Hoag is advancing the care and management of pain patients in Orange County with the addition of Charles De Mesa, D.O, M.P.H., who will serve as Chief of Interventional Pain, Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation at the Hoag Spine Center.
He joins the multidisciplinary, specialized team of spine care experts at Hoag to lead and develop the outpatient interventional pain management and rehabilitation services.
“Dr. De Mesa brings his leadership qualities and commitment to education to empower patients as they navigate their pain care,” said Burak Ozgur, M.D., director of Hoag’s Spine Center. “His role will expand Hoag’s commitment to comprehensive management and continuity of care for patients contending with pain.”
Dr. De Mesa comes to Hoag from the University of California, Davis, Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, where he served as the principal investigator in multiple pain management trials. With a primary specialty in non-operative and minimally invasive treatments of the spine, Dr. De Mesa has pioneered acute and chronic spine pain issues without the use of opiates. At the same time, he brings his considerable skill to the treatment of musculoskeletal neuropathic pain conditions.
Chronic pain requires an integrated, multidisciplinary approach, encompassing traditional and non-traditional interventions. Between 20 and 40 percent of Americans suffer from chronic pain. Neuropathic, or nerve pain, affects more than 10 percent of the U.S. population, and these rates are expected to rise due to our aging population, as well as an increase in diabetes.
“Pain management is a critical component of what we do at the Hoag Spine Center,” said Adam Kanter, M.D., associate executive medical director of the Pickup Family Neurosciences Institute. “We welcome Dr. De Mesa and applaud Hoag’s commitment to comprehensive care and for recognizing the importance of creating this vital role for the patients in our community.”
Dr. De Mesa said he is excited to work with Hoag’s expert teams to support a modern approach to pain management that relies less on surgery or opioids.
“Our pain management strategies are a powerful resource for patients. The power is in the relationships we make, not simply our credentials,” Dr. De Mesa said. “Our pain care team makes an impact by treating patients with compassion. We are able to listen to their concerns and create a tailored plan to help give them a better quality of life.”
Dr. De Mesa will also be the Director of the Chronic Pain & Neuropathy Program at Hoag’s Pickup Family Neurosciences Institute, joining a dedicated team of pain experts.
“The opportunity to work within both the Hoag Spine Center and the Pickup Family Neurosciences Institute will allow me to serve patients across the hospital, including patients contending with neuralgia, post-stroke shoulder pain, painful diabetic neuropathy, chronic regional pain syndrome and cancer associated pain,” Dr. De Mesa said.
“Dr. De Mesa is a stellar addition to the team as we expand our comprehensive and evidence-based approach to the evaluation and treatment of chronic pain and neuropathy,” said Michael Brant-Zawadzki, M.D., F.A.C.R., the Ron & Sandi Simon Executive Medical Director Endowed Chair of the Pickup Family Neurosciences Institute and Senior Physician Executive at Hoag. “Our goal is to help reduce or eliminate pain and improve our patients’ quality of life through a personalized treatment plan.”
For more information, visit www.hoag.org/spine.
