Steven P. Cohen, MD Chief, Pain Medicine and Professor

Dr. Steven P. Cohen is Professor of Anesthesiology & Critical Care Medicine, Neurology, Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation and Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences. He is also Chief of Pain Medicine and Director of Pain Operations at Johns Hopkins and Director of Pain Research at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. Dr. Cohen has published over 300 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters in journals such as Lancet, JAMA, BMJ, CMAJ, Anesthesiology, Pain and New England Journal of Medicine. Among his major contributions are the development of an FDA-approved denervation technique for treating sacroiliac joint pain, helping set up the first pain clinic in a war zone, inventing the IV ketamine test, performing the first studies evaluating the epidural administration of biological agents for pain and serving as Senior Investigator on the congressionally-mandated study evaluating compounded topical creams for chronic pain. He has served as Chair on international committees developing guidelines on ketamine for acute and chronic pain management, lumbar facet joint guidelines, pain management during COVID best practices, and currently the cervical facet guidelines. His work was instrumental in the passage of the 2008 Military P, serving as Committee Chair for the 2018 ketamine guidelines for pain management and lumbar facet interventions, and conducting research on facet arthropathy and epidural steroid injections that has changed the way the conditions is treated. In addition to his academic work, Dr. Cohen is a retired Colonel in the U.S. Army.