor’s special interest is interventional pain medicine, interventional medicine in MSK conditions, spine pain, whiplash injury, Whiplash-Associated Disorders and post-traumatic craniocervical instability.
In 2018 Dr Kirkor set up Regenexx Clinic in the UK (currently the only Regenexx clinic in
Europe) upon completion the extensive training in the Regenexx clinics in the USA. The clinic focuses on regenerative medicine (stem cells and platelet rich plasma) for musculoskeletal and spine conditions. He has lectured about regenerative orthopaedics on several national and
international meeting and courses. He maintains his CPD by attending regularly regenerative medicine conferences and courses.
Dr Kirkor is a member of Spine Interventions Society (Research Mentoring Committee),
American Academy / Board of Regenerative Medicine and Interventional Orthobiologic Foundation.
Dr Kirkor is an expert witness and his area of expertise is anaesthesia and chronic pain.
In December 2022 he received an award from the Chancellor of the Medical University in Gdansk for his research achievements.

Sean Li, M.D. specializes in interventional pain management. His clinical interest is in neuromodulation therapy such as spinal cord stimulation, high-frequency stimulation, dorsal root ganglion stimulation, and peripheral nerve stimulation. Prior to joining National Spine & Pain Centers, Dr. Li served as the medical director of Premier Pain Centers LLC. In addition to his work at National Spine & Pain Centers, Dr. Li continues to serve as an attending physician at Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune, NJ, and Riverview Medical Center in Red Bank, NJ. Dr. Li serves on the Education Committee and Young Neuromodulators Committee at the International Neuromodulation Committee (INS), is a director at large for the American Society of Pain and Neuroscience (ASPN), and is the current president of the New Jersey Society of Interventional Pain Physicians (NJSIPP). Dr. Li earned his medical degree from the State University of New York at Stony Brook and underwent residency training in general surgery at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN, and later in anesthesiology at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, MI. He completed his fellowship in interventional pain medicine at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, MD.

Dr. Liem was born in Leiden, The Netherlands. He graduates at the Free University College of Medicine in Amsterdam. He completed his residency in anesthesiology, intensive care, and pain management at the St Antonius Hospital in Utrecht. He is board certified in Anesthesiology as well as Pain Medicine by the Dutch Society of Anesthesiology. Dr. Liem has, since 1981, extensive experience in the use of interventional pain procedures and implanting neurostimulators to treat chronic pain. After leading the multidisciplinary Pain Unit at the St. Antonius Hospital in Nieuwegein, he now works at Maastricht University as a consultant in MUMC +, Dept Anesthesiology and Pain Management.

Furthermore, he is a Fellow of International Pain Practice according to the World Institute of Pain and was a founder and president of the Benelux Neuromodulation Society. He has been Treasurer of the International Neuromodulation Society and a member of the Editorial Board of the journal Neuromodulation. He has been the principal investigator on several clinical trials and is participating in international consensus and appropriateness boards on pain and spasticity. He has published several articles and book chapters on pain and neuromodulation and often speaks at national and international conferences in the Netherlands and abroad on pain topics and he is frequently invited to train physicians in the use of pain management techniques. In 2010 Dr. Liem received the Sam Hassenbusch Prize in Budapest. Over the last few years, he has focused on completing his scientific work on stimulation of the dorsal root ganglion for the treatment of chronic pain and obtained his Doctorate of Philosophy at the Erasmus University of Rotterdam in January 2016.

Dr. Lin is the chief of the division of pain medicine, department of anesthesiology at the National Taiwan University Hospital (NTUH). He is also the immediate past president of the Taiwan Pain Society and an active executive board member of the WIP Taiwan section. He is passionate about education on interventional management for chronic pain, especially refractory cancer pain, with additional expertise in multimodality-guided pain procedures. He is the course organizer of the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th WIP Taipei annual symposium and interventional pain workshop.

Dr Padilla del Rey studied Medicine at the University of Murcia (Spain), specialized in Anesthesiology and Intensive Care at Morales Meseguer University Hospital in Murcia, and completed fellowship training in Pain Medicine at Cécil Clinic Multidisciplinary Pain Center in Lausanne (Switzerland). She became a FIPP (Fellow of Interventional Pain Practice) in 2014, got the European Pain Federation Diploma in Pain Medicine (EDPM) in 2017, and became a CIPS (Certified Interventional Pain Sonologist) in 2019. She has a Master’s Degree in Health Management and a Master’s Degree in Nutrition & Dietetics.
She has presented numerous posters at national and international congresses and has also been the author of articles in pain journals and chapters in some pain books.
Dr. Padilla del Rey is a reviewer for the Spanish Society of Pain Journal and forms part of the Spanish Society of Pain Master’s Degree faculty. She is a member of the Murcian Society of Pain, the Spanish Society of Pain, and the World Institute of Pain.
She has worked as an anesthesiologist and pain physician at Morales Meseguer University Hospital and since 2018 she is working at Santa Lucía General University Hospital in Cartagena (Spain)

Dr. Annu Navani is the Chief Medical Officer of Boomerang Healthcare, the leader in interventional and multidisciplinary spine, musculoskeletal, and orthopedic care. Boomerang is a large multispecialty group practice with 350 medical providers that operates via multiple state of the art centers in Northern and Southern California and Nevada.
Dr. Navani is an Adjunct Clinical Associate Professor at Division of Pain, Stanford University School of Medicine. She also serves as an Advisor to Le Reve Regenerative Wellness, the center for cutting edge restorative and regenerative solutions for clinical applications and research.
Dr. Navani completed her Anesthesiology residency from Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee and Fellowship in Pain Medicine from the University of California, Davis. She is board certified in Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine by American Board of Anesthesiology, in Interventional Pain by American Board of Interventional Pain Physicians, Fellow of Interventional Pain Practice and in Regenerative Medicine by American Board of Regenerative Medicine and American Board of Interventional Pain Physicians.
She sits on the Editorial board of the journal, Pain Physician and serves on the board of the American Society of Interventional Pain Physicians, California Society of Industrial Medicine and Surgery and California Society of Interventional Pain Physicians. She is the recipient of the Outstanding Achievement Award from the American Association of Interventional Pain Physicians, The American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin and The Postgraduate Assembly in Anesthesiology.
She has extensive publications in the field of Interventional spine and Regenerative medicine and has contributed via several peer reviewed journal articles, visionary editorials and book chapters. Her book, “Essentials of Regenerative Medicine” is first in its right illustrating latest interventional techniques in spine and musculoskeletal interventions. She has also been instrumental in authoring several National Guidelines including the ones on Opioids, Interventional Spine Epidural procedures, Facet joints, and Biologics in Lumbar spine
Her vision is to forward the field of Interventional Pain and Regenerative Medicine by using technological innovations to improve access, decrease health care costs and maximize quality and efficacy.

Carl Noe, M.D., is a Professor in the Department of Pain Management and Anesthesiology at UT Southwestern Medical Center and serves as Medical Director of the Eugene McDermott Center for Pain Management. Board certified with subspecialty certification in pain management, Dr. Noe is a Diplomate of the American Board of Anesthesiology, certified in the subspecialty of pain medicine, and a Fellow of Interventional Pain Practice. Dr. Noe has published a number of scholarly articles, authored and coauthored more than 30 book chapters, and delivered scores of invited lectures on topics related to pain management. He joined the UT Southwestern faculty in 1991. Dr. Noe earned his medical degree at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. He completed an anesthesiology residency and pain management fellowship at Texas Tech University, as well as a cardiothoracic anesthesiology residency and a critical care medicine fellowship at Stanford University. A founding member of the Texas Pain Society, Dr. Noe is a member of other professional organizations that include the American Pain Society, Texas Medical Association, and Texas Society of Anesthesiologists. He has served as a reviewer for publications that include The Spine Journal and Pain Practice. Dr. Noe is married and has two grown children.

Ovidiu Nicolae Palea was born in Blaj, a small town in the heart of Transylvania, and was raised in Bucharest, Romania.

He graduated from the Carol Davila University of Medicine and Pharmacy in 1989 and continued on graduating from his residency program in Anesthesiology at George Washington University Hospital, Washington DC, USA in 2003.

After graduating from an Intensive Care fellowship at the same University Hospital a year later, he continued to work at Washington University Hospital until the end of 2007 when he returned to Romania.

He started his pain management practice in 2011, being the first Romanian to be accredited in Pain Management by the World Institute of Pain in August 2017.

In 2018, his practice became the only Medical training facility in Eastern and Central Europe to be approved as a training facility by the European Society of Regional Anesthesia and Pain Therapy.

He has extensive expertise in spine endoscopy,  holds regular workshops in a wide variety of minimally invasive pain management procedures across the world, and has been included in the list of approved examiners by the World Institute of Pain.

Dr Vikram B. Patel is an anesthesiologist and a board certified interventional pain specialist with nearly 25 years of experience and has trained numerous pain physicians in USA and across the globe. He is the past program director for pain fellowship at Loyola University Hospital in Chicago and was an associate professor at the Department of Anesthesiology. Currently he is the Director at Phoenix Interventional Center for Advanced Learning near Chicago, USA and Associate Medical Director Clinical Operations for AIM Specialty Health in Chicago, USA. He has published numerous book chapters and journal articles and has directed cadaver courses for several years at ASA, ASRA-PM, CCF etc. He is an examiner for FIPP and DABIPP examinations and has served as a Board member for the FIPP Board of Examination in the past.

Dr Edit Racz has more than 30 years of experience in chronic pain management, with anesthesia and critical care background. She got involved with the World Institute of Pain (WIP) in 1994 and initiated the yearly Budapest Congress with Professors Prithvy Raj, Gabor Rácz and late Jim Heavner. She was one of the first to establish chronic pain care in Hungary and was the first Hungarian Fellow of Interventional Pain Practice.
Since 2013 she serves as a board examiner for WIP and she is the President of the Hungarian Chapter of the WIP.
She was a Chief Anesthesiologist, Intensivist and Pain physician at Péterfy Hospital, Budapest between 1999 and 2018. Since 2018 she has been practicing in private practice at Saint Magdolna Hospital. She performs most fluoroscopy and ultrasound guided pain interventional procedures, as well as teaches more advanced procedures to pain physicians from all over Europe. Regenerative medicine has been a part of her practice since 2006.
Currently she works in chronic interventional pain and anesthesia in Budapest at St Magdolna Private Hospital.
Her main clinical interests are treatment options for lumbar hernias, failed back surgery syndrome and regenerative medicine techniques (such as PRP and prolotherapy for various spine and musculoskeletal conditions).

Grover Murray Professor and TTUHSC Endowed Chair
Professor and Chairman Emeritus Department of Anesthesiology
Past President of Texas Pain Society
Founder and Past President of World Institute of Pain

Dr. Racz graduated The University of Liverpool Medical School, completed his residency at SUNY Upstate Medical Center and served at SUNY from 1966-1977 when he moved to Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center where he served until 2016 as co-director of Pain Services at Grace Medical Center in Lubbock, Texas. Dr. Racz is a founder and past president of World Institute of Pain and Texas Pain Society. He is the first Grover E. Murry Professor named after the first President of the Texas Tech University School of Medicine. He was director of the TTUHSC Pain Symposium since its inception 33 years ago and is also Director of the annual Budapest Conference since it began 23 years ago. He was the first President of the Texas Pain Society.
Dr. Racz board certified with the American Board of Anesthesiology, the American Board of Anesthesiology subspecialty in Pain Medicine, and holds the certificates of Diplomat with the American College of Pain Medicine, Fellow of Interventional Pain Practice awarded by the World Institute of Pain and the Diplomat American Board of Interventional Pain Practice (DABIPP) certification awarded by ASIPP and WIP. He is an advocate for high standards of certification and training among pain physicians and works toward the advancement of those goals.
He has received numerous recognitions and awards from organizations around the world including Distinguished Professor Award for Lifetime Achievement from Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, the Lifetime Achievement Award(s) from American Society of Interventional Pain Physicians, ASIPP keynote speaker lecture series named for Raj/Racz, and the MORICCA AWARD, the highest award presented by the Italian Pain Society. He educated over 1,000 Pain Physician visitors during tenure at Texas Tech.
He has published over 200 book chapters and journal articles and three books describing his techniques in spinal cord and peripheral nerve stimulation, neurolysis, radiofrequency thermocoagulation and other interventional procedures. Today, Dr. Racz continues to practice in Dallas, Texas, hosts Racz Labs Interventional workshops, and travels around the world presenting lectures and workshops.

Dr Reddy trained as a specialist registrar in anaesthesia, intensive care and pain medicine from the London south east thames school of anaesthesia and passed the The Fellowship of the Royal College of Anaesthesia, FRCA. He further completed the advanced pain medicine fellowship training from Guys & St. Thomas’ and King’s College Hospitals and was awarded Fellowship of The Faculty of Pain Medicine of
The Royal College of Anaesthetists, FFPMRCA. He passed The European Diploma in Regional Anaesthesia, EDRA conducted by the European Society of Regional Anaesthesia, ESRA in Bordeaux, France. He later passed his Fellow of Interventional Pain Practice, FIPP conducted by the World Institute of Pain, WIP in Budapest,
Hungary and Certified Interventional Pain Sonologist, CIPS conducted by the World
Institute of Pain in Nijmegen, Netherlands.
Dr Reddy’s special interest is ultrasound guided interventional pain & musculoskeletal procedures. Dr Reddy is faculty and examiner for the Certified interventional Pain Sonologist CIPS examinations conducted by the World Institute of Pain in Miami & Budapest. He is the clinical director for chronic pain management services and educational director for pain medicine fellowship programme at the Medway Maritime Hospital in Kent, UK.
He is the course director for the Annual World Academy of Pain Medicine Ultrasound conference (WAPMU) London and UK chapter chairman of The World Academy of Pain Medicine Ultrasonography. Dr Reddy is the President Elect of The World Academy of Pain Medicine Ultrasonography, WAPMU.
As invited faculty he helps conduct workshops for World Institute of Pain (WIP), World Academy of Pain Medicine Ultrasonography (WAPMU), European Society of Regional Anaesthesia & Pain Medicine (ESRA, Innsbruck), London Society of Regional Anaesthesia & Pain Medicine (LSORA, London), Society for Ultrasound in Anaesthesia & Pain Medicine (SUA, London) and Pain School International (PSI, Budapest).

President, Founder, and CEO (1987)
Clinica Vertebra- Barcelona / Madrid
Spine & Pain Surgery Centers, Spain

Founder (2001) & President (2005 – 2009) of the Catalan Pain Society, Academia de Ciencies Mediques i de la Salut. Barcelona

Vice-President (2012 – ), World Federation of Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery Societies

Founder (1993) & President (2011-2013) of World Institute of Pain, USA

Promoter ( 2016 – 2020) of Taiwan WIP East – South Asia FIPP /CIPS Program at Taiwan National University, Taipei, Taiwan

Advisor & Hon. Member ( 2020) of Taiwan WIP Registered Society

Dr. Sahinler was born in Turkey. He spent a large portion of his childhood in Washington D.C. where his family served as diplomats. He later received his Doctor of Medicine from the University of Ankara with honors. Once he had his medical degree he returned to the United States and began his Anesthesiology residency at Texas Tech University School of Medicine. After residency, he completed his interventional pain management fellowship also at Texas Tech University. He was given the prestigious Dr. Racz/ Dr. Raj award for outstanding Pain Management Fellow. He has been in private practice in Lubbock Texas since 2004. Dr. Sahinler is married to Dr. Michelle Sahinler who is a Gynecologist and they have two children, Seth and Jake. He is a die-hard Red Raider and enjoys tailgating, spending time with his family, and hunting. He is proud and excited to be a partner at Lubbock Spine Institute. His special clinical interests are neuromodulation, implantable drug therapies, and kyphoplasty for the repair of osteoporotic fractures. Dr. Sahinler is board certified by the American Board of Anesthesiology with added qualifications in pain management.

Dr. Staats was the founder of the division of Pain Medicine in the Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine at Johns Hopkins University, where he was the division chief and director for over a decade. In this capacity he was youngest major division chief in the history of Johns Hopkins Hospital and was the first anesthesiologist to obtain surgical privileges at any academic university. In 2003 he became a founding partner in Premier Pain Centers in New Jersey which merged with National Spine and Pain Centers (NSPC), the largest pain practice in the United States. He is currently the chief medical officer of National Spine and Pain. He serves on the United States Health and Human Services Pain task force subcommittee.
He is boarded by the American Society of Anesthesiology, the American Board of Interventional Pain Physicians (ABIPP) and the World Institute of Pain (FIPP). He has edited or co- authored 11 textbooks on pain medicine and written over four hundred articles, book chapters and abstracts on neuromodulation and the diagnosis and management of complex pain problems. His publications have appeared in prominent journals including JAMA, Lancet, Anesthesiology, Pain Medicine and others. He has chaired hundreds of meetings devoted to innovation in pain and neuromodulation around the world.
He is listed in Americas Top Doctors, New Jersey Top Doctors and Best Doctors in America. He is the Past President of (ASIPP), The American Society of Interventional Pain Physicians, the North American Neuromodulation Society (NANS), the southern pain society the New Jersey Society of interventional pain physicians (NJSIPP) and was the first chair of the American Society of Anesthesia’s committee on Interventional pain. He served as chairman of Board of Examination World Institute of Pain (WIP) and is currently President Elect of the WIP.

In Prof.dr Monique Steegers’ patient care, research and education, the daily clinical practice of patients influensing the quality of life of patients with acute and chronic pain and in the palliative care setting is still the starting point. Prof.dr. Steegers focuses mainly on the development of acute and chronic pain medicine. She focuses on the question of multidimensionality and interdisciplinary action in the chain care of the pain. She works extensively with national and international education groups and will always look for national and international connection in her research. As full professor dr. Steegers wants to further develop solid networks with professionals working in the field of pain medicine and palliative care influencing the quality of life.

Dr. Agnes Stogicza is a board-certified anesthesiologist and pain physician with 15+ years of experience in interventional pain management. She completed her pain fellowship at the University of Washington, where she was on faculty from 2010 to 2017. As a clinician-educator she treated pain patients and taught fluoroscopy and ultrasound guided minimally invasive interventional pain procedures, regional anesthesia techniques and medication management for complex chronic pain patients to pain fellows and residents.
Currently she works in chronic interventional pain and anesthesia in Budapest at St Magdolna Private Hospital.
She is a member of the World Institute of Pain (WIP) Education Committee, Vice-Chair of the Hungarian Section of WIP and serves as an examiner for the FIPP (Fellow of Interventional Pain Practice) and CIPS (Certified Interventional Pain Sonologist) Board Certification.
She regularly lectures and teaches interventional pain procedures in the US, Europe, South America, India and Africa for the American Society of Interventional Pain Physicians (ASIPP), World Institute of Pain (WIP), American Society of Regional Anesthesia (ASRA), World Academy of Pain Medicine Ultrasonography (WAPMU), Singular and other societies.
She is a co-founder of Pain School International that provides interventional pain education in Budapest for doctors from all around the world.
She has authored and co-authored numerous book-chapters and papers in chronic pain management.
Her main clinical interests are neck pain and headaches, peripheral nerve entrapments, and regenerative medicine techniques (such as PRP, BMC and prolotherapy for various spine and musculoskeletal conditions).

Andrea Trescot, MD is past president of the American Society of Interventional Pain Physicians (ASIPP), past president of the Florida Society of Interventional Pain Physicians (FSIPP), past president of the Alaska Society of Interventional Pain Physicians (AKSIPP), a former professor at the University of Washington in Seattle, Washington, and the previous director of the pain fellowship programs at the University of Washington and the University of Florida. She was a pain clinic director in private practice for 10 years before she moved to academics. She has returned to private practice, where she splits her time between Alaska and Florida. She is also the Chief Medical Officer of Stimwave, a wireless stimulation company. Dr. Trescot has authored more than 150 peer-reviewed articles and textbook chapters, and she is the editor and senior author of a 900-page pain textbook (Peripheral Nerve Entrapments – Clinical Diagnosis and Management). She is also co-author of PainWise – A Patient’s Guide to Pain Management, as well as co-editor of the three-volume pain review textbook Pain Medicine & Interventional Pain Management – A Comprehensive Review. She speaks internationally on topics of pain medicine and interventional pain management.

Kris Vissers is an anesthesiologist, professor in Pain and Palliative Medicine, and chairman of the Radboud Expertise Center of Pain and Palliative Medicine of the Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre in the Netherlands. He is also the chair of the Acute Pain Care improvement program of the academic hospital.

He obtained his graduation in Medical Sciences at the University of Antwerp (Belgium) and his graduation as an Anesthesiologist at the University of Antwerp and the Catholic University of Leuven (Belgium) in 1993. He specialized in pain management in Leuven (B) and Nijmegen (NL), with Prof. Dr. H. Adriaensen, Prof. Dr. H. van Aken, Prof. Dr. L. Booij and Prof. Dr. B. Crul. As of 1995, he was a staff member of the University-affiliated Hospital East-Limburg, Genk, Belgium where he founded the Multidisciplinary Pain Center. He was visiting consultant for the palliative care unit and hospital team. He was consultant for the home care organization in Palliative Care “Pallium” in Limburg (B).

He obtained the degree of doctor in the medical sciences Ph.D. in 2004 at Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Center, The Netherlands. Also, he graduated as a Fellow in Interventional Pain Practice for the World Institute of Pain (U.S.A.) in 2004.

Since 2005, he is Professor in Pain and Palliative Medicine. He is Chair of the Board of Examination of the World Institute of Pain, Honorary Secretary of the Benelux Chapter of the World Institute of Pain, and the first chairman of the Dutch Society of Multidisciplinary Palliative Care Professionals[1], chapter of the European Association of Palliative Care (EAPC) and board member of the Dutch Pain Society, chapter of the IASP.

His main research interests are (1) translational approach and research on neuropathic pain, (2) practical and ethical application of palliative sedation, (3) proactive care and identification of patients in a palliative trajectory, (4) quality indicators of the organization and practice of pain and palliative medicine, (5) e-health and telemedicine in transmural care programs (6) decision making in palliative care and end-of-life and (7) the description of competences and performances for the education and training in pain and palliative medicine.

He succeeded together with his young research group in getting external funding resources for major research projects in pain and palliative care (Europall, 7th framework, ZonMw, NWO, KWF, STW).

He is the author of more than 160 publications in international peer-reviewed journals and contributed to more than 20 textbooks. He contributes to local and national education with regular articles in Belgian and Dutch journals for physicians and for the lay public. He is frequently asked as a speaker during national and international congresses and teaching courses. He is the promotor of 26 PhD students in his topics of interest. He organized 7 international congresses and workshops. He was a member of several scientific committees of congresses.