World Institute of Pain Foundation

Since 1993, the World Institute of Pain (WIP) has helped to educate, train, and provide a global forum for the efforts of thousands of pain physicians throughout the world who dedicate themselves to the worldwide phenomenon of acute and chronic pain syndromes. In addition to sponsoring World Congresses, regional and international symposia, and practical workshops in pain medicine, in 2001 WIP introduced the Fellow of Interventional Pain Practice (FIPP) physician certification program and began publishing a professional journal, Pain Practice (PAPR). Since its inception, the FIPP program has certified over 630 physicians representing 38 countries in six continents. PAPR’s total readership exceeds 10,000 annually, with online downloads in excess of 260,000. Greater than 75% of the manuscripts submitted for publication are original research; 55% of which are from physician authors outside the USA. Yet, for every need fulfilled by WIP for the global advancement and standardization of clinical and didactic performance in pain medicine, there is an ever-present and increasing awareness that to reach more populations we must expand the scope and reach of our efforts by engaging broader participation and support for our mission.

Through the World Institute of Pain Foundation, we intend to: create greater opportunities for all physicians, especially those in under-developed, developing and emerging countries, to fulfill their professional goals for pain medicine education and training; establish new mechanisms of support and education for pain patients; support significant clinical and basic science research in pain medicine; and, strategize with other pain societies to form a consortium for recognition of pain medicine as a specialty.

Together we can create global opportunities for greater collaboration among pain physicians that will prevail in spite of economic oppression and other barriers that restrict access by some physicians to state-of-the-art clinical and scholarly advancements in pain medicine.