Robert Bonakdar MD, FAAFP, FACN

Dr. Bonakdar is a Mayday Pain Fellow and the Director of Pain Management at the Scripps Center for Integrative Medicine since 2002 and a member of the systemwide Opioid Stewardship Committee. He also serves as Assistant Clinical Professor at the University of California, San Diego, School of Medicine and is the immediate past president of the American Academy of Pain Management (now the Academy of Integrative Pain Management) – the largest U.S. integrative pain management organization.

After completing his family medicine residency he completed a fellowship in integrative medicine at Scripps Integrative Medicine Center with a focus on integrative pain management. Additionally, he is certified in headache management by the United Council for Neurologic Subspecialties and board certified Integrative Medicine.

Prior to medical school, Dr. Bonakdar received a Richter International Fellowship where he studied Eastern healthcare approaches in Southeast Asia, such as acupuncture, Tai Chi, and mind-body practices. His current clinical and research interests include integrative approaches to chronic disease management with a focus on pain management and metabolic disease/obesity. 

He is the co-editor of the textbook of Integrative Pain Management (Oxford University Press 2016), the author of the H.E.R.B.A.L. Guide: Dietary Supplement Resources for the Clinician. (Lippincott, 2010) and contributing author for Integrative Medicine 4th Edition (ed. David Rakel MD) (Elsevier, 2017). 

Most recently, Dr. Bonakdar has been invited to present to the congressionally mandated Pain Management Best Practices Inter-Agency Task Force as well as at The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine on non-pharmacological approaches to pain.