World Institute of Pain
WIP - World Institute of Pain was founded in 1993 by Prithvi Raj, Serdar Erdine, Ricardo Ruiz Lopez, and Gabor B. Racz, all of whom are also lifetime Council Members and lifetime Executive Board Members. The organizational meeting was held in Los Angeles, California in 1994.
WIP is an international membership organization that was established to educate and train personnel of member pain centers, and to promote consensus among experts and specialist physicians in pain management regarding existing techniques and potential advancements in interventional pain practice. To advance their educational initiatives, WIP sponsors symposiums, workshops, and world congresses which have facilitated breakthroughs in pain management interventional techniques..
In 2001, WIP began its Fellow of Interventional Pain Practice (FIPP) Board of Examination, a physician certification program of high standards that requires both a theoretical and practical examination. Pain physicians must meet certain qualifications prior to acceptance for an FIPP certification which includes American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS) certification or equivalent, a mandatory subspecialty certification for U.S.A. candidates on either the American Board of Anesthesiology/Pain Management, or American Board of Pain Medicine, and clinical experience in addition to other requirements.
WIP World Congresses
The 1st WIP World Congress was held in Eilat, Israel in 1998, and was chaired by David Niv, (1950-2007), Professor of Medicine at the University of Tel Aviv, Israel. Other World Congresses followed in 2004, 2007, 2009, 2012, and 2014 which were held respectively in Turkey, Spain, Hungary, and twice in the U.S.A. The 7th World Congress will be held in The Netherlands in May, 2014. Through its world congresses WIP supplements the efforts of various pain associations around the world by providing mutual opportunities for education and training, and by promoting higher standards of work efficiency. In addition to the customary social activities, lectures, and displays at such events, the World Congress also provides educational activities with hands-on courses using cadavers under the guidance of leading experts in interventional pain management. [1]