Faculty

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. 

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.  

Dalia Elmofty, MD, is an associate professor at the University of Chicago. During these years, she has continued to commit her time towards the education of young physicians, residents, fellows, practitioners, being involved in many hands on educational sessions at conferences locally, regionally and nationally.  She has authored and co-authored several textbook chapters and peer-reviewed publications. Her academic interests include procedural simulation for neuraxial procedures, epidural simulations for anesthesiology residents and virtual reality simulation for pain fellowship training.

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.

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.

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 created the Craniofacial Pain Program at Toronto Academic Pain Medicine Institute. She has leadership roles in pain organizations and is a member of the Board of the Canadian Neuromodulation Society. She has received the prestigious Canadian Pain Society Early Career Investigator Pain Research Grant.

Julie H. Huang-Lionnet, MD, MBA, is a Harvard and Hopkins-trained board-certified anesthesiologist specializing in interventional pain management. Committed to patient care, Dr. Huang-Lionnet's clinical interests encompass a wide range of pain conditions.  Dr. Huang-Lionnet has clinical and research interests in minimally invasive spine, biologics, targeted drug development, sports medicine, neuromodulation, and regenerative medicine.  She continues to be heavily involved in clinical trials and basic science research for drug discovery and technology development. Dr. Huang-Lionnet has published numerous articles in nationally recognized journals and has also been invited to present at numerous national and international conferences.

Christine Hunt, DO, is an assistant professor in pain medicine at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN. Her clinical and research interests include neuromodulation, regenerative medicine, ultrasound, axial pain, musculoskeletal pain, and neuropathic pain management including in the spinal cord injured population.  

Pranab Kumar, FRCA, FRCPC, FIPP, completed his medical training in Bangalore (India) followed by an anesthesia residency/subspecialization in pain medicine in London Deanery, United Kingdom. After a year of neuromodulation fellowship at Guy’s and St. Thomas Hospital he worked as a consultant at Norwich University hospital. He relocated to Toronto for a comprehensive pain management fellowship to refine his ultrasound skills in interventional MSK. Dr. Kumar is currently affiliated with the University of Toronto as an assistant professor and works as a staff in anesthesia and pain management at Toronto Western Hospital. He is the current ASRA Newsletter Liaison for Chronic Pain Ultrasound SIG and teaches ultrasound workshops in WIP, PSI, ISURA and LSORA.

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.

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.

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.

Scott G. Pritzlaff, MD  is an interventional pain specialist at University of California, Davis. He currently serves as a Clinical Associate Professor in the Department of Anesthesiology and Program Director for the Pain Medicine Fellowship. After graduating from medical school at Georgetown University, he spent five years on active duty as a Naval physician. He completed his internship at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. From 2008-2010, he deployed twice to Iraq and Afghanistan with the 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing in support of coalition combat operations. He then finished anesthesiology training at the Massachusetts General Hospital followed by a clinical pain management fellowship at Stanford. Dr. Pritzlaff’s research interests focus on use of ultrasound and emerging technologies to treat peripheral neuropathic pain. He is interested in developing novel uses of percutaneous peripheral nerve stimulation to treat chronic nerve pain.

Jonathan Samet, MD, is an associate professor of radiology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, primarily based at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago, serving as the division head of body imaging, and section head of musculoskeletal imaging.  He also works in the adult musculoskeletal radiology section at Northwestern Memorial Hospital.  He trained in diagnostic radiology at Northwestern University followed by subspecialization in musculoskeletal radiology at Johns Hopkins Hospital.  He studies nerve imaging with MRI neurography and ultrasound, bone/soft tissue tumors, and bone marrow composition. 

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.       

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.

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.

Dmitri Souza, MD, PhD, is a clinical professor of anesthesiology at Ohio University and Western Reserve Hospital. He serves as a faculty and a member of board directors at national physician symposia where he teaches pain medicine. He is a member of the ASRA Pain Medicine Ultrasonography in Pain Medicine Special Interest Group (SIG) and one of the leaders of ASRA Pain Medicine's Regenerative Medicine SIG.

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.

Bhavana Yalamuru, MBBS, is an assistant professor, pain division at the University of Virginia. Dr. Yalamuru’s areas of interest are peripheral nerve stimulation, cancer pain management and neuropathic pain management. She enjoys teaching, writing, and collaborating with others in the field. When Dr. Yalamuru is not at work, she enjoys reading, cooking, and socializing.