Krishnan Chakravarthy, MD, PhD

Krishnan Chakravarthy, MD, PhD, is an interventional pain and spine physician who serves as President of the American Society of Pain and Neuroscience (ASPN) for the 2025–2027 term, having previously served the organization as President-Elect and in various committee leadership roles. He earned his MD and PhD from the University at Buffalo and completed his anesthesiology residency at Johns Hopkins Hospital, followed by a pain medicine fellowship at Harvard Medical School/Massachusetts General Hospital. He practices in the San Diego, California area, where he is President and co-founder of the Coastal Research Institute, a Southern California neuroscience and pain research center, and a partner with Coastal Pain and Spinal Diagnostics Medical Group. He also holds affiliate faculty appointments in the Department of Anesthesiology and the Department of NanoEngineering at UC San Diego Health, and is affiliate faculty at VA San Diego Healthcare, where he teaches medical students, residents, and fellows.

Dr. Chakravarthy’s research centers on incorporating emerging technology into pain care, including neuromodulation and restorative neurostimulation, and he has been involved in several first-in-the-United-States clinical cases in the field. He is the author of more than 100 peer-reviewed publications and over 50 abstracts and book chapters, with work appearing in journals including Anesthesiology, Pain, and Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, and has delivered more than 300 invited lectures at regional, national, and international meetings. Expertscape’s PubMed-based analysis has ranked him in the top 0.1% of scholars publishing on pain management over the past decade. Beyond ASPN, he has held leadership and committee roles with the International Neuromodulation Society and the Pacific Spine and Pain Society. He is founder and chairman of the Empower You Chronic Pain Foundation, focused on patient access, advocacy, and education, and has founded several medical technology ventures translating pain-research innovations toward clinical use. He has received ASPN’s Young Innovator Award for his contributions to the field.