Peter Staats

Dr. Staats was the founder of the division of Pain Medicine in the Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine at Johns Hopkins University, where he was the division chief and director for over a decade. In this capacity he was youngest major division chief in the history of Johns Hopkins Hospital and was the first anesthesiologist to obtain surgical at any academic university. In 2003 he became a founding partner in Premier Pain Centers in New Jersey which merged with National Spine and Pain Centers (NSPC), the largest pain practice in the United States. He is currently the chief medical officer of both NSPC and electroCore. He serves on the United States Health and Human Services Pain task force subcommittee whose mandate is to define appropriate treatment societies for pain in America.

He is boarded by the American Society of Anesthesiology, the American Board of Interventional Pain Physicians (ABIPP) and the World Institute of Pain (FIPP. He has edited or co- authored 11 textbooks on pain medicine and written approximately four hundred articles, book chapters and abstracts on neuromodulation and the diagnosis and management of complex pain problems. His publications have appeared in prominent journals including JAMA, Lancet, Anesthesiology, Pain Medicine and others. He has chaired hundreds of meetings devoted to pain and neuromodulation around the world.

He is listed in Americas Top Doctors, New Jersey Top Doctors and Best Doctors in America. He is the Past President of (ASIPP), The American Society of Interventional Pain Physicians, the North American Neuromodulation Society (NANS), the southern pain society the New Jersey Society of interventional pain physicians (NJSIPP), and was the first chair of the American Society of Anesthesia’s committee on Interventional pain. He is currently chairman of the Board of Examination World Institute of Pain (WIP) and is on the Executive Board of the WIP. He is also the recipient of the President’s Distinguished Service Award and the Excellence in Pain Management Award from the Southern Pain Society, as well as the Physician of the Year Award from both the West Virginia Society of Interventional Pain and the New York and New Jersey Societies of Interventional Pain. He has received distinguished service awards from AAPM, ASIPP, NANS and NJSIPP, and the Raj award for excellence (2017) and the lifetime achievement award (2018) from the American Society of Interventional Pain Physicians and the (2018) lifetime achievement award from the West Virginia society of Interventional Pain Physicians WVSIPP and the lifetime achievement award (2018) from the NY and NJ Societies of interventional pain for contributions to the field of pain and neuromodulation and the lifetime achievement award from the North American Neuromodulation Society ( NANS ) 2019.

He is the recipient or co-recipient of numerous grants on the multiple facets of pain management. His research in cancer pain demonstrated how good pain management could lessen side effects and improve life expectancy. He was the co-principle investigator on the largest randomized controlled trial ever performed on intrathecal pumps, and principle investigator on the first large scale trial on a novel intrathecal agent for pain. His patents and research have led to novel approaches and FDA approvals in pain management and healthcare including novel pharmaceuticals and medical devices (Qutenza, Prialt and Gammacore).

His research on pain, mechanisms of placebo response, his unified theory of pain termed Psychological Behaviorism theory of pain, and interventional therapies have been highlighted on Good Morning America, Peter Jennings World News Tonight, CBS News, BBC and multiple newspapers including USA Today, the Washington Post Newsweek, Pain Medicine News and the Wallstreet Journal.

In addition to clinical and scientific work, his foundation, Positive outcomes worldwide is devoted to improving care around the world through education and training for pain and its treatment.