John Prunskis

John V. Prunskis
Born	John Prunskis Chicago, IL
Known for	Interventional pain physician Hon. Consul of Lithuania to the United States (Colorado)
Medical career
Profession	Physician
Field	Interventional pain management, adult stem-cell therapy
Awards	Knight of the Order of Merit, Lithuania Castle Connolly Top Doctor U.S. News & World Report Top Doctor

John Prunskis is an American physician, diplomat, business leader, and professor. ^{[1] [2]} From 2017 to 2020, he served as a White House Presidential Appointee. During that tenure, he co-authored the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Best Practices Pain Task Force Final Report, which remains a current guideline on how painful conditions should be diagnosed and treated in the United States. ^[3] Prunskis received the Knight of the Order of Merit from the President of Lithuania for his professional and philanthropic contributions. ^[4] Prunskis is the cofounder of Illinois Pain Institute and The Regenerative Stem Cell Institute ^[5] and also serves as a clinical professor at Chicago Medical School and Chief Medical Officer of DxTx Pain and Spine. ^[6] He was elected to three consecutive terms as a representative of Lithuanians living in the USA to the Lithuanian Parliament / World Lithuanian Community Commission. ^[7] He is a Fellow in Interventional Pain Practice (FIPP)(#78) and was an examiner for the fellow in interventional pain practice examination. Prunskis, board certified in Anesthesiology with Added Qualification in Pain Management. ^{[8] [9]} He served as the Hon. Consul of Lithuania in Aspen, Colorado from 2013 to 2023 and is currently the Hon. Consul of Lithuania in South Florida.

Early life and education

Prunskis was born in Chicago, Illinois, to Lithuanian immigrant parents. He attended University of Chicago Lab School and Brother Rice High School. He then earned an undergraduate degree from the University of Chicago and a medical degree from the Rush Medical College in Chicago. ^[9] Prunskis completed his internship in general surgery at University of Illinois and thereafter completed his residency in anesthesiology and fellowship at the Univ. Chicago hospitals. During his fellowship, he was a co-investigator and part of the team of researchers responsible for bringing propofol through FDA approval prior to introduction to the US medical market. ^[10]

Career

Prunskis was one of the initial clinical investigators in 1987 in the United States on the anesthetic/sedative drug Propofol. ^[11]

Prunskis co-founded Illinois Pain Institute in 1992 with his wife, Terri Dallas-Prunskis, MD. ^{[12] [13]} Later he was named clinical professor at Chicago Medical School, where he still currently presides. He has written several academic papers and editorials on pain management including, Algorithms for Interventional Techniques in Chronic Pain. In 2012, he co-founded and was appointed as the CEO and medical director of Barrington Pain & Spine Institute, and he also serves as CEO and medical director of The Regenerative Stem Cell Institute where he was a co-investigator in the largest adult autologous stem cell research study in the United States. ^{[14] [15]} He currently serves as Chief Medical Officer of DxTx Pain and Spine.

In January 2010, Prunskis was elected Member of Lithuanian Parliament / World Lithuanian Community Commission, serving as chairman from 2013 to 2017. ^[16] As of 2018–2021, he is serving his third term.

In 2012, the Lithuanian Ambassador to the United States nominated Prunskis as the Hon. Consul of Lithuania. ^[17] He was confirmed to the position by the US State Department. ^[18] In June 2012, during the World Federation of Consuls (FICAC) Congress in Monte Carlo, he was elected Dean of the Aspen Consular Corps.

In 2018, Prunskis was confirmed as one of twenty public members on the Pain Management Best Practices Inter-Agency Task Force Members. Prunskis was presidentially appointed, in part, due to over thirty years of expertise, to improve how pain is perceived, assessed, and treated at a national scale in the wake of the Opioid epidemic. ^[19]

Honors

In 2024, Prunskis was recognized by his peers as a 25 year recipient of the Castle Connolly Top Doc award in Interventional Pain Management.^{[ citation needed ]} In 2024, Prunskis was recognized by the Lithuanian Basketball Federation president Vydas Gedvilas and received the Gold Medal Award for "Significant input into the growth of awareness of Lithuanian Basketball in the United States.^{[ citation needed ]}

Awards

• Knight of the Order of Merit, Lithuania ^[20]
• Sixteen-time winner of Castle Connolly Top Pain Doctor Award from 1999 to 2024 ^{[21] [22] [23]}
• Castle Connolly Top Doctor for 25 Years Interventional Pain management
• U.S. News & World Report Top Doctor ^[24]
• American Board of Medical Specialists – Board Certified
• Inducted into the Lithuanian-American Hall of Fame May 20, 2023

Selected publications

• Prunskis, J. (July 2001). "Algorithms for interventional techniques in chronic pain". Pain Physician. 4 (3): 286, author reply 286–291. ISSN   1533-3159. PMID   16900258.
• Lim, R.; Troy, S. S.; Turriff, D. E.; Prunskis, J. V. (1982). "Enucleation blocks the morphological response of glioblasts to glia maturation factor". Developmental Neuroscience. 5 (4): 308–313. doi:10.1159/000112690. ISSN   0378-5866. PMID   6291892.
• Korttila, K.; Ostman, P.; Faure, E.; Apfelbaum, J. L.; Prunskis, J.; Ekdawi, M.; Roizen, M. F. (July 1990). "Randomized comparison of recovery after propofol-nitrous oxide versus thiopentone-isoflurane-nitrous oxide anaesthesia in patients undergoing ambulatory surgery". Acta Anaesthesiologica Scandinavica. 34 (5): 400–403. doi:10.1111/j.1399-6576.1990.tb03111.x. ISSN   0001-5172. PMID   2202190. S2CID   36428319.
• Prunskis, John V.; Dallas-Prunskis, Terri (2019). "Trial SCS Leads Should Be Removed under Fluoroscopy". Neuromodulation: Technology at the Neural Interface. 22 (6): 760. doi:10.1111/ner.13028. ISSN   1525-1403. PMID   31359546. S2CID   198982186.
• "Pain Management Best Practices Inter-Agency Task Force (May 2019). "Pain Management Best Practices Inter-agency Task Force Report - Updates, Gaps, Inconsistencies, and Recommendations (Final Report)" Department of Health and Human Services, USA" (PDF).

References

1. Dyrda, Laura (January 9, 2017). "Dr. John Prunskis talks site of service reimbursement, EHRs, consolidation & more with Obama Senior Advisor Valerie Jarrett". beckersasc.com. Retrieved February 27, 2018.
2. Craver, Kevin. "On the Record With ... Dr. John Prunskis". Northwest Herald . Archived from the original on March 1, 2018. Retrieved February 28, 2018.
3. "Dr. John V. Prunskis, co-founder and co-Medical Director of the Illinois Pain Institute meets with Top White House Adviser". markets.businessinsider.com. Retrieved August 6, 2024.
4. "Medical Director Earns Knight of the Order of Merit – Illinois Pain Institute". Illinois Pain Institute. October 22, 2014. Retrieved February 27, 2018.
5. "Husband wife team grow Illinois Pain Institute". Daily Herald . Retrieved February 27, 2018.
6. "Illinois Pain Institute Believes State is Going Down Wrong Path with Passage of Medical Marijuana Legislation SB336". Chicago Evening Post . Archived from the original on March 1, 2018. Retrieved February 28, 2018.
7. "Lithuanian honorary consul John Prunskis from U.S.: Lithuania is a full democracy now". en.15min.lt. Retrieved February 27, 2018.
8. "Why one practice ditched EHR in favor of paper records | FierceHealthcare". www.fiercehealthcare.com. August 14, 2017. Retrieved February 27, 2018.
9. "State Board Gives Green Light for Development of World Class Spine Surgery Center at Barrington Pain and Spine Institute". Chicago Tribune . Retrieved February 27, 2018.
10. "Dr. John Prunskis MD".
11. Korttila, K.; Ostman, P.; Faure, E.; Apfelbaum, J. L.; Prunskis, J.; Ekdawi, M.; Roizen, M. F. (July 1990). "Randomized comparison of recovery after propofol-nitrous oxide versus thiopentone-isoflurane-nitrous oxide anaesthesia in patients undergoing ambulatory surgery". Acta Anaesthesiologica Scandinavica. 34 (5): 400–403. doi:10.1111/j.1399-6576.1990.tb03111.x. ISSN   0001-5172. PMID   2202190.
12. "Husband wife team grow Illinois Pain Institute". Daily Herald . Retrieved February 28, 2018.
13. Cohen, Jessica Kim (August 9, 2017). "Paper records are here to stay: 4 questions with Illinois Pain Institute's Dr. John Prunskis". beckershospitalreview.com. Retrieved February 28, 2018.
14. Sotonoff, Jamie. "The dangers of pain pills". Daily Herald . Retrieved February 28, 2018.
15. "Dr. Prunskis, MD, FIPP, Listed as a Top Person to Know in the ASC Industry – Illinois Pain Institute". Illinois Pain Institute. December 16, 2014. Retrieved February 28, 2018.
16. "Barrington Hills doctor adapts to volcano holdup – Daily Herald". Dailyherald.com . Retrieved February 27, 2018.
17. "News". Honorary Consulate. Archived from the original on September 6, 2014. Retrieved February 27, 2018.
18. "February 16th greetings from Honorary Consul of Lithuania | Lithuanian American Community, Inc". lithuanian-american.org. Archived from the original on February 27, 2018. Retrieved February 27, 2018.
19. "Pain Management Best Practices Inter-Agency Task Force Members". United States Department of Health and Human Services . Archived from the original on May 22, 2018. Retrieved May 22, 2018.
20. "Medical Director Earns Knight of the Order of Merit – Illinois Pain Institute". Illinois Pain Institute. October 28, 2014. Retrieved February 25, 2018.
21. "John V. Prunskis, M.D., F.I.P.P." Cell Surgical Network. Retrieved February 28, 2018.
22. "John V. Prunskis, M.D., F.I.P.P." Doctor.com. Retrieved February 28, 2018.
23. "America's Top Doctors | The Best in American Medicine". www.castleconnolly.com. Retrieved February 28, 2018.
24. "Dr. Prunskis, MD, FIPP, spoke at Illinois Osteopathic Medical Society Seminar". Chicago Tribune . Retrieved February 28, 2018.