Dear Friends!

Welcome to the 23rd Advanced Gabor Racz Interventional Pain Conference and Workshop!

Our adventure began with the 1st Advanced Interventional Pain Conference after the Russian occupation ended in Hungary. The creation of our program began following a Hungarian television station’s visit to my department at Texas Tech University’s Health Sciences Center to do a nationally televised program. After meeting with a number of physicians, especially Edit Racz with her diligent work, we organized what was to be the best possible program.

Professor Peter Sótonyi was and is a true leader. His beginnings, from being head of the forensic pathology department and subsequently Dean of Semmelweis University’s Medical School, have offered this program the very best. The collaboration between what was being formed as the World Institute of Pain, the Budapest Program and the Texas Pain Society occurred from my office. From the inception of our conference, until very recently, Ms. Paula Brashear was a key leading figure.

The intent was and still is to have the best program possible. We listened to the participants; an expressed desire for teaching and learning more interventional procedures. We have always strived for a balanced program where the main goal is the education of the physicians. On Day 1, I recognized that having a high quality program is beneficial to the individual physicians, patients and the industry. Past participants have rated the ultrasound section as one of the finest, and we continue to expand our topics to meet your needs.

I am very excited and pleased about the evolution of new concepts in neuromodulation, regenerative medicine, and specific therapeutic modalities that return people to work and reduce their dependence on narcotics. Yet, every one of the participants who prescribes narcotics, do so judicially and appropriately. Therefore, while not exactly interventional, it is part of quality patient care.

Everyone benefits from a better trained physician. Our high quality sponsors recognize that assisting education benefits them in the short and the long run. Without the help from our outstanding faculty and sponsors, as well as those behind the scenes, none of what we have achieved over the years would be possible.

We are very grateful to all of the above for making such an event possible. Most invited physicians feel it is an honor to be invited, but from the organizational point of view, a great honor is when great physicians accept the call and do their best.

Because of the multiplicity of topics, we will be running parallel rooms, so carefully review which topics you feel will improve quality patient care. As expected, Budapest will be even better than you remember. The food will be great, the entertainment vast. We have somewhere around 40 lecturers plus examinations for FIPP and CIP.

We are looking forward to seeing you in Budapest at the 23rd Annual Gabor Racz Advanced Interventional Pain Conference and Workshops.

Gabor Racz, MD, FIPP
Program Director
Founder, Former President and Member of Executive Board WIP
Grover E. Murray Professor
Chairman Emeritus Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center