Meet the Faculty

Mert AKBAS was a professor of Anesthesiologist and Pain management at Akdeniz University, School of Medicine in Turkey.
He is an Algology Board certified and pain specialist in Turkey is since 2007, and FIPP since 2006.
His areas of clinical interest are decompressive neuroplasty (Lysis procedures) neuromodulation, RFT procedures (Radiofrequency thermocoagulation procedures), and CT guided percutaneous cordotomy.

Medical Degree, Federal University of Mato Grosso (UFMT), Brazil.
Anesthesiology, Federal University of Mato Grosso (UFMT).
Specialist in Anesthesiology (TEA/SBA), certified by the Brazilian Society of Anesthesiology.
Certification in Interventional Pain Management in Anesthesiology (TIDA/SBA).
Subspecialty in Pain Medicine, recognized by the Brazilian Medical Association (AMB).
Fellow of Interventional Pain Practice (FIPP) and Certified Interventional Pain Sonologist (CIPS), awarded by the World Institute of Pain (WIP)

2006-2011- Medical Degree- Faculdade de Medicina de Botucatu-UNESP
2012-2015- Anesthesiology- Faculdade de Medicina de Botucatu- UNESP
2016- Master Degree- Faculdade de Medicina de Botucatu- UNESP
2020-Doctoral Degree- Faculdade de Medicina de Botucatu- UNESP
2015-2016-Fellowship in Interventional Pain Medicine at Singular Campinas
May 2016- Fellow with Dr Sudhir Diwan in New York City, USA
2017-Fellow of Interventional Pain Practice- FIPP
2018-Certified Interventional Pain Sonologist-CIPS
2017-now (2025)- part of the Pain Management Group at Oswaldo Cruz Hospital- SP
Professor at Interventional Pain Post-Graduation at Sirio-Libanes Hospital- SP
Professor at Interventional Pain Post-Graduation at Einstein Hospital Israelita-SP

1-Área atuação de dor AMB ( Associação Médica Brasileira )
2-Fellow of Interventional Pain Practice (WIP-FIPP)
3- Presidente SOBRAMID 2019- 2021
4- Título de Intervenção em Dor em Anestesiologia (SBA-TIDA)
5- Especialização  em Dor departamento Neurocirurgia da Universidade de Sāo Paulo ( HCFMUSP)
6-sócio fundador e diretor Clínica Real Dor do Hospital português do recife
7-Pos -graduação em medicina regenerativa Orthoregen Unicamp

Head of the Pain Treatment Department at Primavera Hospital in Aracaju, Sergipe. Certified in Pain by the Brazilian Medical Society (AMB). Former Pain Intervention Fellow at Akdeniz University, Antalya, Turkey. Former Fellow at Sint-Jan Hospital, Bruges, Belgium. Specialization in Pain Management from Singular – Campinas/São Paulo and APM – Goiânia/Goiás – Brazil FIPP/CIPS

Dr. Braz Lima 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. She is a Fellow of Interventional Pain Practice (FIPP / WIP), a Certified Interventional Pain Sonologist (CIPS / WAPMU), and she also received Pain MSK Ultrasound Certification (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.

Dr Braz Lima is a former director of Sobramid (Brazilian Society of Interventional Pain Physicians), and post-graduate professor in Interventional Pain Medicine at Israelita Albert Einstein Hospital in São Paulo, Brazil. She has been organizing, teaching and speaking at several congresses including PSI (Pain School International – Budapest).

Graduated from Oporto University and completed her Anaesthesiology residency at
Hospital Central do Funchal, Portugal, in 2001.
Currently based in Madrid, Spain, working in Pain Medicine at Hospital Universitario
Viamed Santa Elena and Hospital Universitario HLA Moncloa.
Former Head of the Acute Pain Unit and Post-Anesthesia Care Unit and active member
of Chronic Pain and Hyperbaric Medicine teams at Hospital Central do Funchal in
Portugal.
Certified as Fellow of Interventional Pain Practice (FIPP) in 2019. Holder of the
European Diploma in Pain Medicine (EDPM) since 2017. Recognized by the
Portuguese Medical Association as Consultant in Pain Medicine since 2018. Consultant
in Hyperbaric Medicine since 2011.
Passionate about medical education, with experience as a residency tutor, international
lecturer, and member of scientific committees for national and international pain
congresses.

• Head of the Pain Management Department of Hospital Primavera in Aracaju – Sergipe.
• Pain Certified by Brazilian Medical Society (AMB).
• Former Pain Intervention fellow at Akdeniz University- Antalya/Turkey
• Former fellow Sint-Jan Hospital – Brugge/Belgium.
• Pain Management Specialization at Singular – Campinas /São Paulo and APM – Goiânia/ Goiás – Brazil
• FIPP / CIPS

Olympio Chacon, MD, is a specialist in anesthesiology and pain management, focusing on pain intervention and regenerative medicine. He coordinates the Pain and Palliative Care Committee of the São Paulo State Society of Anesthesiology – SAESP (2022-present). He pratices at the São Paulo State Cancer Institute (ICESP) and the Hospital das Clínicas, University of São Paulo. He is a Fellow of Interventional Pain Practice and a Certified Interventional Pain Sonologist by the World Institute of Pain. He is a Diplomate of the American Board of Regenerative Medicine. He holds certificates in Advanced Anesthesiology (TSA) and Pain Intervention in Anesthesiology (TIDA) from the Brazilian Society of Anesthesiology (SBA).

George C. Chang Chien is a physiatrist specializing in interventional pain management, focusing on musculoskeletal and regenerative medicine. He has practices in Southern California and can be reached at www.GCCInstitute.org

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

Interventional Pain Physician with
extensive experience at INTEDOR,
excelling in pain management and
clinical coordination. Proven track
record in enhancing patient
assessment processes and driving
quality improvement initiatives.
Adept at leading medical training
programs, fostering collaboration
among health professionals to
elevate care standards in pain
treatment.

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

Dr. Javier De Andrés Ares is the head of the pain unit at the University Hospital La Paz in Madrid, Spain, Director of Hospital Universitario HLA Moncloa and co-director at Clínica del Dolor Hospital Santa Elena-Madrid. He graduated from Universidad Complutense-Madrid in June 1990, completed his anaesthesiology residency at Complejo Hospitalario de Toledo 1996 and is Fellow in Interventional Pain Practice from the World Institute of Pain 2008. In 2008, he obtained the Hassenbusch Award in from the World Institute of Pain. In addition, he is engaged in many training programmes as assistant professor and examiner, and an active member of several societies, including the Spine Intervention Society.

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

Dr. Díez Tafur did his Pain Medicine Fellowship at McGill University. Alan Edwards Pain Management Unit- Montreal General Hospital, Canada. He is Certified by the World Institute of Pain (WIP) with both, FIPP and CIPS certifications and has an MSc degree in Pain Study and Treatment from Rey Juan Carlos University in Madrid, Spain. He is a BOARD Certified Physiatrist with an Expert Diploma in MSK Ultrasound trained at Severo Ochoa University Hospital in Madrid, Spain. Born and raised in Lima, Perú. Dr. Díez Tafur moved back to Lima in 2018 aiming to provide high standards of care for pain-suffering patients and educate in this field. He is currently leading a private hospital’s pain service and is the Medical Director of two private pain centers in Lima, Peru.

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

Prof. Serdar Erdine is a professor of Anesthesiology and Algology (Pain Medicine). He is the founder of Pain Medicine- Algology in Turkey. He is also the founder of the Turkish Society of Algology and had been the president between 1993-2012, founder of the Turkish Society for Regional Anesthesia, President for two terms.and had been on the board of ESRA between 1993-2001.
He was also the previous exb member and president of EFIC between 1999-2011, Founder and President of the WIP since the foundation and currently chair of the Turkish Registered Section of WIP. He has the Trail Blazers award of WIP in 2017 and Honorary President of the Turkish Pain Society.

Carolina Hernández-Porras MD is a Mexican anesthesiologist, specialized in interventional pain management. She is Associate Professor of the Fellowship Interventional Pain Management and at the National Cancer Institute, and founder of the Mexican Society of Ultrasound in Pain Medicine (SMUD).
Dr Porras has several publications and has participated with chapters in Spanish, Portuguese and English books. Dr Hernádez-Porras is certified as Fellow of Interventional Pain Practice (FIPP) and Certified Interventional Pain Sonologist (CIPS) by the World Institute of Pain and has a Master degree in Clinical analysis and is a member of the Editor Board of Pain Physician Journal.

Pedro Hilton de Andrade Filho, MD, PhD, RMSK, TSA-SBA, FIPP, CIPS
Anesthesiologist (TSA/SBA) – IAMSPE
Pain Physician, PhD and Postdoctoral Researcher – University of São Paulo (USP-SP)
Fellow in Interventional Pain Medicine – Singular
Registered in Musculoskeletal Sonography – APCA
Certified Interventional Pain Sonologist – WIP
Fellow of Interventional Pain Practice – WIP

Anesthesiologist
Pain Specialist at AMB
Fellow of Interventional Pain Practice (FIPP) at WIP
Certified Interventional Pain Sonologist (CIPS) at WIP
Postgraduate in Regenerative Medicine
Professor of the Postgraduate Program in Pain Intervention at Instituto Israelia Albert Einstein
Pain Group at Hospital Rios Dor and Copa Dor

Interventional Pain Physician at Hospital Israelita Albert Einstein – São Paulo
​​Expertise in Pain by the Brazilian Medical Association
“FIPP – Fellow of Interventional Pain Practice” – World Institute of Pain
“CIPS – Certified of Interventional Pain Sonologist” – World Institute of Pain
President of the Brazilian Chapter of the World Institute of Pain
Member of the Education Committee of the World Institute of Pain
Diplomate of American Interventional Headache Society Board

Jee Youn Moon, MD, PhD, is a dedicated Professor and Chief Director of the Pain Management Center at the Dep of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine of Seoul National Univ. Hospital College of Medicine in Seoul, South Korea. She is the Director of the International Coop of the Korean Pain Society, CRPS SIG Secretary in IASP, and WIP BoE Officer. Her clinical interests are in managing CRPS and cancer pain, and ultrasound and fluoroscopy-guided interventions. She has published over 100 SCI-indexed articles in Anesthesiology, BJA, RAPM, Lancet, etc. She has performed translational research on CRPS patients to investigate their neuroimmune mechanisms via spatial transcriptome analyses.

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

Medical Anesthesiologist.
Former Fellow at Juan Pablo Garraham Hospital.
Expert in Pain Treatment and Palliative Care.
Fellow Interventional Pain Practice (FIPP) WIP.
Instructor of Interventionalism.
Lecturer Clasa 2022, Santa Cruz De La Sierra, Bolivia. Discogenic Pain.
Director of Centro Medico Villegas, Prov Bs As.
Director of Clinica Modelo De General Villegas, Prov Bs As.

Prof. Plancarte, trained in Anesthesiology and intensive care, to later specialize in interventional pain management. He founded the Pain Clinic of the National Institute of Cancerology in Mexico and has been the creator of 5 original techniques in interventional pain management, which are already part of the armamentary of interventional cancer pain treatment. He is a professor at the National Autonomous University of Mexico and has a Doctorate in Medicine research and is a member of the National System of Researchers in Mexico.

Dr. Bernardo Silveira graduated as an MD in 1989 at School of Medicine in Itajubá, Minas Gerais, Brazil.  He completed her specialization in anesthesiology in 1992 at Santa Casa de Belo Horizonte. In 1993 he became a professor of anesthesiology at the Alfenas School of Medicine, Minas Gerais, Brazil, where he remained until 2001. He is a tenured anesthesiologist in the State of São Paulo and a tenured Federal Medical Expert. In 2016, he completed postgraduate studies in Pain Medicine at Hospital Sirio Libanês, São Paulo, Brazil. He received a Pain Performance Certificate from AMB in 2019. He received training in Interventional Technique from Singular Campinas, Brazil, in 2018. He was certified by the Fellow Interventional Pain Practice (FIPP) in 2020. He is a professor at CETRUS School, São Paulo, Brazil, since 2021. He has been a member of the Board of Directors of SOBRAMID since 2022/2023 and 2024/2025. He works in the city of Sorocaba, São Paulo, Brazil, working at DorClin Pain Medicine and Anesthesiology

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

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

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.

Kris Vissers is an anesthesiologist – pain specialist and consultant in palliative care, professor in Pain and Palliative Medicine and chairman of the Radboud Expertise Center of Pain and Palliative Medicine of the Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre in the Netherlands. As a Research Group Leader his research program focusses on the quality of life of vulnerable patients.
He is the immediate past president of the Pain Alliance in the Netherlands, oldest chapter of the IASP. He is Past President of the World Institute of Pain and immediate past chair of the Board of Examination of WIP. Currently, he is the Director education and certification of WIP.