Timothy Deer , M . D .
President & CEO , The Spine and Nerve Center of the Virginias
JAMIE NULL
Timothy Deer , M . D ., plays an active role in the fight against the opioid crisis in West Virginia . As president and CEO of The Spine and Nerve Center of the Virginias , he works closely with patients by offering new therapies and technologies to manage pain while striving to educate colleagues across the state to use opioids as a last resort .
“ The opioid crisis in West Virginia has been a major challenge for all of us . Since many of our patients have come to see us on a high dose of opioids and have chronic pain , it is important for us to act to change the treatment paradigm ,” he says .
Part of this active role has been as a member of many state advisory boards on appropriate use of controlled substances , during which Deer helped create and chair the West Virginia Safe and Effective Management of Pain Guidelines , a joint guideline created by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and West Virginia University ( WVU ).
“ I have had the honor to work with the West Virginia Board of Pharmacy , West Virginia State Medical Association , law enforcement and political leaders from both parties to help monitor and shape the appropriate use of controlled substances in West Virginia ,” he says . “ The guidelines we created as part of that initiative became a road map for proper prescribing in our state , and now others have adopted
that model . Since that time , we have seen prescription overdose deaths be markedly lowered in West Virginia .”
A graduate of WVU Tech and the WVU School of Medicine , Deer completed an internal medicine internship , anesthesiology residency and fellowship in interventional pain medicine at the University of Virginia .
“ When I chose interventional pain medicine , it was a new and evolving field ,” he says . “ Most spinal and nerve procedures used to involve many hours of open invasive surgery . I was intrigued by the opportunity to make things less invasive and more efficacious and to reduce the need for opioids and larger surgeries .”
Photo by John Sibold .
Deer is also a former chair of the American Society of Anesthesiologists ’ Committee on Pain Medicine , past president of the International Neuromodulation Society and founder of the American Society of Pain and Neuroscience .
“ All these societies had important roles for our nation and others , but I felt a real need to create a society that would shape the field toward collaboration , with young physicians and residents being paired with experienced doctors to come up with new ideas for the research and development of newer , safer and more efficacious options for those with spine and nerve disorders ,” he says . “ In addition , many of the societies lacked diversity . I feel it is
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WEST VIRGINIA EXECUTIVE