Faculty Biographies
David Abejon, MD
Dr. Abejón was born in Madrid; he received is degree in Medicine and
Surgery in the University of Alcalá de Henares in 1994 and completed his
residency in Anesthesiology, Reanimation and Pain Medicine in the
Universitary Hospital “Puerta de Hierro” (Madrid), as well as his PhD
studies in the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid. Dr Abejón is “Fellow of
International Pain Practice” according to the World Institute of Pain and
has been president of the Madrid Pain Society. He currently leads the
Universitary Hospital “Puerta de Hierro” as well as M.D. Anderson Clinic’s
respective Pain Units (both in Madrid) and is a regular collaborator of several private Health Institutions such as Clinica del Dolor de Madrid.
Kenneth AlÒ, MD
Dr. Alò has extensive experience in the use of neurostimulators to treat chronic pain, having implanted over 2,000 devices in the
past 15 years. Well-published within the field of neuromodulation, he often speaks to U.S and international audiences on pain topics
and trains physicians in the use of pain management techniques. He also conducted research that helped pioneer the use of
dual 8-electrode leads in spinal cord stimulation. Dr. Alò is board-cer tified, graduated from Texas A&M University College of Medicine,
trained in general surgery, anesthesiology and pain management at Baylor College of Medicine, and holds bachelor of science
degrees in Applied Mathematical Science from the University of Houston and basic medical science from Texas A&M University. He
is an editor of the journal Neuromodulation – Technology at the Neural Interface.
Dr. Alò would like to make the following disclosures: He is on the Scientific Advisory Board and a consultant for St. Jude Medical Neuromodulation.
Giancarlo Barolat, MD
Dr. Barolat is a pioneer in using neurostimulators to manage pain and spasticity, having implanted his first device in the 1970’s. His background includes neurosurgery residencies at the University of Torino in Italy and the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee as well as fellowship training in functional neurosurgery and neurostimulation at the Mount Sinai Medical Center in Miami, Florida. In 1985, he joined the neurosurgery faculty of Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, where he directed the functional neurosurgery division and neuro-implant program at the university’s hospital. He left the university in 2004 to found the Barolat Institute in Denver, Colorado. The author of over 60 book chapters and journal ar ticles, Dr. Barolat has lectured throughout the U.S. and the world and helped to design neurostimulation products. Dr. Barolat is also a founding member and co-director of the Nor th American Neuromodulation Society and ser ves on the editorial board of Neuromodulation – Technology at the Neural Interface.
Dr. Barolat would like to make the following disclosures: He is on the Speaker’s Bureau for St. Jude Medical and Medtronic.
Richard Bowman, MD
A West Virginia native, Dr. Bowman received a bachelor's degree in biology with a minor in chemistry and English from Marshall University in Huntington, WV, before enrolling in the West Virginia University School of Medicine. After earning his medical degree, he went on to complete a residency in physical medicine and rehabilitation.
Dr. Bowman has no relevant disclosures.
Lora Brown, MD, DAIBB
Dr. Brown began her vigorous career by graduating from the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, completing her
general surgery internship as well as her residency in anesthesiology at University Hospital in San Antonio. She completed her
fellowship training in pain management at the prestigious Cleveland Clinic Foundation. Dr. Brown has been practicing in Florida for
eight years and has presented on several topics about chronic pain management. She is past president of the Florida Society of
Interventional Pain Physicians, an ASIPP board member, and is currently the president of the Manatee County Medical Society. She
was recently appointed by Governor Crist to the Florida Prescription Drug Monitoring Program Oversight and Implantation Committee.
In addition to her clinical research activities, she has a full time practice as an inter ventional pain specialist with Coastal
Orthopedics, Pain Management and Rehabilitation in Bradenton, Florida.
Dr. Brown would like to make the following disclosures: She is on the Scientific Advisory Board for Ver tos Medical and does scientific research for Ver tos Medical and St. Jude Medical.
Allen W. Burton
Dr. Allen W. Burton is the Chairman of the Department of Pain Medicine and Professor of Pain Medicine at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center (MDACC) in Houston TX, where he has practiced and led the pain program since 2000. He is the Immediate Past-President of the Texas Pain Society and is an active member of numerous pain societies, including serving on the several boards, scientific boards, and editorial boards. Dr. Burton obtained his Bachelor of Science at the University of Notre Dame, Medical Doctorate at Baylor College of Medicine, and completed anesthesiology residency at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School serving as the Chief Resident. He is board certified by the American Board of Anesthesiologists, with subspecialty certification in Pain Management. He is also board certified by the American Board of Pain Medicine, in addition to being a Fellow in Interventional Pain Practice from the World Institute of Pain. Dr Burton has trained more than 25 fellows in pain medicine, lectured and presented at numerous national and international meetings. He has written 2 textbooks and has numerous peer-reviewed publications in pain medicine. Dr Burton has received numerous awards for teaching and research including the B.Braun/American Society of Regional Anesthesiology Fellow in Pain Management research award. His practice includes the use of pharmacologic and interventional pain management techniques such as neuromodulation, neurolytic blocks, vertebro- and kyphoplasty. Dr Burton holds 4 US patents and recently co-founded an early stage start-up pharmaceutical company. Dr Burton lives in Houston, Texas with his wife of many years and three sons.
Dr. Burton would like to make the following disclosures: He has a research grant from Medtronic, Inc and is a consultant for te Al Mann Foundation and Boston Scientific. Dr. Burton would also like to disclose that he receives royalties and has stock ownership in Vapogenix, Inc.
David Caraway, MD, PhD
Dr. Caraway is the CEO of The Center for Pain Relief, Tri-State, PLLC in par tnership with St. Mary’s Regional Medical Center in Huntington,
West Virginia to deliver state-of-the-ar t health care. Although the clinic provides comprehensive, multidisciplinary ser vices,
the emphasis of the practice is inter ventional pain management. He is also the founder of David Caraway, MD, PhD, PLLC, whose
mission is to elevate the field of pain management through education, research, development and deployment of new therapies
while promoting “best practice” strategies. Dr. Caraway received his MD from the University of Virginia School of Medicine and his
PhD from the University of Virginia Graduate School of Ar ts and Sciences. Dr. Caraway is board cer tified by the American Board
of Anesthesiology. He ser ves as an advisor, lecturer and committee member to the Nor th American Neuromodulation Society and
is a member of and frequent lecturer at the national meetings of the American Academy of Pain Medicine and American Society
of Anesthesiologists. Dr. Caraway also ser ves on the board of directors for both the West Virginia Society of Inter ventional Pain
Physicians (WVSIPP) and the American Society of Interventional Pain Physicians (ASIPP).
Dr. Caraway would like to make the following disclosures: He is on the Scientific Advisory Board and the Speaker’s Bureau for Medtronic and Ver tos Medical. He also does scientific research for Ver tos Medical.
Jonathan Carlson, MD
Dr. Carlson is board certified in both anesthesiology and pain by the American Board of Anesthesiology. He is a graduate of the University of Oklahoma College of Medicine. He completed his residency in anesthesiology at the University of California-Davis, where he was selected to be chief resident. While there he co-authored a book for physicians beginning their training in anesthesiology and co-directed the annual Western Anesthesia Resident Conference. Subsequently, Dr. Carlson completed his pain fellowship at Texas Tech. As a fellow, he was awarded one of the top poster presentations at the American Society of Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine annual pain conference for presenting on the treatment of atypical facial pain with peripheral neuromodulation. He is currently practicing interventional pain medicine in Phoenix with Arizona Pain Specialists, one of the fastest growing pain medicine groups in the Southwest. Dr Carlson is also an assistant professor at Midwestern Medical School where he lectures on occasion. He has made guest appearances on television and radio programs in Arizona discussing the topic of pain management. He has written articles for several Phoenix magazines as well as for the Internet site www.PainDoctor.com. Recently he co-authored chapters in two medical textbooks on neuromodulation for cervical and lumbar radiculopathy. He currently holds the position of Secretary for the Arizona chapter of the American Society of Interventional Pain Physicians. Dr. Carlson takes a proactive role in lobbying for pain management in both Arizona and on Capitol Hill.
Kelly Castleberry, III, CIMA®, Senior Vice President – Wealth Management
Senior Investment Management Consultant, The Charleston Group at Graystone Consulting, Morgan Stanley Smith Barney, LLC.
Since joining Smith Barney in 1990, Kelly has obtained the titles of Senior Vice President and Senior Investment Management
Consultant and has been appointed to the firm’s prestigious President’s Council in each of the past eight years. Kelly is one of
the four founding par tners of the Charleston Group of Graystone Consulting, a business of Morgan Stanley Smith Barney servicing
institutions and affluent individuals. The Charleston Group consults on over $1.7 billion in client assets and is one of only 32
Graystone Consulting teams worldwide. The Charleston Group specializes in advising Family Offices, Health Care Organizations,
Defined Benefit Pensions, Religious Organizations, and Foundations and Endowments. Kelly is a Cer tified Investment Management
AnalystSM (CIMA®). This designation is offered through the Investment Management Consultants AssociationSM as developed
by the faculty and staff of the Whar ton School of Business. He has also earned the Accredited Investment Fiduciary® (AIF®), a
professional designation awarded by the Center for Fiduciary Studies in conjunction with the University of Pittsburgh. Additionally,
Kelly has received formal training in investment fiduciary responsibility.
Mr. Castleberry has no relevant disclosures.
Chris Chavez, CEO, St. Jude Neuromodulation
Christopher G. Chavez is president of St. Jude Medical Neuromodulation Division (NMD) and an officer of St. Jude Medical. Mr. Chavez joined St. Jude Medical through its acquisition of Advanced Neuromodulation Systems (ANS) in 2005. He joined ANS as president, CEO, and director in 1998 and has guided ANS/NMD through 12 years of innovation and growth.
Mr. Chavez started his career in the medical device industry with Johnson & Johnson Medical, Inc. in 1981 and progressed through several cross-functional roles over a period of 17 years to become Vice President and General Manager of the Infection Control Business Unit, with approximately $500 million in worldwide revenues. Prior to ANS, Mr. Chavez served as Vice President of Worldwide Marketing and Strategic Planning at Eastman Kodak’s Health Imaging Division, where the division’s five worldwide business units reported to him.
Mr. Chavez holds an MBA from Harvard University and currently serves as a board member for the Medical Device Manufacturers Association.
Timothy Deer, MD
Dr. Deer is the president and chief executive officer of The Center for Pain Relief in Charleston, West Virginia and president of the
West Virginia Society of Inter ventional Pain Physicians (WVSIPP). He is a clinical professor of anesthesiology at the West Virginia
University School of Medicine, where he also received his medical degree. He completed his training in anesthesiology and pain
medicine at the University of Virginia. Dr. Deer has published on a range of topics, including injection techniques, minimally invasive
disc procedures, intrathecal drug delivery, and spinal cord and peripheral nerve stimulation. He has lectured at many national
and international symposiums and has been involved in the hands-on training of more than a thousand interventional pain specialists.
He serves on the board of directors of the Nor th American Neuromodualtion Society and American Academy of Pain Medicine.
He is the immediate past chair of the committee on pain medicine of the American Society of Anesthsiologists, a member of
the editorial board of the journal Neuromodulation – Technology at the Neural Interface and ser ves on several other boards and
committees. Dr. Deer has authored numerous journal ar ticles, chapters and review ar ticles.
Dr. Deer would like to make the following disclosures: He is on the Scientific Advisory Boards for Bioness, Ver tos Medical, Spinal Modulation, and Stryker. He is on the Speaker’s Bureau and does scientific research for Ver tos Medical and St. Jude Medical. He also does scientific research for Spinal Modulation.
Sudhir Diwan, MD, ABIPP, FIPP
Sudhir Diwan, M.D. is Director of Pain Medicine and Associate Professor of Clinical Anesthesiology at New York Presbyterian Hospital,
and Director of the Tri-Institutional Pain Fellowship Program at Weill Cornell Medical College of Cornell University. As Director
of Pain Medicine, he provides strategic direction for the division to provide cutting edge inter ventional modalities. Dr. Diwan’s
main interests are advanced inter ventional techniques including minimally invasive spinal procedures, radiofrequency neurolysis, neuroaugmentation techniques and intrathecal pain therapies. He has authored and co-authored several book chapters and written
articles on various topics in peer reviewed journals in pain medicine. Dr. Diwan has appeared as guest speaker to many organizations
including the American Cancer Society, and ser ved as faculty in several review courses and cadaver workshops regionally,
nationally and internationally. He is frequently listed in America’s Top Physicians, Best Doctors in New York Metro area, America’s Top Doctors and America’s Top Doctors for Cancer Pain by Castle Connolly. He completed his residency in Anesthesiology at St.
Luke’s Roosevelt Hospital and Columbia University and Pain Medicine Fellowship in the at New York-Presbyterian Hospital of Cornell
University.
Dr. Diwan would like to make the following disclosures: He is on the Speaker’s Bureau for Pfizer, King Pharmaceuticals, St. Jude Medical, Boston Scientific, and Medtronic.
Claudio Feler, MD
Dr. Claudio Andres Feler was born on 09/24/58 in Concepcion, Chile and moved to the United States at the age of five. He grew up in the Midwest and graduated with honors from the University of Kentucky, earning a degree in Biochemistry. He was admitted to Phi Beta Kappa honor society. Following college, he attended medical school at the University of Louisville, graduating in 1984. He moved to Memphis, Tennessee in 1984 and subsequently completed an internship in Surgery and a residency in Neurological Surgery at the University of Tennessee Center for Health Sciences. During his training, he also completed a fellowship in Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery at Toronto General Hospital in Canada, under the tutelage of Dr. Ronald Tasker.
Following his training, he joined the Semmes-Murphey Neurologic and Spine Institute and the faculty of the University of Tennessee at Memphis, where he is now an Associate Professor.
Dr. Feler’s areas of interest include surgery of chronic pain, surgery of movement disorders, stereotactic surgery, and minimally invasive spinal surgery
Shawn George, Esq.
Mr. George has practiced trial work for the past thirty years. He left Jackson & Kelly to found what is now George & Lorensen P.L.L.C. in 1991. He represents both Plaintiffs and Defendants in civil and commercial litigation in various state and federal courts. His work has included statewide, regional and national coordinating counsel roles in the defense of several mass tort actions, including: asbestos, tobacco, noise induced hearing loss and medical products. He has also prosecuted and defended medical negligence actions and business disputes. Mr. George also consults with clients on business issues, risk management and litigation avoidance. One such client is Center for Pain Relief.
Mr. George earned his B.A. in Government from Hamilton College in 1977. He was a Teaching Fellow at Athens College, in Athens, Greece, from 1977-1978, and then attended Washington & University School of Law, from which he graduated in 1981. He won best oralist and best brief in the John W. Davis Moot Court Competition. Mr. George has also served on the Law School’s Law Council and is an emeritus member.
Mr. George is recognized among the top twelve commercial litigators in West Virginia by Chambers Best Lawyers in America. He is also listed as a West Virginia Super Lawyer in litigation.
Mr. George is the former Chairman of the Board of Sunrise Museum; Member of the Executive Council of the Clay Center for the Arts and Sciences of West Virginia; and Board Member of Daymark. He remains on the Clay Center Board and also serves on the Executive Committee and as Secretary to the Board of Trustees of Northwood School.
Stanley Golovac, MD
As a board cer tified Pain Management Physician, Dr. Golovac is the President and CEO of Space Coast Pain Institute, in Cape
Canaveral Florida. He has collaborated with and educated physicians all over the world on advanced inter ventional pain procedures
as a private consultant and as an assistant clinical professor of anesthesia at the University of Miami’s Jackson Memorial Medical
Center. In addition, Dr. Golovac is the editor of Space Coast Medical News, ser ves as the medical director of Space Coast Ambulatory
Center in Merritt Island, is writing a chapter on spinal cord stimulation (SCS), is a member of seven different medical societies,
serves on many committees, has been a visiting professor in places like Brazil, Chile, Columbia, and most major US Cities.
Dr. Golovac would like to make the following disclosures: He is on the Scientific Advisory Board for Stryker Corporation and works for St. Jude Medical—Neuro Division. He also does scientific research for Dekompressor Percutaneous Discectomy.
Salim Hayek, MD, PhD
Dr. Hayek attended undergraduate training and received his MD at the American University of Beirut in 1991. After moving to
the United States, he received his PhD in Physiology and Biophysics from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland Ohio.
He joined the Depar tment of Anesthesiology at University Hospitals of Cleveland, Case Western Reser ve University as a Clinical
Instructor in 1998 and resigned that position in 2000 to join the Cleveland Clinic where he has held positions in both the Department
of Anesthesiology and Depar tment of Pain Medicine. In 2006, Dr. Hayek left the Cleveland Clinic Foundation to accept a
position as an Associate Professor at Case Western Reserve University and Chief of the Division of Pain Medicine, Depar tment of
Anesthesiology, at University Hospitals of Cleveland.
Dr. Hayek would like to make the following disclosures: He is on the Scientific Advisory Board and does scientific research for Boston Scientific.
Mir Imran
Mir Imran founded InCube Labs to focus on his passion: creating medical solutions that change the standard of care in critical healthcare markets. After attending medical school, Mir began his career as a healthcare entrepreneur in the late 1970's and has founded numerous game-changing companies since those early days. Over the decades, he has become one of the leading inventors and entrepreneurs in the field. Mir now holds more than 200 issued patents and is perhaps most well known for his pioneering contributions to the first FDA-approved Automatic Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator. As an entrepreneur, Mir has founded more than 20 life sciences companies; 15 of his companies have seen "liquidity events" (IPO/Acquisition). Mir's expertise spans a wide range of clinical areas from interventional cardiology to chronic pain, obesity and CNS disorders. Mir actively collaborates with the nation's top universities on research and development including Stanford, Rutgers, Johns Hopkins, UTSW, among others. Mir also founded InCube Ventures, a life sciences venture fund, where he has led investments in a range of promising ventures. Mir sits on Boards of several life sciences companies. He holds an M.S. in bioengineering and a B.S. in electrical engineering from Rutgers. He also attended CMDNJ/Rutgers Medical School.
Leonardo Kapural, MD, PhD
Leonardo Kapural, M.D, Ph.D. is a Pain Management specialist at the Cleveland Clinic, Director of Pain Management Clinical
Research and Associate Professor of Anesthesiology at Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine, Case Western University. Dr.
Kapural’s interests include discogenic low back pain, visceral abdominal pain, and spinal cord stimulation. Dr. Kapural earned
a medical degree and a doctorate of philosophy at the University of Zagreb, School of Medicine in the Republic of Croatia. He
completed Research Fellowships at McGill University’s Anesthesia Research Depar tment in Montreal, Canada and his completed
residency and Fellowship in Pain Management at the Cleveland Clinic. Dr. Kapural is an active member of several professional
organizations including the American Academy of Pain Medicine, International Association for the Study of Pain, American Society
of Anesthesiology, American Neuromodulation Society and World Institute of Pain. In addition, he is an invited speaker to many
national and international meetings. His notewor thy research findings have been published in more than 60 journal ar ticles, 50
abstracts, and four book chapters.
Dr. Kapural would like to make the following disclosures: He is on the Speaker’s Bureau for Pfiedder Enterprises, Inc. and does scientific research for Baylis Medical, Inc.
Christopher Kim, MD
Dr. Kim earned a bachelor's degree in biology from Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, VA, and received his medical degree from the Medical College of Virginia in Richmond. He then completed both an internship and a residency in anesthesiology and earned his board certification in this specialty. Dr. Kim has also served as an assistant professor of anesthesiology in the pain management department at the Medical College of Virginia.
Dr. Kim has no relevant disclosures.
Robert Levy, MD, PhD
Dr. Rober t M. Levy, director of Nor thwestern Memorial’s Gamma Knife Program and professor of neurological surgery, physiology,
and radiation oncology at the Feinberg School of Medicine, came to Nor thwestern in 1987. His medical degree was earned at
Stanford University Medical School, where he also received his doctorate in neurosciences and completed a postdoctoral fellowship.
He performed a residency in neurological surgery and ser ved as chief resident at the University of California-San Francisco,
where he also worked with the Brain Tumor Research Center. Dr. Levy is board cer tified in neurological surgery and has performed
stereotactic radiosurgery procedures as well as conventional neurosurgical operations for several years. He has authored several
neurological urgery texts and published hundreds of journal ar ticles, abstracts and national and international presentations. He
has been given a number of honors and awards and has been listed in the Best Doctors in America for his work in neurological
surgery and radiosurgery. He is the Editor in Chief of the journal Neuromodulation – Technology at the Neural Interface.
Dr. Levy would like to make the following disclosures: He is on the Scientific Advisory Boards for St. Jude Medical Neuromodulation, Medtronic, Spinal Modulation, Ver tos Medical, Codman & Shir tleff, Stryker, and Bioness.
Paul Lynch, MD
Arizona Pain Specialists Co-Founder Paul Lynch is an Anesthesiologist and Interventional Pain Physician who has dedicated his life to the eradication of pain. He currently works in Scottsdale and Glendale treating complex pain patients with a Holistic approach. Dr. Lynch is involved with multiple research studies and is an Assistant Professor at Mayo Clinic College of Medicine. He specializes in difficult cases where other pain doctors have given up. His training in surgery, anesthesia, and pain management have positioned him to provide the highest quality pain management to the Phoenix area. After completing an internship in General Surgery at Beth Israel Medical Center in New York city, Paul studied Anesthesiology at New York University where he trained extensively in regional anesthesia techniques. He then went on to finish a Pain Management fellowship at Texas Tech University.
Tory L. McJunkin, MD
Dr. Tory McJunkin is a double-board certified interventional pain medicine physician. Dr. McJunkin was trained by the top experts in the field of pain medicine and teaches and lectures nationally to other pain physicians. Dr. McJunkin is a two-time winner of the Patient’s Choice Award and has been selected as a Top Doctor in Scottsdale. Aside from the acclaim, he is a compassionate physician who works daily to help his patients regain their lives and get back to doing the activities they love.
Dr. McJunkin completed his pain management fellowship at the prestigious Texas Tech University, one of the highest rated pain programs in the country. Once his fellowship was completed, Dr. McJunkin co-founded Arizona Pain Specialists with the hope of bringing expert comprehensive safe and effective pain care to as many people as possible.
Dr. McJunkin is educated and experienced in all aspects of pain management, but has specialized expertise in advanced interventional pain medicine including: Spinal Cord Stimulation (SCS), Peripheral Nerve Stimulation (PNS), Peripheral Nerve field Stimulation (PNfS), and fracture repair through vertebroplasty/verterbral augmentation. Dr. McJunkin teaches other physicians how to perform spinal cord stimulation and help patients with difficult and advanced debilitating pain conditions.
With his knowledge and the use of advanced medicine, he has been able to help many patients who had little hope of a functional life. Dr. McJunkin teaches at conferences, leads several research studies, and is regularly published in medical journals to the benefit of other physicians who may not be aware of how advanced treatments and techniques can help their patients.
Dr. McJunkin believes that well-educated patients have the best chance for pain-free lifestyles, and consistently works to bring patients the education they need through programs at Arizona Pain Specialists. Dr. McJunkin is the editor of the Arizona Pain Monthly magazine that circulates to thousands. He also is an active member of the Board of Directors for PainDoctor.com, a national website educating patients and clinicians about pain conditions and interventional pain treatment options. A Scottsdale native, Dr. McJunkin is regularly involved in local and foreign mission work, and actively participates with the Arizona Pain Foundation, offering medical care and supplies to those in need. He has been to Africa, Nepal, Bolivia and Mexico on medical mission efforts. Dr. McJunkin is married to Jenny and has two young children with one on the way.
Porter McRoberts, MD
Dr. McRoberts is currently the director of pain medicine at Holy Cross Hospital in Fort Lauderdale, He has published on a wide range of topics, from estrogen receptor activation to novel neuromodulatory techniques. He is currently involved in FDA approved research endeavors surrounding minimally invasive spine medicine, as well as spinal cord and peripheral nerve stimulation and resultantly consults on new product design. After graduating from the University of Kentucky College of Medicine, he completed residency in physical medicine and rehabilitation at Loma Linda University as chief, as well as the ACGME interventional spine and pain fellowship at Emory University as chief. He frequently speaks on and teaches evolving methodology in pain medicine. He has and continues to serve on numerous committees guiding the ethics of medicine and research.
Dr. McRoberts would like to make the following disclosures: Dr. McRoberts conducts scientific research for: St. Jude Neuromodulation, Boston Scientific, and Bioness. He is also on the speakers bureau for St. Jude Neuromodulation.
Nagy Mekhail, MD, PhD
Nagy Mekhail, MD, PhD, is Chairman of the Department of Pain Management at Cleveland Clinic, and he holds a joint appointment at the Cleveland Clinic Spine Center and Cleveland Clinic Cancer Center. He is also Professor of Anesthesiology at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western Reserve. His treatment interests include pain management, interventional spine pain management, cancer pain and neuropathic pain. Dr. Mekhail is a member of the American Academy of Pain Medicine, an Executive Board member of the World Institute of Pain, Chair of the Interventional Pain Practice Examination Board of the World Institute of Pain, and an ASA Adjunct Member of the Committee on Pain Medicine and Committee on Physician Resources. He is a member of the Society for Anesthesia Education Committee for the Journal of Education in Perioperative Medicine.
Dr. Mekhail would like to make the following disclosures: He is on the Speaker’s Bureau for Endo Pharmaceutical and does scientific research for Baylis, Inc.
Sean McKenna
Sean McKenna has been an Assistant United States Attorney in the Northern District of Texas since 2003. He is the District's civil health care fraud coordinator and handles civil and criminal fraud cases. Before joining the U.S. Attorney's Office, Mr. McKenna worked in Washington, DC at the Office of Counsel to the Inspector General, and in Dallas at the Office of General Counsel for the Department of Health and Human Services
Jeffrey Peterson
Jeffrey Peterson is the Chief Operating Officer of the Center for Pain Relief, Inc. The Center for Pain Relief, Inc. is the largest Interventional Pain Practice in the state of West Virginia, and, has an international reputation for cutting edge therapies and world class physicians. Mr. Peterson has 15 years of professional experience, both as a state-wide branch manager for WebMD / Medical Manager Corporation, and as a partner / owner in medical practice management and billing organizations. Mr. Peterson also serves as the Executive Director for the West Virginia Society of Interventional Pain Physicians (WVSIPP)
Mr. Peterson has been involved in physician education and business programs with St. Jude Medical, hospital corporations, and physician groups since 2001. Mr. Peterson is an active member of the Medical Group Managers Association, and other professional societies with emphasis on the healthcare industry. Mr. Peterson is currently serving as contributing editor on two interventional pain textbooks that are scheduled to be published in 2010.
Joshua Prager, MD, MS
Joshua P. Prager, M.D., M.S. was born in New York City studied in public education system until he completed his pre-medical studies at Harvard University. He attended Stanford University School of Medicine where he simultaneously received a Master's Degree in management/health services research. He completed internal medicine training at UCLA and anesthesiology training at Stanford Medical Center and Harvard Medical School at the Massachusetts General Hospital. He is board certified in internal medicine and anesthesiology and is also board certified in pain medicine through both The American Board of Anesthesiology and The American Board of Pain Medicine. Dr. Prager has held full-time positions on the faculty of Harvard Medical School at the Massachusetts General Hospital and at The David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA where was director of the UCLA Pain Medicine Center.
Dr. Prager currently is the director of the Center For Rehabilitation of Pain Syndromes (CRPS) at UCLA Medical Plaza. He is a faculty member in the Department of Internal Medicine and Anesthesiology at UCLA. Dr. Prager is past-president and Senior advisor to the Board of the North American Neuromodulation Society (NANS), the society of physicians who implant devices in the nervous system to control pain, spasticity and other nervous system disorders. He is Chair of the Pain and Sympathetic Nervous System Group of the International Association for the Study of Pain, the largest organization of Pain practitioners and researchers in the world. Dr. Prager frequently concludes many of his lectures with his credo, "No patient should ever wish for death because of the unwillingness of a provider or third party payor to provide pain relief without untoward side effects."
Dr. Prager would like to make the following disclosures: he is a consultant for Medtronic, Neurogsx, King Pharmaceuticals and Nucynta.
Matthew Ranson, MD
Dr. Ranson is a native of Charleston, WV and is currently in private practice at the Center for Pain Relief in Charleston, WV. After defending a Master of Science dissertation at Tulane University he enrolled in medical school at West Virginia University. Dr. Ranson completed his anesthesiology training at The Ohio State University and fellowship in pain medicine at Duke University.
Dr. Ranson is skilled in a number of interventional and surgical pain procedures including spinal cord stimulator implants, intrathecal drug delivery systems, minimally invasive laminectomy and decompression procedures, posterior facet fusions, and other minimally invasive spinal procedures.
Despite a very busy private practice, Dr. Ranson is involved in numerous aspects of academic medicine. He has authored textbook chapters on neuromodulation, journal publications and actively participates in interventional cadaver workshops. Currently he is editing Interventional and Neuromodulatory Techniques for Pain Management which is the most comprehensive series of textbooks ever written for interventional pain management.
Dr. Ranson has no relevant disclosures.
Lou Raso, MD
Louis J. Raso, M.D. specializes in Interventional Pain Management and holds doubleboard
certifications in Pain Management and Anesthesiology. He received his M.D. degree in
1985 from Rutgers Medical School and completed his training in Anesthesiology and Pain
management at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia Pa.
He is a solo-practitioner in Jupiter Florida and has travelled throughout the United States
and abroad lecturing and instructing other physicians in spinal cord stimulation and Pain
Management. Dr. Raso dedicates everyday to finding new treatments for his patients and
participates in leading technology and research. He has published numerous journal articles and
has written various chapters in books on interventional pain management.
Matt Schocket
Dr. Schocket attended college at Rutgers University in New Jersey followed by medical school at the University of South Florida. He completed his residency in Anesthesiology at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas followed by fellowship training in Pain Management at the University of California in San Diego.
During his fellowship, Dr. Schocket was involved in several groundbreaking research projects involving low back pain and neck pain. Current research interests include headaches, diabetic neuropathic pain, cardiac (angina) and vascular pain (claudication), as well as low back and neck pain.
Dr. Schocket would like to make the following disclosures: he currently serves as a national consultant for both Boston Scientific Neuromodulation and St. Jude Neuromodulation. Dr. Schocket has also served as a member of the Abbott Pharmaceuticals national advisory council and has actively participated in research projects for Allergan, Pfizer, GlaxoSmithKline, and Merck.
Tom Tefft, Sr. VP, Neuromoduation - Medtronic, Inc.
Tom Tefft was named Senior Vice President and President of the Neuromodulation business at Medtronic in August 2009. In this role, Tom oversees the research, development, operations, and product sales and marketing for the company’s products and therapies used in the treatment of chronic pain, movement disorders, spasticity, urinary and fecal incontinence, benign prostatic hyperplasia, and gastroparesis.
Over Tom’s 18-year career with Medtronic, he has held various leadership roles at the corporate level and in the Cardiac Rhythm Disease Management business, as well as a five-year assignment at Medtronic’s Europe, Middle East and Africa headquarters. Tom serves as a Board member of the Nicholas Center for Corporate Finance and Investment Banking at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Business. Tom also serves as a Board member of the Medtronic Foundation.
Tom received his bachelor’s of arts degree in Accounting from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1982.Simon Thomson, MD
Dr. Simon Thomson was appointed as Consultant in Anaesthesia and Pain Management services at Basildon and Thurrock University NHS Trust in October 1992. He holds a particular interest in multidisciplinary pain management, education, refractory angina management and implantable neuromodulation for pain and other chronic disorders.
He was founding president of the Neuromodulation Society of UK and Ireland (NSUKI) in 2001 and has been Secretary of the International Neuromodulation Society (INS) since 2003 to 2007, president elect to 2009 and President from September 2009. He was elected onto council of the British Pain Society since 2005 to 2008. He became a fellow of interventional pain practice (FIPP) in 2002.
He has created the INS website, which is being further upgraded and will host a public education element and has built the UK database on registering neuromodulation implants.
Current research interests are of a large multicentre prospective randomised nature to demonstrate clinical and cost effectiveness of SCS when added to the management of failed back surgery syndrome, angina and critical limb ischaemia. He was the first in the UK to publish long term outcomes of SCS in a large personal series and has contributed chapters to textbooks on pain management and neurostimulation for pain. He is also working on clinical and cost effectiveness study for facet joint RF dennervation and a comparison study of the efficay and safety of thoracic epidural analgesia versus paravertebral in thoracotomy surgery.
He is involved in specialist training for pain management generally and SCS and IT drug delivery training specifically.
He has developed local care pathways for neuromodulation, back pain, chronic refractory angina, critical limb ischaemia and is currently embarked on a model for pain management education in primary care and creating regional referral networks and care pathways for complex pain patients.
He is currently chair of the scientific committee of INS 2011 in London and is on the editorial board of the journal, “Neuromodulation”.
When not working he enjoys his family and likes to ski, play tennis both Real and Lawn, cycle, cook and entertain.
Bill Tiano, Esq.
Mr. Tiano is a partner in the law firm of Tiano and O'Dell, PLLC whose practice consists of medical malpractice and other serious personal injury cases. He sits on the Board of Directors for the West Virginia Association for Justice, is a sustaining member of the American Association of Justice, the West Virgingin Consumer Attorneys, and the Public Justice Foundation. He is a frequent lecturer on medical/legal issues to other attorneys and physicians on a state and national level. Mr. Tiano has twenty-five years of experience representing seriously injured clients and has handled all typed of personal injury and wrongful death claims.
Mark Wallace, MD
Mark Wallace is the Chair, Division of Pain Medicine in the Department of Anesthesiology
of University of California at San Diego (UCSD), which is actively involved in clinical care,
teaching, and research. A nationally recognized lecturer on pain medicine, he has
extensive experience in all aspects of pain management and is involved in numerous
ongoing clinical trials for the management of pain, including acute, chronic, and cancer-related pain. His research interests include human experimental pain, spinal drug delivery,
and the use of the cannabinoids in pain management.
Dr Wallace earned his medical degree at Creighton University School of Medicine in
Omaha, Nebraska. He then completed an internship in general surgery at the Washington
Hospital Center in Washington, DC, a residency in anesthesiology at the University of
Maryland, and a Fellowship in Pain Medicine at UCSD Medical Center.
He has authored and coauthored more than 150 articles, abstracts, books, and book
chapters concerning pain research and management. Dr Wallace is an associate editor of The Clinical Journal of Pain and sits on numerous other editorial boards.
Josh wellington, MD
Dr. Wellington earned his bachelor's and master’s degrees in microbiology from Miami University and his medical degree from the Medical College of Ohio in 1999. He then completed both an internship and a residency in physical medicine and rehabilitation at Harvard University and a fellowship in pain medicine at Brigham & Women’s University in Boston, Massachusetts in 2004. Dr. Wellington joined the staff of Indiana University Medical Center in Indianapolis, Indiana in 2004 and in 2008 was named medical director of the pain management program at Indiana University, a position which he holds today.
Dr. Wellington would like to make the following disclosures: he is on the speakers bureau for the following companies: Medtronic Neuro, St. Jude Medical, Boston Scientific, PriCara, Cephalon, Covidien and Azur Pharmaceuticals.
David Wood, President and CEO, Spinal Modulation
Mr. Wood joined Spinal Modulation in 2007 as President and Chief Executive Officer. Prior to joining Spinal Modulation, he served as President and Chief Operating Officer of CardioNet, a cardiac arrhythmia monitoring service business. Previously, Mr. Wood served as Vice President and General Manager of the Drug Delivery Business Unit and as Vice President of the Diagnostics and Drug Discovery Business Unit of SurModics, Inc. Before joining SurModics, he held a variety of management positions in product development, operations, and marketing at Guidant Corporation’s Cardiac Rhythm Management Business Unit. Prior to Guidant’s formation as a spin off from Eli Lilly and Company, Mr. Wood held several management positions at Lilly’s Cardiac Pacemakers, Inc. subsidiary. Mr. Wood joined Eli Lilly and Company as a Chemical Engineer and while at Lilly he served in engineering, financial, and medical device business development positions. Mr. Wood received his B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Vanderbilt University and an M.B.A. from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.
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