Scientific/Education Planning Committee
Yasmine Hoydonckx, MD, MSc, FIPP; Toronto Western Hospital, Toronto, ON, Canada
Antoun Nader, MD; Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, IL
Faculty
Sandeep Amin, MD; Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, IL
Michele Curatolo, MD, PhD; University of Washington, Seattle, WA
Yashar Eshraghi, MD; Ochsner
Health System, New Orleans, LA
Roderick Finlayson, MD; University of British Columbia, Kelowna, BC, Canada
Yasmine Hoydonckx, MD, MSc, FIPP; Toronto Western Hospital,
Toronto, ON, Canada
Antoun Nader, MD; Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, IL
Philp Peng, MBBS; University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
Vinita Singh, MD; Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA
Associate Faculty
Ammar Al Khudiary, MBChB, MCh, FRCPC; University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
Ehtesham Baig, MSc, MD, FRCPC; University Health Network, University of Toronto, ON, Canada
Alexander Bautista, MD, MBA, FASA; University of Louisville, Louisville, KY
Paul Etheridge, MBChB, CCFP; University of British Columbia, Kelowna, BC, Canada
Olabisi Lane, MD; Emory
University Health, Atlanta, GA
James Khan, MD, MSc; Toronto Western Hospital, Toronto, ON, Canada
Tariq Malik, MD; University of Chicago Medical Center, Chicago, IL
Howard Meng, MD; Sunnybrook
Health Sciences Centre, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
Sam Nia, MD; Nassau University Medical Center, East Meadow, New York
Bhuvaneswari Sandeep Ram, MD; University of Chicago Medical
Center, Chicago, IL
Aaron Rizzardo, MD, B.ScPT; St. Paul's Hospital/JPOC Pain Clinic, North Vancouver, British Columbia
Lavarnan Sivanathan, MD, FRCPC, MSC; Sunnybrook Health Sciences
Centre, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
Juan Venter, MD; University of British Columbia, Kelowna, BC, Canada
Ammar Al Khudairy, MBChB, MCh, FRCPC, is a dually certified physiatrist and pain specialist. He finished his PM&R residency training at Dalhousie university and his pain medicine residency at the University of Toronto. He is affiliated with the University of Toronto and involved in teaching of physiatry residents and pain residents at University of Toronto and Dalhousie University. He is practicing in the community as a staff physician in Trillium Health Partners and Grand River Hospitals. He is the ultrasound lead at the pain medicine residency program. His clinical interest is in the practical and pragmatic use of ultrasound in MSK interventions, neuromodulation and radiofrequency denervation. [top]
Sandeep Amin, MD, is the chairman of anesthesia at Rush Oak Park Hospital, medical director at Rush Pain Center at Oak Park, and associate attending and associate professor at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, IL. Previously he was the director of pain fellowship education at Rush University Medical Center and assistant clinical professor at the University of Illinois Hospitals. He attended medical school at Municipal Medical College in India and completed his residency in anesthesia at the University of Illinois Hospitals, where he was chief resident. He completed a fellowship in pain medicine at the University of Illinois Medical Center and was a clinical fellow in pain medicine at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, MD. His clinical interests include complex regional pain syndrome, low back pain, failed back surgery syndrome, cancer pain, supraorbital and occipital neuralgia, neuromodulation and targeted drug delivery, and radiofrequency denervation. [top]
Alexander Bautista, MD, is an associate professor of anesthesiology at the University of Louisville. He works as a practicing anesthesiologist and pain management physician at UofL. He currently serves as the medical director of the pain clinic and fellowship program director. He is an active member of ASRA Pain Medicine, APPD and serves as part of the membership committee as well as CME liaison for ASRA Pain Medicine Global Health initiatives and Neuromodulation SIG. He serves as a board member for the Inter Hospital Study Group for Anesthesia Education as well as a question writer for the ABA pain examination. He is also an academic advisory dean for the University of Louisville. [top]
Michele Curatolo, MD, PhD, is a professor of anesthesiology and pain medicine at the University of Washington, Seattle, and director of the interventional pain program. After receiving his M.D. at the University of Messina in Italy, he completed his Ph.D. at the University of Aalborg in Denmark. He has been the chief of the division of pain therapy at the University of Bern, Switzerland. Dr. Curatolo’s research is supported by several NIH grants. He has been awarded several prizes for his scientific work and an honorary doctorate at the University of Aalborg, Denmark. [top]
Yashar Eshraghi, MD, is the program director for the pain medicine fellowship training program at Ochsner Medical Center in New Orleans, LA. He is board-certified in anesthesiology, chronic pain, and headache management. Dr. Eshraghi is an associate professor in the department of anesthesiology and critical care medicine at Ochsner Health System University of Queensland Ochsner Medical School and clinical assistant professor at Louisiana State University School of Medicine.
Dr. Eshraghi trained during residency in the department of anesthesiology at Case Western Reserve University/MetroHealth Medical Center in 2015. Thereafter, he pursued chronic fellowship program in pain medicine at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation. Dr. Eshraghi has contributed towards the building of a multitude of educational, clinical, and scholarly endeavors at the departmental, institutional, and national level. He led several clinical trials in the field of chronic pain as principal investigator. [top]
Paul Etheridge, MBChB, CCFP, is a pain management physician with more than 20 years’ experience in helping patients in chronic pain. He completed the Clinical Pain Fellowship at McGill University in 2012 and is now the Medical Director at the Bill Nelems Pain & Research Centre (BNPRC) in Kelowna, a Regional Pain Centre for the BC Interior. He specializes in ultrasound-guided spine procedures and with multiple publications in the field, he continues to do research to develop new techniques and improve patient outcomes. [top]
Roderick Finlayson, MD, is a professor in the departments of anesthesia of the Universities of British Columbia and McGill. He completed his anesthesia residency at McGill University in 1996, and a fellowship in pain management in 1997. He works at the Bill Nelems Pain and Research Centre in Kelowna British Columbia, where he practices pain medicine. He is active in the field of ultrasound imaging for interventional pain procedures, where his research focuses on the development and validation of new spine-related techniques. [top]
Yasmine Hoydonckx, MD, MSc, FIPP, is an assistant professor in the department of anesthesia and pain medicine at the University of Toronto. She has a Master of Science in Clinical Epidemiology. Her interests are in chronic pain treatments like infusions, image-guided and neuromodulation procedures. She is the scientific chair of the ASRA Pain Medicine MSK Pain workshop. [top]
James Khan, MD, MSc, completed his specialty training in anesthesiology at the University of Toronto and fellowship training in pain medicine at Stanford University. He is currently a practicing staff anesthesiologist and pain physician at Mount Sinai Hospital at the University of Toronto. He specializes in advanced ultrasound and fluoroscopic-guided interventional musculoskeletal and spine injections. His clinical focus is on peripheral neuropathies and the use of peripheral nerve stimulators. He also leads a clinical research program aimed at identifying novel interventions to prevent and treat chronic pain disorders. [top]
Olabisi Lane, MD, is an assistant professor in the department of anesthesiology at Emory University. She is also the director of the regional anesthesia and acute pain medicine (RAAPM) service for the anesthesia residency program, as well as associate program director of the RAAPM fellowship. Her efforts have led to many opportunities to contribute within the Emory system, including but not limited to her role as director of quality & safety for the Emory pain division as well as spearheading the development of a three-hour CME module on safe opioid prescribing in the opioid era. Dr. Lane serves on a multi-society expert panel to review and make recommendations on the management of buprenorphine in the perioperative period and outpatient setting. She has authored book chapters and continues to work with residents and faculty in the pursuit of knowledge, diversity, equity, and inclusion, understanding substance use disorder (opioids and alcohol), and the advancement of the field of anesthesiology. [top]
Tariq Malik, MD, practices acute and chronic pain in an academic setting. Acute pain experience covers pediatric, OB, surgical and trauma patients. Chronic pain interests covers cancer and non-cancer pain. Dr. Malik has a special interest in US guided acute, chronic and joint injections. [top]
Howard Meng, MD, obtained his medical degree and completed his anesthesia and pain medicine residencies the University of Toronto. He is an assistant professor in the department of anesthesiology and pain medicine at the University of Toronto. He practices as an anesthesiologist and pain physician at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre. He serves as the Director of Pain within the department of anesthesia and pain lead within the trauma recovery program. His clinical and research focus is on trauma pain, peripheral nerve pain, and transitional pain. [top]
Antoun M. Nader, MD, is a professor in the department of anesthesiology and orthopedics at the Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University in Chicago, IL. He is the section chief for regional anesthesia and acute pain management at Northwestern Memorial Hospital and the medical director for acute pain medicine. He is also the fellowship co-director for the adult and pediatric regional anesthesia and acute pain management fellowship at McGaw Medical center, Northwestern University. Dr. Nader is board certified in anesthesiology, with a subspecialty certification in pain management. He is a member of the American Society of Anesthesiologists, ASRA Pain Medicine, and the Association of University Anesthesiologists. With interests in neuroanesthesiology and pain management, he is engaged in numerous activities, including authorship, editorial work, grant review, lecturing for many societies. During his medical career in pain management, he has authored and coauthored more than 150 original peer-reviewed articles, editorials, reviews, books, commentaries, case reports, and technical notes. He is very involved in the development of institutional pathways for regional anesthesia and pain management protocols that have resulted in publications in major anesthesia journals. [top]
Sam Nia, MD, is a triple pain fellowship trained physician. He has had formal training in adult acute pain management/ regional anesthesiology, adult chronic interventional pain as well as pediatric regional anesthesiology with a focus on pediatric chronic interventional pain. He is passionate about neuromodulation and transitional pain management. [top]
Philip Peng, MBBS, FRCPC, is a professor in the department of anesthesiology and pain medicine at University of Toronto in Canada. He is a leader, researcher, educator, and pioneer in the application of ultrasound for pain medicine. He received founder status from Royal College for his work in establishment pain medicine as a subspecialty.
His innovative research led to different new procedures in pain intervention. He received numerous awards including the John J Bonica Award from ASRA Pain Medicine, the Distinguished Service Award from European Society of Regional Anaesthesia and Pain Therapy-Spain, and the Gold Medal Award from the Canadian Anesthesiology Society. He has delivered more than 400 lectures and workshops nationally and internationally. He has edited eight books and published 250 peer-reviewed publications and book chapters. [top]
Bhuvaneswari Sandeep Ram, MBBS, MD, is an assistant professor in the department of anesthesiology and pain medicine at the University of Chicago Medical Center. Her interests include ultrasound in pain medicine, neuromodulation, and cancer related pain. [top]
Aaron Rizzardo, MD, B.ScPT, is a graduate from the School of Rehabilitation Sciences’ department of physiotherapy at the University of British Columbia. Dr. Rizzardo then graduated with his medical degree at and subsequently completed his internal medicine as well as the pain medicine residency at UBC. Dr. Rizzardo currently practices in internal medicine and pain medicine at both St Paul’s Hospital and JPOC Pain Clinic, where he is the academic lead. He is a clinical assistant professor in the UBC department of medicine. He is also the GIM representative on the RCPSC Pain Medicine Specialty Committee. [top]
Vinita Singh, MD, is board-certified in anesthesiology and pain medicine. She is the director of Cancer Pain and do-director of research for the Pain Division at Emory University in Atlanta, GA, and has a particular clinical and research interest in interventional and non-opioid pharmacotherapy for pain, including ketamine. She was awarded the KL2 junior faculty career development award in research by the Georgia Clinical and Translational Science Alliance in 2018, funded via the National Institutes of Health. As part of this program, she did a master’s in clinical and translational research. She has over two dozen publications and presented multiple national/international lectures and ultrasound workshops. [top]
Lavarnan Sivanathan, MD, FRCPC, MSC, is an anesthesiologist and pain physician at Sunnybrook Hospital, Women's College Hospital. He is an assistant professor at the University of Toronto and involved with teaching pain medicine, regional anesthesia and clinical epidemiology. He also is in charge of the prescription opioid pain clinic at the Toronto Academic Pain Medicine Institute at the University of Toronto. [top]
Juan Venter, MD, trained in South Africa as a family practitioner at the University of Stellenbosch. After completing his Family Medicine degree, he trained in anaesthesia and obtained his diploma in anaesthesia in 2011. Dr. Venter moved to Canada in 2012, where he practiced as a family physician in Oliver, BC for six years. Since then, he has completed a certificate in pain medicine through the University of Alberta and completed a Fellowship in Pain Medicine at McGill University in 2018/2019. Dr. Venter’s interests are spine and musculoskeletal pain. [top]