Adesanya Tolu Alugo, MD, MSC, FDPCOAI, CIME, DCAPM, FIPP, CIPS, ASRA-PMUC is an Assistant Professor of Anaesthesia and Chronic Pain at Horizon Health, Canada. He is also a Researcher/Clinician @ Dailhousie /Newbrunswick health Network.
Dr Alugo is skilled in: Emergency Medicine, Medical Education, Medicine, Hospitals, Critical Care, Healthcare Management, Internal Medicine, Clinical Research, Patient Safety, Healthcare, Critical Care Medicine, Public Health, Healthcare Information, Treatment, Epidemiology, ACLS, Surgery, General Surgery, Anesthesia.

Alexandre Teixeira, MD, FIPP has been a full time pain doctor since 2000 in a private practice in Porto, Portugal. He has a special interest in Pulsed Radiofrequency. Dr Teixeira was trained and maintained a close relationship with the inventor of pulsed radiofrequency Prof. Menno Sluijter since 1997, with whom, he published several articles in reference journals and chapters in books on the subject.
They published the first applications of PRF for acute radicular pain due to discal hernias, the intraarticular PRF in small and large joints, the intradiscal PRF. They are co-inventors of the STP (Sluijter-Teixeira Pulsed) current an irregular PRF current. They are working in the application of PRF in non-pain conditions in humans and they co-invented the application of PRF to seeds.
Dr Teixeira is a member of the WIP since its foundation, and has been appointed as an examiner and instructor for the WIP examinations on several occasions. He has also been appointed as a reviewer for Pain Practice, Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine and Acta Médica Portuguesa.He has s been invited as a lecturer at several national and international pain symposiums.

Originally from South Africa and trained in Cape Town and Pretoria, Dr. Berkman moved to Canada in 1990. Initially he worked as a rural GP Anaesthetist, then completed training at the University of British Columbia. He obtained his Fellowship of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada in Anesthesia in 1995. He moved with his young family to Nanaimo, BC where after 3 years as a staff anesthesiologist with a keen interest in regional anesthesia, he was drawn into helping people with chronic pain. In 1998 he initiated the Interventional Pain Program at the Nanaimo Regional General Hospital. In collaboration with other stakeholders in 2004, he also developed a region wide Vancouver Island Multidisciplinary Pain Program. Dr. Berkman has developed numerous protocols and guidelines for the management of various chronic pain conditions and the management of palliative care patients. He is a life long learner and teacher and continues to treat every day as another opportunity to learn something new. He recently completed the Fellowship in Interventional Pain Practice as part of that commitment. Dr. Berkman has held various leadership positions including Head of Department, Anesthesia NRGH, Regional Chief of Anesthesia, Central Island, Site Director Anesthesia Residency Training and Medical Student Training, NRGH, Director VIHA Pain Program, Nanaimo Site, Site Director Pain Residency Training Program and recently elected as Secretary, Canada Section, World Institute of Pain. In 2016, Dr. Berkman qualified as a Certified Interventional Pain Sonologist (CIPS) with the World Institute of Pain Board of Examiners, one of the few people in the world with this qualification.His interests in pain management included optimising treatment for CRPS, promoting interventional treatments for palliative patients, spinal cord and peripheral nerve stimulation and the use of ultrasound in pain management. Alan’s outside interests include family time, kayaking, hiking, learning about wine and trying to stay fit.

Amitabh Gulati is an anesthesiologist and pain medicine physician currently practicing in New York City. He is an associate professor and Director of Chronic Pain, specializing in interventional cancer pain management, at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. He received his medical degree from Baylor College of Medicine, completed his anesthesiology residency at Emory University School of Medicine, and obtained his pain management fellowship diploma from Weill Cornell School of Medicine in 2007. Furthermore, Dr. Gulati completed his acupuncture certification at the Helms Medical Institute in 2007, and is licensed to practice in the state of New York.
He is currently the program director of the Weill Cornell pain management fellowship in New York City. He regularly gives lectures and teaches at workshops on topics involving ultrasound guided pain procedures, interventional procedures in cancer pain management, and neuromodulation techniques for oncologic pain. His current research involves the use of High Intensity Focused Ultrasound (HIFU) for the treatment of neuropathic pain and the study of interventional paradigms for cancer pain medicine. He is involved in multiple educational societies as teaching faculty or board member in the field of pain medicine. He is currently the President of the World Academy of Pain Medicine Ultrasound (WAPMU).

Dr. Andre Mansano is a physician at Singular – Pain Management Center Brazil with anesthesia and pain management background. He obtained PhD degree in 2013. He became a FIPP (Fellow of Interventional Pain Practice) in 2015 and now is a member of the World Institute of Pain (WIP) Education Committee. He also serves as an observer for the FIPP exam. He has specialized training in fluoroscopic guided minimally invasive interventional acute and cronic pain procedures as well as regional anesthesia techniques; and medication management for medically challenging cronic pain patients within a multidisciplinary pain clinic. He has been a teacher for Brazilian Singular Fellowship for 3 years, which is the inspiration for the Pain School International.

Dr. Ana Carolina graduated as an MD in 2007 at Souza Marques School of Medicine in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. She completed her specialization in anesthesiology in 2011 at Miguel Couto Municipal Hospital. In 2010, she spent three months accompanying the Anesthesiology Department of Saint Antoine Hospital in Paris, France where she dedicated herself to peripheral nerve blocks with ultrasonography. She worked as an anesthesiologist until 2014, when she began her postgraduate studies in Pain Medicine at Albert Einstein Hospital in São Paulo, Brazil. She did her fellowship in interventional pain medicine from 2015-2016 at Singular in Campinas, Brazil. For one month in 2016 she assisted Dr. Sudhir Diwan in New York City, USA. Recipient of the Fellow of Interventional Pain Practice (FIPP / WIP) in 2017 and the Certified of Interventional Pain Sonologist (CIPS / WAPMU) in 2018. That same year she received Pain MSK Ultrasound Certified (PMUC / ASRA). Currently she works at her private clinic, Lotus - Pain Management Center, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. She is part of the clinical staff for pain management at Glória D’or Hospital in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Publisher of the Oncological Pain Treaty, published in 2019, with participation in several other works. Former director of Sobramid (Brazilian Society of Interventional Pain Physicians). Participant in several congresses as organizer and speaker. Guest speaker at PSI (Pain School International - Budapest). Post-graduate professor in Interventional Pain Medicine at Israelita Albert Einstein Hospital in São Paulo, Brazil.

Athmaja Thottungal is a Consultant and Trust clinical lead for Pain management – Anaesthetics and Pain management, Kent and Canterbury hospital, East Kent University Hospitals NHS trust, and Course Director and Pain lead-London Society of Regional Anaesthesia (LSORA).

Her special Interests are pain management- Ultrasound guided interventions, pelvic pain, shoulder pain, peripheral neuropathies, various types of neuromodulation and pain management programme. She`s also specialises in anaesthesia- Ultrasound guided regional anaesthesia as sole anaesthetic technique or for acute pain management after surgery.

She`s a Fellow and faculty at the World Institute of Pain (WIP), Faculty teaching ultrasound guided interventions and regional anaesthesia blocks for anesthesia and chronic pain management nationally and internationally. Dr Thottungal is a Fellow and faculty of the European Society of Regional Anaesthesia and Pain medicine- EDPM examination faculty and a Honorary Senior lecturer at Canterbury Christ Church University.

Dr Thottungal is author of several chapters for for interventional pain management books and anaesthetists e-learning platforms.

Dr Charles Oliveira is current president of the Brazilian Society of Interventional Pain Physicians (Sobramid), vice-chairman of the Brazilian Section of the World Institute of Pain (WIP), and a member of FIPP Board of Examination. A board-certified anesthesiologist with years of experience in the fields of anesthesia and interventional pain management of acute and chronic pain, he has also spoken and taught pain physicians in Brazil and around the world. Dr Oliveira has trained and taken courses in Spain, Hungary, England, Turkey, the Netherlands and the US, to name a few. A specialist in fluoroscopy and ultrasound guided pain interventional procedures, he provides pain care in his private practice and at the Singular Pain Management Center in Campinas, SP, Brazil, which he co-founded in 2009. It was the first multidisciplinary pain clinic in Latin America to become a WIP EPP (Excellence in Pain Practice) award center (2011). His background in continuing pain education includes teaching fellows at his Campinas, São Paulo, pain center and helping to develop a highly regarded year-long training program in Interventional Pain in Brazil, where physicians from all over the country and neighboring Latin American nations come once a month for training during the year. Recently he has also organized hands-on workshops on ultrasound guided pain interventional procedures. He has co-authored a report in “ASIPP Pain Management Reports” (Skin Burn after SI Denervation following RF Procedures) and a chapter on Genitofemoral Nerve Entrapment: Abdominal) in the pain textbook “Peripheral Nerve Entrapment – Clinical Diagnosis and Management” (Trescot).

Dr Declerck is a doctor of medicine, surgery and obstetrics. He also specialized in anesthesiology and intensive care. He is a member of the European Society of Intensive Care Medicine (ESICM) and the European Society of Regional Anesthesia and Pain Therapy (ESRA). Dr Declerck is a Fellow of International Pain Practice by the World Institute of Pain (WIP) and he has been working in pain management for several years. He regularly teaches at workshops and presents at conferences, one of which is Pain School International in Budapest.

Dr Episkopou has been working as Anesthesiologist for the last 16 years at Metropolitan Hospital in Athens. As a senior member of an anesthesiologist team she performs an average of 100 operations for ENT, Urological robotic, General laparoscopic surgery, obesity, arthroscopic orthopedic surgeries, spinal cord surgeries, and Brachytherapy for cervical, prostate, breast and upper airway cancer per month. She is also experienced in child anesthesia especially for autistic children.

The last five years Dr Episkopou has been practicing chronic pain management for cancer and non cancer patients. She attended several workshops in London, Germany (ESRA anatomy department ) Denmark and Barcelona for pain management neuromodulation, spinal cord stimulation and ultrasound guided blocks for pain management. In 2019 she was Certified as Interventional Pain Sonologist CIPS. Dr Episkopou has ALS, PALS, ATLS, PHTLS certificates and she is an ALS instructor and PALS national director.

Gabor B. Racz, M.D. was born in Hungary and completed M.B. and Ch.B. degrees from the University of Liverpool Medical School in Liverpool, England. He served as house surgeon and physician at the Royal Southern Hospital in Liverpool before coming to America in 1963 for an anesthesiology residency at SUNY Upstate Medical Center, Syracuse, New York.

Dr. Racz filled numerous assignments, such as respiratory consultant in the neurosurgical head injury unit and Associate Professor at SUNY, until 1977 when he moved to Lubbock, Texas to become the first Chairman of the Department of Anesthesiology at the new Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center. He held that position until March 1, 1999 when, as Director of Pain Services, he focused full attention to treatment of patients, expanding the operations of pain services, and the future development of an international pain center in Lubbock, Texas. He continued as professor and chair emeritus and co-director of the pain services at TTUHSC until June 2016.

Dr. George C. Chang Chien specializes in musculoskeletal medicine and comprehensive pain management. He was trained in Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, and completed fellowship training in comprehensive pain medicine at the Cleveland Clinic Anesthesiology Institute.

Dr. Chang Chien has authored over 90 manuscripts on the diagnosis and treatment of pain and orthopedic injuries. He has active research in regenerative medicine and is an expert in the use of ultrasound for diagnostic and interventional procedures.

He is currently the Director of Pain Management at Ventura County Medical Center, Director of Center Regenerative Medicine at Southern California University, and Director of GCCInstitute.org where he teaches Regenerative Medicine, Diagnostic Ultrasound, and Ultrasound-Guided procedures. He is on the ASIPP Board of Directors, an ABIPP Examiner, and serves alongside Sudhir Diwan MD, as the Regenerative Medicine Section Co-Editor for Pain Physician Journal.

Dr. Cordner completed his residency in Anesthesia at Monmouth Medical Center, is board-Certified in Anesthesia, Pain Management and Interventional Pain Management and has been practicing in Sebastian and Vero Beach, Florida for over 25 years. Dr. Cordner is President-Elect of ASIPP and serves on the Executive Board of ASIPP. Dr. Cordner is on faculty as Associate Clinical Professor at Florida State University College of Medicine, and Board Examiner for ABIPP and WIP. He serves on the Board of Directors for ASIPP, FSIPP, is Past-President of FSIPP, and serves on the editorial board of “Pain Physician” and “Neuromodulation”. Dr. Cordner has published numerous articles, guidelines and chapters in several textbooks. He has presented hundreds of lectures and taught numerous course both nationally and internationally. Dr. Cordner has a special interest in Neuromodulation as well as practice management.

Javier De Andrés Ares, MD, FIPP Dr. 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.

Koen Van Boxem, MD, FIPP, EDPM, PhD is an Anesthesiologist from Belgium. He had extensive training in pain therapy, and in 2002 he became a Fellow Interventional Pain Practice (FIPP). In 2014 he completed his PhD in Lumbosacral radicular pain at University Maastricht in The Netherlands. Dr Van Boxem also has a
European Diploma Pain Medicine (EFIC).
Currently he is President of Vlaamse Anesthesiologische Vereniging voor Pijnbestrijding (VAVP), Member Educational Committee of World Institute of Pain, and Vice-President of the Benelux Section of World Institute of Pain.
Dr. Van Boxem has been involved in 22 articles on pain (Hirsch factor 7), his lectures mainly focus on radicular pain (pathophysiology, pulsed radiofrequency, epidural corticosteroid injections) and is involved in evidence-based guideline development of pain therapy.

Dr Demartini specialized in Anesthesia and Intensive Care at Pavia University in 1991, and in Pain Physiopathology and Therapy at Verona University in 1995. She followed courses on Traditional Chinese medicine in Italy, Sri Lanka and China, and did her FIPP diploma in 2018. From 1989 to 1996 Dr Demartini worked in Anesthesia and Intensive Care Service at Policlinico San Matteo in Pavia. After that she worked in the Pain Unit of Fondazione Maugeri in Pavia where she contributed to the development of the techniques of spinal pharmacological modulation for patients with pain and spasticity and neurostimulation. She was invited to European expert boards on these techniques. In 2009 she organized the Italian edition of ”Intrathecal EFIC Masterclass”.
She has been the Chief of the Pain Unit of Fondazione Maugeri in Pavia (now ICSMaugeri, SpA, SB) since 2012. She has also been lecturing at postgraduate courses on Anesthesia and Intensive Care at Bologna University with a course on Pain Physiopathology and Therapy since 2011, and at Milan University on the same topic since 2018.
Dr Demartini is member of the Directive Board of the Society Federdolore/SICD. She speaks at may Italian congresses and courses as also teaches at Pain School International in Budapest. She published more than 50 studies and translated some chapters of books on Pain Physiopathology and Therapy.

Dr Macrea was born in Hermannstadt / Romania started his academic training in Targu Mures / Romania and graduated from Lübeck / Germany. He started his medical training in surgery at the university hospital in Lübeck and completed his residency in anesthesiology, intensive care and pain management at the university hospital in Geneva / Switzerland. He became a FIPP (Fellow of Interventional Pain Practice) in 2007.

He gained further experience in the interventional pain field and in the multidisciplinary evaluations at the Swiss Paraplegic Center in Nottwil and had a pain research fellowship at the University Hospital of Zurich. He worked in the Multidisciplinary Pain Clinic Cecil in Lausanne / Switzerland and in the Swiss Pain Institute in Lausanne. Currently he leads the Interventional Pain Practice in Lucerne and works as a consultant in Basel’s Schmerzklinik

He was treasurer and chairman of the Swiss Section of the WIP (World Institute of Pain) and is a member of the educational committee of WIP since 2018. He is member of the Executive board of the Swiss Interventional Pain Society. He is very interested in the pain evaluation and performs many neurophysiological measurement to evaluation pain perception (QST -quantitative sensory testing, CHEP’s contact heat evoked potentials, nociceptive reflex measurement, skin biopsies etc.). He presents and teaches at various international conferences and served as WIP Instructor and Examiner for the FIPP Examination.

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 in Maastricht University as a consultant in MUMC +, Dept Anesthesiology and Pain Management.

Furthermore, he is Fellow of International Pain Practice according to the World Institute of Pain and was founder and president of the Benelux Neuromodulation Society. He has been Treasurer of the International Neuromodulation Society and member of the Editorial Board of the journal Neuromodulation. He has been 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 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 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 in national and international congresses and has also been 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. Manuel Herrero is board certified in anesthesiology and pain management. He completed his anesthesia training at Severo Ochoa Hospital, Madrid, and continued his specialization in pain management at Ciudad Real Hospital with his mentor and recognized pain physician, Dr. Joaquin Insausti. He is also certified interventional pain sonologist (CIPS), fellow of interventional pain practice (FIPP) and European diploma in pain medicine (EDPM). Currently working in Madrid at Puerta de Hierro Majadahonda Hospital, and managing the Cancer Pain multidisciplinary Unit at HM Sanchinarro Hospital. He is a regular trainer in his country using fluoroscopy and ultrasound guided minimally invasive interventional pain procedures, and honorary tutor of the Master of Pain treatment by the Rey Juan Carlos University.

Dr Barbieri is a chronic pain specialist from Milan. He graduated from the University of Milan with honours in 1992 and specialized in Anesthesia, Resuscitation and Pain Therapy. After a few years of scientific research, he decided to dedicate himself to treating patients living with chronic pain. He has trained and taken courses in London, Houston and Lausanne, and brought back techniques to Italy not yet available for patients in the country.

He qualified as a FIPP (Fellow of Interventional Pain Practice) with WIP (World Institute of Pain) in 2011, and thus, joined a small group of doctors possessing this diploma in Italy.

Dr Barbieri presents and teaches at various international conferences, including Pain School International in Budapest.

Menno Sluijter, MD, PhD obtained his MD at the University of Amsterdam in 1957 and his PhD at the same institution in 1963 with the dissertation The treatment of carbon monoxide poisoning by administration of oxygen at high atmospheric pressure. Dr Sluijter is credited with the development of pulsed radiofrequency treatment. He is involved in research related to chronic pain. He is also affiliated with the Jan van Goyen Clinic in Amsterdam. He has helped to work on shifting how physicians deal with long term pain from ‘pain management’, to ‘pain treatment.’

Dr Miles Day serves as the Medical Director of the Grace Health System® Pain Management Center. Dr Day is board certified in Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine by the American Board of Anesthesiology.

Dr Day earned his undergraduate degree at the University of Texas in Austin and received his medical degree at Texas A&M University Health Science Center. He completed a general surgery internship at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center as well as an anesthesiology residency and pain fellowship. After wrapping up the fellowship, Dr Day stayed at Texas Tech to serve on the staff. He currently serves as the Pain Medicine Fellowship program director and Professor of anesthesiology and pain management.

Dr Day says the big three complaints he hears from patients are low back pain, neck pain and musculoskeletal pain. “You can treat them similarly, but, at the same time, they have to be treated differently. In pain management, we have got to look at medications, physical therapy, which helps in the functional restoration, and if they need any interventional therapy, we are here to do that,” says Dr Day. Interventional therapy includes nerve blocks, radiofrequency ablation, spinal cord stimulators and intrathecal therapy.

“I always tell folks if you don’t understand it, just imagine the worse pain you felt if you had some minor injury. Imagine having that pain 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days of the year. Imagine how that makes you feel, imagine how much you change, because there are certain things you cannot do.”

Dr Day says strives to be truthful with his patients on their expectations when it comes to pain relief. “It is kind of an understanding from the patient’s standpoint because they would like all the pain go away. They ask ‘when I am going to be 100 percent pain-free’, and I tell them when they go to heaven. They have to understand that I can help them to a point, but they will probably have pain. If I can reduce it to where they are more functional, they are happy.”

"Many doctors from across the country refer their patients to Dr Day. He is among the top ten percent in the nation in his specialty as rated by Castle Connolly Medical Ltd., publisher of America’s Top Doctors® and other guides. The company bases its Top Doctors selections on nominations submitted by other doctors and reviewed by its physician-led research team.

Dr Rohof is Founder of Pain Clinic Oss St. Anna Hospital 1981-1989, Co-Founder of Pain Clinic Köln and Rodenkirchen , Germany , and Co-Founder of Pain Clinics Zofingen and Zürich, Switzerland.
New techniques:
-PRF suprascapular block and other peripheral nerves Pain Practice 2002 Vol 2 nr 3
-(P)RF treatment of Degenerative Disc Disease Pain Practice 2012
-Sacral PRF application technique for FM, PHN, central sensitization
Anesthesia and Pain Med 2014
• Tutor at the foundation Pain Clinic CWZ hospital Nijmegen, the Netherlands 2007-2010
• 1989- 2015: Pain Clinic Orbis Medical Center Sittard Geleen, The Netherlands
• 2015-2016: consultant, doing substitutions Zeist Utrecht Amsterdam Terneuzen
• 2016- now: DC Klinieken Pai , Almere The Netherlands
• >2.500 interventions/year, totally >70.000
Special Interests:
RF and PRF application in chronic pain, facial pain (trigeminal neuralgia, cluster headache), spinal
pain (disc, Failed back surgery syndrome, spinal stenosis), CRPS, joint pain, headache, post herpetic
neuralgia, central sensitization, application of sacral PRF and PRF epidurally.

D. Paul Christo is one of the world’s leading pain specialists and author of Aches and Gains, A Comprehensive Guide to Overcoming Your Pain. He’s an Associate Professor in the Division of Pain Medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He served as Director of the Multidisciplinary Pain Fellowship Program for 8 years, and the Blaustein Pain Treatment Center for 5 years at the Johns Hopkins Hospital.

He hosts an award-winning, nationally syndicated SIRIUS XM radio talk show on overcoming pain called, Aches and Gains®. Naomi Judd, Joe Montana, and Maya Angelou have all been guests. His show has earned him the John and Emma Bonica Public Service Award from the American Pain Society, recognizing distinguished contributions to the field of pain medicine through public education, dissemination of information, and public service. The American Academy of Pain Medicine awarded him their prestigious Patient Advocacy Award as well. Dr Christo was selected as a Mayday Pain and Society Fellow, and named a “Hero” by The Pain Community, a patient advocacy association for his work on Aches and Gains. He was also honored by the American Society of Pain Educators as Pain Educator of the Year for his transformational work on public education through the media.

Dr Christo is an invited lecturer both nationally and internationally, serves on 4 journal editorial boards, has published more than 100 articles and book chapters, co-edited 3 textbooks on pain, and actively teaches medical students, residents, and pain fellows. He’ a member of Men’s Health Magazine medical advisory board, serving as their first pain specialist.

He serves on the Board of Directors and Executive Committee of the American Academy of Pain Management, and has served on Advisory Boards for the American Academy of Pain Medicine, American Society of Anesthesiologists, The International Association for the Study of Pain, and the American Pain Society. He has also earned an MBA from the Johns Hopkins Carey Business School in Health Care Management.

Dr. Philip Peng is the professor in the Department of Anesthesiology of University of Toronto. He is a leader, researcher, educator and pioneer in the application of ultrasound for pain medicine. His innovative research led to different new procedures in pain intervention. He received numerous educational awards including the John J Bonica award from ASRA and ESRA-Spain Distinguished Service Award. He has delivered more than 350 lectures and workshops nationally and internationally. He has edited 8 books and published more than 200 peer-reviewed publications and book chapters.

Dr Piera Santullo graduated as MD in Naples at Seconda University in 2009. She has been practising Physical and rehabilitation medicine since 2010. She has been a member of the European Board of physical and rehabilitation medicine since 2014. After completing her higher training at Bologna University and at Duke of Cornwall spinal treatment centre, she did a one-year fellowship in spinal cord injury medicine at the National Spinal Cord Injury Centre in Stoke, Mandeville. Dr Santullo has been working as physical and rehabilitation medicine consultant at Nottingham University Hospital since 2016.
Over the years she has developed special interest in the rehabilitation of neurological conditions such as spinal cord injury, MS and head injury, and a special interest in the rehabilitation and management of pain and musculo-skeletal diseases. She is experienced in the management of spasticity and pain from interventional point of view also.
In 2019 Dr Santullo completed Pain School International`s Fellowship in Budapest. In the same year she obtained her certification as interventional pain sonologist (CIPS) recognised by the World Institute of Pain (WIP).
Dr Santullo currently leads a clinic for complex spasticity and pain management using botulinum toxin injections, nerve blocks, intra articular and soft tissue injections using ultrasound and nerve locator guidance. She is a member of the British Society of Rehabilitation Medicine.

Dr Rubina I Ahmad (MBBS, MCPS, MSc Pain Medicine (UK), FIPP (USA) is a Consultant in Chronic Pain Medicine & Anaesthetics in the UK. She is running independent pain clinics and performs interventional pain procedures for chronic pain conditions with special interest in managing patients with Chronic Low Back Pain (CLBP), Failed Back Surgery Syndrome (FBSS), Pelvic pain, Neck pain and Frozen shoulder, pre & post operated knee & Hip pain, Headaches & Migraines and Chronic Refractory Angina.
Dr Ahmad moved to the UK in 2000 where after completing her anaesthetic training programme with the Royal College of Anaesthetic – UK, she worked as a senior anaesthetist and developed an interest in pain medicine (2005). She then completed her Masters in Pain Medicine (MSc Pain Medicine – Cardiff University UK, 2010), followed by Advanced Fellowship training programme in Pain Medicine (2011) at the Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen University Hospital. UK. Later she also worked as a locum consultant in pain medicine at Bart’s and Royal London University hospital NHS Trust for some time.
She was then offered a Lead Pain Consultant position at North Devon Hospital – UK, where she developed a complete pain unit and established the integral facilities for physiotherapy, CBT, Occupational health and psychologist to address all facets of chronic pain management.
Dr. Ahmad is a Fellow Interventional Pain Practice (FIPP) and member of the World Institute of Pain (WIP) and an Associate Member of the Royal College of Anaesthetist – UK.

Dr. Sudhir Diwan, nationally and internationally recognized as a key opinion leader in the field of pain management, is the Executive Director of Manhattan Spine & Pain Medicine, 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 10 years, 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.

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, WVSIPP – Pain Meetings, American Cancer Society, the American Society of Anesthesiology, the American Society of Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine, the World Institute of Pain, and numerous pain specialty societies and congresses in Europe, Brazil and Mexico. Currently he is CEO of NYSIPP and Course Co-Director of the Annuals NYSIPP/NJSIPP Pain Medicine Symposium, and First Executive Vice President, ASIPP.

Dr. Shahzad Anwar is Interventional Spine & Pain Medicine Physician and Medical Acupuncturist with over 20 years of experience in the fields of Pain Management and Medical Acupuncture.

Dr. Shahzad graduated from Allama Iqbal Medical College Lahore in 1995. He started his medical career as Physician and Medical Acupuncturist in 1998 after his postgraduate training from Beijing University of TCM. He is among the few Pakistani doctors who have been trained at Harvard Medical School USA in the field of Pain Medicine. He did his Masters in Pain Medicine from Cardiff University UK and also from Riphah International University Islamabad, Pakistan. He has done Fellowship in Interventional Pain Medicine from (Pain School International) Hungary, Fellowship in Interventional Pain Practice-FIPP (WIP-USA) and Fellowship in Endoscopic Spine Surgery from Turkey. He is Diplomat and Member American Academy and Board of Regenerative Medicine.

Dr. Shahzad Anwar is the Founding President of Society for Interventional Pain Medicine (SIPM) Pakistan. He runs his own hospital “Iffat Anwar Medical Complex” with branches in Johar Town and DHA Lahore. He is working as Head of Department Pain Medicine & Rehab at Central Park Medical College, Lahore and Department of Pain Medicine University of Lahore Medical College, Lahore.

He is actively engaged in teaching and training of young doctors in the fields of Pain Medicine, Regenerative Medicine and Medical Acupuncture.

Dr Thais K. Vanetti is a Fellow in Interventional Pain Practice. She`s a Medical anesthesiologist specialized in Pain Treatment by the Brazilian Medical Association. Dr Thais is also an Assistant physician at Singular Pain Management Center in Campinas, Brazil and works at Hospital 22 de Outubro in Mogi Mirim in Sao Paulo.