Dr. Francesco Vetri, MD

Dr. Francesco Vetri is driven in his work through his ability to help patients regain their function and return to work and pleasurable activities. “I like to feel that I have made a difference in people’s lives.” In 2019, Dr. Vetri joined the National Spine and Pain Centers and came to our affiliated branch the Millennium Pain Center in Bloomington, IL in 2022.He was first drawn to the pain management field because he wanted to learn the knowledge and skills to help patients who are suffering. Dr. Vetri earned his medical and doctoral (basic and developmental neuroscience) degrees from the University of Pisa in Italy. In between these studies, he served as a post-graduate research assistant in the university’s Department of Physiological Sciences. He completed three post-doctoral fellows respectively at the National Research Council of Italy in Pisa, then the Neuroanesthesia Research Laboratory at the University of Illinois at Chicago. UIC was the prestigious education institution …where he also completed his anesthesiology residency and pain medicine fellowship from which he graduated in 2017. He continues to be active in basic pain research and Millennium Pain Center is a site for numerous clinical research studies. A multimodal approach is taken by Dr. Vetri when putting together an individualized treatment plan with special emphasis on cutting-edge interventional and minimally invasive strategies. He believes medications, as well as procedures, have a role in a patient’s path to healing. “I definitely give preference to non-opioid medications but there is a role for opioid management when other strategies fail,” he said. “Risks of all approaches cannot be underestimated and patients need to be educated on these.” Dr. Vetri takes pride in the relationships he establishes with his patients. “I take all the time is needed for each patient, and over time they become like family members, and I treat everyone with care and respect,” he said. In his time away from the office, Dr. Vetri likes playing with his kids, exercising, and cultivating his spiritual life.