Joshua Philip Prager M.D., M.S. is an American physician. Prager specializes in

pain medicine Pain management is an aspect of medicine and health care involving relief of pain (pain relief, analgesia, pain control) in various dimensions, from acute and simple to chronic and challenging. Most physicians and other health professionals pr ...

and is the executive director of Center for the Rehabilitation Pain Syndromes (CRPS) at UCLA Medical Plaza.

Early life and education

Joshua P. Prager was born in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, the son of Julian Arthur Prager (1914–1981) and Eleanor Vernon Goldsmith (; 1917–2008). Joshua is the son of a New York City police officer, and later, a public school mathematics teacher, and a United Cerebral Palsy shelter workshop supervisor. Prager was educated in the

New York City public school system The New York City Department of Education (NYCDOE) is the department of the government of New York City that manages the city's public school system. The City School District of the City of New York (or the New York City Public Schools) is t ...

He studied as an undergraduate at

Stony Brook University Stony Brook University (SBU), officially the State University of New York at Stony Brook, is a public research university in Stony Brook, New York. Along with the University at Buffalo, it is one of the State University of New York system's ...

, completed his premedical education, and was a graduate student at

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

. Prager graduated from

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

with M.D. and attended Stanford Graduate School of Business receiving an M.S. in Management/Health Services Research in 1981. Prager financially put himself through college and medical school. He was a Resident Fellow at Stanford running an undergraduate residence. He completed training in internal medicine at

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

before completing training in anesthesiology at

Massachusetts General Hospital Massachusetts General Hospital (Mass General or MGH) is the original and largest teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School located in the West End neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. It is the third oldest general hospital in the United Stat ...

(MGH) at

Harvard Medical School Harvard Medical School (HMS) is the graduate medical school of Harvard University and is located in the Longwood Medical Area of Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1782, HMS is one of the oldest medical schools in the United States and is consi ...

and

Stanford University School of Medicine Stanford University School of Medicine is the medical school of Stanford University and is located in Stanford, California. It traces its roots to the Medical Department of the University of the Pacific, founded in San Francisco in 1858. This ...

Career

Prager served on the full-time faculty at MGH at Harvard Medical School and at

UCLA School of Medicine The University of California, Los Angeles School of Medicine—known as the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA (DGSOM)—is an accredited medical school located in Los Angeles, California, United States. The school was renamed in 2001 in h ...

where he served as Director of the UCLA Pain Medicine Center. He is Board Certified in Internal Medicine,

Anesthesiology Anesthesiology, anaesthesiology, or anaesthesia is the medical specialty concerned with the total perioperative care of patients before, during and after surgery. It encompasses anesthesia, intensive care medicine, critical emergency medicine, ...

and Pain Medicine. In 2005, Prager was elected as president of the

North American Neuromodulation Society North American Neuromodulation Society is a professional scientific organization that serves to promote and advance neuromodulation as a treatment for various diseases. The majority of its members work in pain-related disciplines, although membe ...

, and served two consecutive, one-year terms as president until 2007. Until 2012, he served as Director at Large of the

International Neuromodulation Society The International Neuromodulation Society (INS) is a non-profit group of clinicians, scientists and engineers dedicated to the scientific development and awareness of neuromodulation – the alteration of nerve activity through the delivery of ele ...

. He has served two consecutive 2-year terms as Chair of the Complex Regional Pain Syndrome Group of the International Association for the Study of Pain. He is also the Editor and Chair of the Pain and End-of-Life CME program from the California Society of Anesthesiologists. Prager is one of the few physicians in the US to perform Dorsal Root Ganglion Stimulation for CRPS. Prager is a recognized expert who speaks nationally and internationally in the administration of

Ketamine Ketamine is a dissociative anesthetic used medically for induction and maintenance of anesthesia. It is also used as a recreational drug. It is one of the safest anesthetics, as, in contrast with opiates, ether, and propofol, it suppresses ne ...

for depression, CRPS and other pain problems. In 2016, he was involved in writing guidelines for Ketamine treatment under the aegis of the Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy Syndrome Association (RSDSA). He has been interviewed on ABC News, CBS News, The Doctors, Lifestyle Magazine, LA Times, National Public Radio, and Medscape.

Public service

In 2005, he organized the first meeting of a coalition of pain organizations and all three manufacturers of

spinal cord stimulator A spinal cord stimulator (SCS) or dorsal column stimulator (DCS) is a type of implantable neuromodulation device (sometimes called a "pain pacemaker") that is used to send electrical signals to select areas of the spinal cord (dorsal columns) for ...

systems to collaborate on issues of patient access and reimbursement for neuromodulatory procedures. The same year, Prager joined the Medical Evidence Evaluation Advisory Committee (MEEAC), a group appointed by the

Governor of California The governor of California is the head of government of the U.S. state of California. The governor is the commander-in-chief of the California National Guard and the California State Guard. Established in the Constitution of California, the g ...

to develop treatment guidelines for medical care of the injured worker. He continued in the role for six years. He is a Medical Expert for the

Medical Board of California The Medical Board of California (MBC) is a state government agency which licenses and disciplines physicians, surgeons and certain allied healthcare professionals in California. The Board provides two principal types of services to consumers: (1) ...

, the

California Attorney General The attorney general of California is the state attorney general of the Government of California. The officer's duty is to ensure that "the laws of the state are uniformly and adequately enforced" (Constitution of California, Article V, Section ...

and the District Attorney of the County of Los Angeles.and the City Attorney of the City of Santa Monica He helped establish or reorganize several inner-city health centers, provided volunteer internal medicine care at Haight Ashbury Free Clinics. He also provided volunteer anesthesia for children in the

developing world A developing country is a sovereign state with a lesser developed industrial base and a lower Human Development Index (HDI) relative to other countries. However, this definition is not universally agreed upon. There is also no clear agreem ...

who need corrective surgeries for

congenital anomalies A birth defect, also known as a congenital disorder, is an abnormal condition that is present at birth regardless of its cause. Birth defects may result in disabilities that may be physical, intellectual, or developmental. The disabilities can r ...

. He serves as the volunteer director of pain management and as a volunteer physician for Veterans in Pain (VIP)

Personal life

Prager plays blues harmonica under the pseudonym Dr. Lester "Les" Payne. He has played with the late

James Govan James Govan (September 2, 1949 – July 18, 2014) was an American blues soul singer. His most recent album, ''I'm in Need'', was released in 1996. He had also performed alongside such artists as The Boogie Blues Band and Charlie Wood. Govan h ...

in Memphis, as well as with

Jimmy Burns Jimmy Burns (born February 27, 1943) is an American soul blues and electric blues guitarist, singer and songwriter. Although he was born in the Mississippi Delta, Burns has spent nearly all his life in Chicago. His elder brother, Eddie "Guitar" ...

in Chicago. He lives in Los Angeles and has three children.

Awards and distinctions

* Bounty of Hope Award, Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy Society of America (RSDSA) for Patient Care and contributions to the RSD community. (2007) * Decade of Pain Lecture, American Academy of Pain Medicine. (2007) * Texas Pain Society, Samuel Hassenbusch Lecture. (October 2009) * Lifetime Achievement Award, Presented at the 16th Annual Meeting of the

(December 2012) * Distinguished Service Award, Presented at the 22nd Annual Meeting of the North American Neuromodulation Society (October 2018)

Select articles

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References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Prager, Joshua Living people David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA faculty Stanford University School of Medicine alumni Stony Brook University alumni Harvard University alumni People from Queens, New York 1949 births