My name is Juan Mora, MD, and I am the medical director of UF Health Pain Medicine – Ayers, the pain medicine surgical center and assistant professor of anesthesiology in the University of Florida Division of Pain Medicine. I was born and raised in Colombia, where I completed medical school. After graduating I decided to spend some time giving back to my country and did so by being the only physician in a remote town with a population of only 4,000. I was in charge of their primary care and emergencies while developing public health policies with the town mayor and other public figures in order to improve the community’s overall understanding of health and well-being. Later, I volunteered for medical missions in association with the Colombian Air Force, giving me the opportunity to help while traveling all over my country.

During the earlier stages of my career, I felt the need to help those with chronic pain as much as I could to alleviate their suffering, allowing them to regain functionality and return to the activities that brought joy to their lives. That was my motivation to start my training in anesthesiology and later pursue extra training in interventional chronic pain management. Following my time in Colombia, I completed my residency in anesthesiology at the University of Florida in Jacksonville, where I served as chief resident. Afterwards, I completed a pain management fellowship at UF in Gainesville and researched cervical spine contusion at the Mayo Clinic Foundation in Rochester, Minnesota.

The available methods of treatment that we have available nowadays, unthinkable a few years ago, are only getting better and less invasive allowing us to provide better care to the patients we serve. I am involved in a national study looking to determine the best treatment strategies for patients with knee pain (SKOAP), and also in different spinal cord stimulation studies assessing the effects of the delivery of energy (neuromodulation) to the spinal cord and nerve roots and its effect on chronic pain. I have a special interest in neuromodulation and treating patients for chronic pain, complex regional pain syndrome, lumbar stenosis, and low back, neck, radicular and knee pain. In my free time, enjoy scuba diving, riding my bicycle, salsa dancing and soccer.