Robert Bonakdar, MD, FAAFP, FACN, ABOIM

Concurrent Speaker

Dr. Bonakdar has been Director of Pain Management at the Scripps Center for Integrative Medicine since 2002 and also serves as a member of the Scripps systemwide Opioid Stewardship Committee.

Most recently, Dr. Bonakdar served as an invited presenter to the congressionally mandated Pain Management Best Practices Inter-Agency Task Force and at The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine on non-pharmacological approaches to pain. He is a 2018 Mayday Pain Fellow and the editor of the Oxford University Press textbook of Integrative Pain Management.

Prior to medical school, Dr. Bonakdar received a Richter International Fellowship where he studied Eastern healthcare approaches in Southeast Asia including meditation, acupuncture, Tai Chi and herbal medicine. After completing his medical training, he completed a fellowship at the Scripps Center for Integrative Medicine / Scripps Clinic with a focus on integrative pain management. Additionally, he is certified in headache management by the United Council for Neurologic Subspecialties, board certified in Integrative Medicine by the American Board of Integrative Medicine and a fellow of the American College of Nutrition.

Dr. Bonakdar’s research and over 250 presentations have focused on non-pharmacological approaches to pain management including nutritional, mind-body and technology assisted approaches to health.