About CALSIPP
Our Mission
We are dedicated to promoting the practice of safe, accessible, and effective interventional pain management in the diagnosis and treatment of all pain patients. Our goal is to advance the scientific knowledge and education of specialists providing value driven quality pain medicine.
We are the voice of Interventional Pain Medicine in California
• Through the CalSIPP Political Action Committee we lobby for Interventional Pain at the State level
• We contribute to crucial state campaigns to enhance our political agenda
• We maintain relationships with ASIPP and other societies to further Interventional Pain
• We keep all members informed of changes in billing, coding and laws as it pertains to Interventional Pain through e-blast alerts and Newsletters
• We organize a yearly conference on pertinent topics, state of the art procedures and evolving issues in our field, including regenerative medicine
• We educate pain physicians and other physicians on proper opiate prescribing
• We insure appropriate access to Scheduled medicines for our patients (via meetings with DEA, other societies, pharmacies and editorials)
• We are endorsed and sponsored by multiple companies who appreciate the strength input of our society
OUR BOARD
Vanila Singh, MD, MACM
President
Dr. Vanila Singh is an American physician, educator, policy maker, and patient advocate. She has dedicated her career to clinical medicine and public health issues and is currently tackling one of the nation’s most widespread, expensive, and devastating epidemics of our time: the opioid and greater drug epidemic. As a double-board certified faculty physician in both anesthesiology and pain medicine, Dr. Singh has brought her background in molecular and cell biology and economics in understanding the underlying mechanisms of complex acute and chronic pain as well as other medical conditions. Dr. Singh has spent over 17 years at the Stanford University School of Medicine as a Clinical Associate Professor where her practice focuses on pain management, regional anesthesia and advanced ultrasound-guided procedures.
In 2017, Dr. Singh was appointed by the White House to serve as the Chief Medical Officer of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health (OASH). She was later concurrently appointed by the Assistant Secretary for Health as the Acting Regional Health Administrator for Region 9 (CA, NV, AZ, HI, and the Pacific Islands) and served dual leadership roles through her HHS tenure.
In her role as the U.S. Department of HHS Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Singh was integral in shaping the Department’s opioid policy recommendations. She served as Chairperson of the highly regarded Pain Management Best Practices Inter-Agency Task Force, for the CARA Legislative Act of 2016, where she brought together and led 29 expert Task Force members in pain medicine, addiction, mental health, minority health, Veterans’ health, as well as professional medical organizations representatives and respected members from FDA, CDC, NIH. Under her leadership, the Task Force submitted a comprehensive Report to the U.S. Congress on May 30th 2019, that received over 150 endorsements from various stakeholder organization, included over 500 scholarly references and 10,000 public comments, and utilized artificial intelligence/machine learning to analyze new and emerging trends in the pain management landscape.
Dr. Singh has received numerous awards and most recently is the recipient of the 2020 Distinguished Philipp M. Lippe, MD Award, given to a physician for outstanding contributions to both the social and political aspects of pain medicine. She has received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Society of Interventional Pain Physicians 2018, and has been recognized as a woman in leadership. She continues to provide news commentary locally and nationally on matters related to health care, policy, COVID, and other subjects. She is frequently invited to keynote and speak on her experiences and expert background. Dr Singh sits on the board of various private, public and non-profit organizations.
Shalini Shah, MD, MBA
Immediate Past President
Shalini Shah, MD MBA, is an Associate Professor and Vice-Chair for the Department of Anesthesiology & Perioperative Care and Enterprise Director of Pain Services for University of California Irvine Health. Dr. Shah completed her residency in anesthesiology from Cornell University and a combined fellowship in adult and pediatric chronic pain at Harvard Medical School. She has been featured in Time Magazine, The Doctors, NBC Nightly News, Business Insider and is a frequent guest on NPR on the topic of safe pain care options. Dr Shah is an NIH- funded researcher with a focus on pediatric pain therapeutics. She completed her MBA from UCLA Anderson School of Management with a certificate of distinction in finance and entrepreneurship. Dr. Shah is strongly committed to pain advocacy and healthcare regulatory reform both in the state of California and nationally to improve healthcare experiences for patients.
Joseph Cabaret, MD
Vice President
Dr. Joseph Cabaret, MD is Board Certified in Anesthesiology, Pain Medicine, and Addiction Medicine, a consultant and speaker for the pharmaceutical industry and ABIPP Diplomat. Dr. Cabaret practices Interventional Pain and Regenerative Medicine in Camarillo, California.
Ripu Arora, MD, MBA
Treasurer, Director Emeritus
Dr. Arora is Board certified in Anesthesiology and sub specialty of Pain Management American Board of Anesthesiology and a Diplomate of the American Academy of Pain Management with eight years of experience in Orthopedic and Surgical training and practice. In addition to providing chronic and acute pain management services in the South Bay for 25 years, Dr. Arora is Adjunct Assistant Professor at Touro University in Vallejo, California. He believes in a multidisciplinary approach to difficult chronic pain problems which include anti-inflammatory drug therapy, physical therapy, psychotherapy and nerve blocks, etc. Dr. Arora also does invasive pain management procedures which include Dorsal Column spinal stimulator, intrathecal infusion pumps for cancer pain and other difficult pain problems and radiofrequency thermocoagulation and neurolysis. He also offers FDA-compliant regenerative medicine to patients when appropriate.
Standiford Helm, MD
Treasurer, Director Emeritus
Dr. Helm has been practicing interventional pain management since 1982. Dr. Helm is a diplomate of the American Board of Anesthesiology with subspecialty certification in Pain Medicine and of the American Board of Pain Medicine. Dr. Helm is a Fellow of Interventional Pain Practice (FIPP), the only certifying agency which tests the ability to perform interventional pain procedures. Dr. Helm is also an examiner for FIPP.
Dr. Helm is the Interventional Pain Management representative on the Carrier Advisory Committee for Medicare in California.
Dr. Helm has published extensively on interventional pain management issues, has lectured internationally and taught pain management procedures.
Dr. Helm has been active in the effort, both on a State and a National basis, to ensure that patients have access to those pain procedures which have been proven effective and to medication. Dr. Helm has had the honor of working with FBI and DEA agents to assist them in discriminating between practitioners who are prescribing medications for a legitimate medical purpose and those who supplying medications used for abuse or diversion.
Linda Rever, MD
Secretary
Dr. Rever completed her anesthesiology residency at Robert Wood Johnson School of Medicine as chief resident with an instrumental role in development of the acute pain service. Upon completion of her neuroanesthesia fellowship at Georgetown University, Dr. Rever joined the faculty there with a focus on neuroanesthesia and pain medicine. In 1993, she joined the faculty of the Keck School of Medicine in the Department of Anesthesiology establishing the acute pain service at the LAC+USC Medical Center. Dr. Rever currently serves as director of the acute pain service at LAC+USC Medical Center and at Keck Hospital of USC. As part of the educational mission of the department, she mentors residents and serves on the resident education committee. Since 2007, Dr. Rever has also served as chair of the Bioethics Committee of the USC Norris Medical Staff.
Sheri Albers, DO
Director-at-Large
Eric Grigsby, MD
Director-at-Large
Dr. Eric Grigsby, MD, MBA is Chief Executive Officer and Founder of Neurovations. For over three decades, Dr. Grigsby has focused his clinical career on academia and private practice. Today, in addition to busy practices, surgery centers, education divisions and labs, Dr. Grigsby guides research and innovation at Neurovations.
Dr Grigsby has been seminally involved in the majority of the interventional devices and therapies used in the field of pain management. He guides start-ups and industry-leading companies through the innovation, discovery and clinical research process which includes access to sites for clinical investigation in pain and neurologic disease.
The Neurovations Education division holds world-class programs and ACCME accredited conferences in Pain and Neuroscience. Additionally, Neurovations Education helps companies and clinicians develop and learn surgical therapies. Dr. Grigsby’s non-profit foundation, HealthRoots, is committed to community health and innovation for underserved patients and communities.
Originally from Knoxville, Tennessee, Dr. Grigsby is a graduate of Brown University with an undergraduate degree in Biology and Economics. He completed medical school at Boston University School of Medicine and residency training in Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. He received his Master’s in Business Administration in Health Sector Management from Duke University.
Sheldon Jordan, MD
Director-at-Large
Sheldon Jordan, MD, is a board certified neurologist. Considered a top doctor by Best Doctors in America, Who’s Who, Global Edition, and Super Doctors, his philosophy is to listen to patients’ individual stories and provide management and treatment solutions tailored specifically to their needs.
Dr. Jordon is board certified by the American Board of Psychiatry Neurology, American Board of Clinical Neurophysiology, American Board of Addiction Medicine, and American Board of Interventional Pain Medicine. He was elected as Fellow of the American Academy of Neurology and holds additional certifications from the American Society of Neuroimaging in Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Computed Tomography and Ultrasonography.
In private practice in Westwood and Santa Monica since 1981, Dr. Jordon’s emphasis is on interventional pain management, neuroimaging, clinical neurophysiology and sports neurology. He has numerous publications based on the clinical experience and research in these areas. He research interests include Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) for treatment of depression, pain and a variety of neurological and psychiatric disorders. He is a member of the national consortium for developing guidelines for Thoracic Outlet Syndrome. He has also served as a consultant for the State of California, Commission of Judicial Performance.
Dr. Jordan was a Goldwyn Scholar and graduated from UCLA Medical School in 1977 with the Upjohn Award for best student in combined research and academics and the Gold Medal in Surgery. He did his medical internship, residency and fellowships in clinical neurophysiology while staffing the electroencephalography laboratory and electromyography laboratory and completing all studies in 1981.
Annu Navani, MD
Director-at-Large
Dr. Annu Navani is the Founder and CEO of Comprehensive Spine and Sports Center, the leader in interventional and multidisciplinary spine, musculoskeletal, and orthopedic care. Over the last decade, she has scaled a solo practice to a large multispecialty group practice with more than 20 service lines that operate via multiple state-of-the-art centers in Northern California.
Dr. Navani is an Adjunct Clinical Associate Professor at the Division of Pain, Stanford University School of Medicine. She also serves as an Advisor to Le Reve Regenerative Wellness, the center for cutting-edge restorative and regenerative solutions for clinical applications and research.
Dr. Navani completed her Anesthesiology residency from Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, and Fellowship in Pain Medicine from the University of California, Davis. She is board certified in Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine by the American Board of Anesthesiology, in Interventional Pain by the American Board of Interventional Pain Physicians, and in Regenerative Medicine by the American Board of Regenerative Medicine.
She sits on the Editorial Board of the journal, Pain Physician and serves on the board of the American Society of Interventional Pain Physicians, California Society of Industrial Medicine and Surgery, and California Society of Interventional Pain Physicians. She is the recipient of the Outstanding Achievement Award from the American Association of Interventional Pain Physicians, The American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin, and The Postgraduate Assembly in Anesthesiology.
She has extensive publications in the field of Interventional spine and Regenerative medicine and has contributed via several peer-reviewed journal articles, visionary editorials, and book chapters. Her book, “Essentials of Regenerative Medicine” is first in its right illustrating the latest interventional techniques in spine and musculoskeletal interventions. She has also been instrumental in co-authoring several National Guidelines including the ones on Opioids, Interventional Spine Epidural procedures, Facet joints, and Biologics in Lumbar spine.
Her vision is to forward the field of interventional pain by using technological innovations to improve access, decrease health care costs, and maximize quality and efficiency.
Kartic Rajput, MD, PhD
Director-at-Large
Kartic Rajput, MD, PhD, is a double board-certified physician in psychiatry and pain management from the American Board of Medical Specialties. He is one of the first few psychiatrist in the country who are trained in interventional pain management. He also has unique research background in opioids and pain pharmacology and received his PhD from LSU School of Medicine in New Orleans. He has extensive experience in the area of neuropsychiatry and pain and has been widely published. Dr. Rajput completed his training at Tulane School of Medicine where he also served as chief resident in the department. He also completed an interventional pain fellowship at the Department of Anesthesia, Medical College of Georgia. He currently practices as Interventional pain physician in Stockton, California.
Howard Rosner, MD
Director-at-Large
Howard Rosner is originally from Miami Beach, Florida. He graduated with his MD in 1980 from University of Miami School of Medicine before completing his Anesthesiology Residency 1981-1983 at Massachusetts General Hospital. He then completed a Pain Management Fellowship 1983-1984 at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center. He served as Faculty at Columbia 1983-1989 and Faculty at Cornell University Medical College 1989-2002. He became the Director of Pain Management at New York Hospital before he was recruited to California in 2002.
He has been Medical Director at The Pain Center at Cedars Sinai since 2002 and Program Director of the Interventional Pain Management Fellowship since 2010. He is currently a Professor of Anesthesiology at Cedars Sinai.
Dr. Rosner is widely published, and has been very active in medical student, resident, and fellow teaching for almost 40 years.
Lee Snook, MD
Director-at-Large
Lee Thomas Snook, Jr., MD, FACP, FASAM is President and Founder of Metropolitan Pain Management Consultants, Inc., an Accredited Association for Ambulatory HealthCare (AAAHC) Medical Group, in Sacramento, California.. Dr. Snook is Board certified in Internal Medicine, Anesthesiology, and Anesthesiology with Subspecialty Certification in Pain Medicine, is Board certified in Pain Medicine, and is a Diplomate of the American Board of Addiction Medicine. He is also a Certified Medical Review Officer (MRO).
He has held an active solo office based medical practice since 1992. He is currently the President-Elect for the California Medical Association and Delegate to the AMA for the American Society of Interventional Pain Physicians.
Dr. Snook is a Fellow of both the American College of Physicians and the American Society of Addiction Medicine. He is a member of the American Academy of Pain Medicine, American Medical Association, American Pain Society, American Society of Anesthesiologists, California Academy of Pain Medicine, California Society of Addiction Medicine (CSAM), California Society of Anesthesiologists, California Society of Interventional Pain Physicians, Spine Intervention Society, International Anesthesia Research Society, North American Neuromodulation Society, and the Sierra Sacramento Valley Medical Society. He has been a Qualified Medical Examiner since 1996, and an expert panelist for the Division of Worker’s Compensation (DWC) Medical Evidence Evaluation Advisory Committee, (MEEAC). He also serves on the CSAM Public Policy Committee and Physicians Wellness Committee.
Dr. Snook is a Board Member of the California Patient Protection and Physician Health, Inc. In addition, he is an expert consultant to the Medical Board of California. His passion is advocacy for the practice of Medicine, embracing the Art and Science, on behalf of patient care and well-being.
Committees
Policy and Advocacy Committee
More information Coming Soon.
Education Committee
More information Coming Soon.
Annual Planning Committee
More information Coming Soon.
Membership Committee
More information Coming Soon.
Research Committee
More information Coming Soon.