News Profile: Daniel L. Kirsch, PhD
 We are pleased to announce that our esteemed colleague
and friend, Dr. Daniel L. Kirsch, has been selected by the American Academy of Pain
Management’s Education Advisory Committee to receive the 2008 Richard S. Weiner Pain
Education Award. This award is given to an individual who has contributed to the
advancement of the field of interdisciplinary pain management through the training of pain
management professionals. This award was created in 2002 to honor the memory of the
Academy’s co-founder and first executive director, Richard S. Weiner.
Dr. Kirsch’s contributions will be recognized at the upcoming AAPM 19th Annual
Clinical Meeting in Nashville, Tennessee (September 8-11, 2008). Dr. Kirsch has over three
decades of experience in the electromedical field, including extensive clinical practice
experience. Throughout his career, Dr. Kirsch has designed medical instrumentation and
selected their applications; developed clinical systems for implementing pain and stress
control technologies; and educated pain professionals in their clinical use.
Dr. Kirsch earned a bachelor of science in biology from Southern California University
of Health Sciences in 1979, and a doctorate in neurobiology from City University Los
Angeles in 1981. In 1981, he founded what is now Electromedical Products International,
Inc. in Hawthorne, California and subsequently relocated to Texas in 1994. In 1990, Dr.
Kirsch was board certified as a Diplomate in pain management by the American Academy of
Pain Management. In 1997 he was recognized as a Fellow of the American Institute of
Stress. In 1999, he became the only American ever awarded an Honorary Membership in
Inter-Pain (the Germany-Swiss pain organization for physicians). In 2005, he was appointed
a Member of the President’s Council at the University of North Texas. He is also a
member of the International Society for Neurotherapy and Research and the Biofeedback
Society of California.
Dr. Kirsch has been on the faculty of several medical specialty boards annual
re-licensing conferences including the American Academy of Pain Management, American
Academy of Orthopedic Medicine, Inter-Pain, American Institute of Stress, International
Society for Neuronal Regulation, American Association for Sensory Medicine, American
Society for Pain Management Nursing, American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine, and the
American Veterinary Medical Association. In 2003, he organized—and was moderator
for—a full day track on electromedicine at the American Academy of Pain
Management’s annual meeting. And we are proud that he is a member of the Practical
Pain Management Advisory Board and the editor of our Electromedicine Department.
He is an expert research consultant at the Houston VAMC, Brooke Army Medical Center and
the US Army Institute for Surgical Research. In 2005, he was the first speaker at the 3rd
Annual Complementary and Integrative Medicine Conference at William Beaumont Army Medical
Center, Ft. Bliss. In 2006, he lectured at the VA Employee Education System’s 2nd
Annual Pain Management Symposium. In 2007, he presented at the 13th Annual San Antonio
Trauma Symposium in COL Gaylord’s mental health track, at the 10th Annual Force
Health Protection Conference with COL Platoni and he conducted Grand Rounds at US Army,
VAMC and civilian medical institutions nationwide. In 2008, he presented at Walter Reed
Army Medical Center and will be co-moderator with neurosurgeon Pierre LeRoy, MD of a
military reintegration track at the American Academy of Pain Management’s annual
meeting. Dr. Kirsch was awarded two US Army Coins in 2006, and a Navy Coin in 2007.
Dr. Kirsch is listed in Who’s Who in the World, Who’s Who of Emerging Leaders
in America, Two Thousand Notable Americans, The International Directory of Distinguished
Leadership (U.K.), Men of Achievement and other biographical reference books. He was
recognized as the 2007 International Health Professional of the Year in Stress Medicine by
the International Biographical Centre in Cambridge, England. The author of four books and
several scientific articles, he is frequently interviewed on television, newspapers and
magazines and has been a guest on hundreds of radio programs.
Some notable highlights in Dr. Kirsch’s career include:
- Director of Education and Research for Biomedical Affiliated Services/Biomedical Design
Instruments in Burbank where he contributed to the design an electromedical device and
introduced it to the market (1978 to 1980).
- Clinical Director of Electro-Acutherapy Medical Group in Laguna Beach in association
with F. P. Meyer, MD (1979 to 1980).
- Vice President of McCall’s Research Laboratories in Reseda, California where he
wrote all of the marketing support materials and consulted with engineers on the
development of a specialized electromedical device (1980 to 1981).
- Clinical Director of Electro-Acutherapy Pain Center in Palm Springs (1980 to 1981).
- Clinical Director at the Center and Laboratory for Pain and Stress Related Disorders at
Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center in New York in association with Kenneth Greenspan, MD
(1985 to 1986)
- Dean of the Graduate School of Electromedical Sciences at City University Los Angeles
where he was instrumental in developing M.S. and Ph.D. programs for licensed health care
professionals. (1985 to 1993)
- Professor of electromedical sciences at City University Los Angeles (1985 to 1994)
- Clinical Director at the Sports Medicine Group in Santa Monica, California in
association with Karlis Ullis, M.D. (1988 to 1989)
- Guest of the Minister of Public Health, Dr. A. Wahab Al-Fawzan of Kuwait, where he
presented a three day post-traumatic stress and pain management program titled,
“Electromedicine: The Other Side of Physiology” to 400 physicians. While in
Kuwait, Dr. Kirsch also gave multiple grand rounds at eight hospitals over a month-long
period (1992).
- Recipient of the American Institute of Stress (AIS) 2007 Distinction and Innovation
Award. Awarded for products (such as Alpha-Stim) that support claims with valid scientific
studies, show potential based on known mechanisms of action, or provide benefits that are
cost effective.
Dr. Kirsch was the first editor of the American Journal of Electromedicine, and has
been on the Board of Directors of two non-profit organizations in the field: the National
Institute of Electromedical Information in New York City and the International Society of
Bioelectricity in Shreveport. He was also a Patron Member of the National Chronic Pain
Outreach Association and served on the Advisory Boards of The Canadian Journal of Clinical
Medicine and Practical Pain Management; and served as guest editor for the journal
NeuroRehabilitation, Vol. 17, No. 1, 2002. He is currently on the Editorial Board of the
Journal of Neurotherapy and is the Electromedical Department Editor of Practical Pain
Management.
He is author of the chapters “Electromedicine: The Other Side of Physiology,”
and “A Practical Protocol for Electromedical Treatment of Pain” in the American
Academy of Pain Management’s textbook, Pain Management: A Practical Guide for
Clinicians (CRC Press, Boca Raton, Florida, 2002); and the chapter “Cranial
Electrotherapy Stimulation for Anxiety, Depression, Insomnia, Cognitive Dysfunction, and
Pain” in the textbook, Bioelectromagnetic Medicine (Marcel Dekker, 2004). The most
recent books by Dr. Kirsch are The Science Behind Cranial Electrotherapy Stimulation
(Medical Scope Publishing, Edmonton, Alberta, 2nd Ed. 2002), and Schmerzen lindern ohne
Chemie CES, die Revolution in der Schmerztherapie (Internationale -rztegesellschaft fnr
Energiemedizin, Austria. 2000. In German). And, of course, our readers have seen his
articles in the pages of this journal.
— March 2008
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