JR Robert G. Valentine, MD

An interaction with a patient lead Dr. Robert G. Valentine to focus on the subspecialty of pain management within the field of anesthesiology. After successfully treating a patient’s Complex Regional Pain Syndrome, she came back to the hospital to personally thank him. “When she looked me in the eyes and said ‘I just wanted to come thank you for giving me my hand back,’ it made a tremendous impact on me,” he recalls of the 1985 encounter. “...Pain medicine provides a setting in which I can utilize expertise in both pharmacological and procedural approaches to treatment.”With more than 30 years experience in the pain management field, Dr. Valentine brings a vast medical knowledge to the National Spine and Pain Centers.He has previously served on the board of directors for the American Society of Anesthesiologists and the Society for Pain Practice Management. He is a past president for the Arkansas Society of Anesthesiologists. Some of his previous positions include chairman of the …Department of Anesthesiology at Baptist Memorial Medical Center in Arkansas and Medical Director for Arkansas Pain Centers, as well as for Interventional Medical Associates in Gainesville, Florida.“My patients often tell me that I’m the first doctor who ever listened to them or the first one who took time to explain anything,” he said. “When I was in medical school, on the first day of Physical Diagnosis (class), the first words out of the mouth of the course director, Dr. Louis Sanders, were ‘Listen to your patients. They’ll usually tell you what’s wrong with them.’ That is one of the few statements from medical school I can still quote verbatim.”Dr. Valentine is excited by the future of the pain management field including advancements in both neuromodulation and regenerative medicine because they “will dramatically change how we approach pain problems in the future,” he said.When approaching medication management as part of developing a treatment plan for each patient, Dr. Valentine understands the importance of medicine but knows it is not the only option. “Generally, approaching medication from the stance of trying to address underlying mechanisms of pain is preferable to utilizing opioid analgesics,” he said.In addition to enjoying his co-workers, Dr. Valentine notes the part that keeps him going after years in practice are the patients who come back and say ‘I’m better.’ “It always makes my day,” he said. When office hours are over, Dr. Valentine is most likely found looking up at the skies as amateur astronomy and astrophotography are two of his passions. He is also fond of precision shooting, gardening in the temperamental Florida soil and finding new and innovative ways to exasperate his wife of more than 40 years, Dr. Donna J. (Vaughn) Valentine.