Guest Dr. Mark Starr

Dr. Mark Starr graduated from the University of Missouri Medical School in 1990. He finished his residency in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at the University of Missouri , Rusk Rehabilitation Center in 1994.  For the following two years, he studied in New York City with several of the world’s premier pain specialists: Hans Kraus, MD, Norman Marcus, MD.  Lawrence Sonkin, MD, PhD, and Andrew A Fischer, MD, PhD.    Dr. Starr was an attending physician at the Bronx Veteran’s Hospital where he worked with Dr. Fischer, a renowned musculoskeletal pain specialist, author, lecturer, and former student of Dr. Kraus. Dr. Starr helped teach residents from the Mount Sinai Hospital while treating patients and learning Dr. Fischer’s revolutionary techniques. Following his work with Dr. Fischer, Dr. Starr studied with Drs. Kraus and Marcus at the New York Pain Treatment Program at Lenox Hill Hospital . Dr. Kraus was an orthopedic surgeon trained in Vienna who emigrated to America in 1937. He pioneered revolutionary new treatments for back pain and sports injuries. He is known as the father of sports medicine in America . Dr. Kraus’ books included

• Therapeutic Exercise

• Backache, Stress, and Tension

• The Sports Injury Handbook

• Diagnosis and Treatment of Muscle Pain.

At the time, Dr. Kraus continued to work two days a week at the age of 90. He had  taught a team of physical therapists his treatment techniques that were perfected over five decades of practice. One of these students was Dr. Marcus who eventually became President of the American Academy of Pain Medicine.

In addition to continued study, Dr. Starr received treatments for his chronic back and neck pain. During this time, Dr. Starr also studied with Dr. Sonkin, a renowned New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center endocrinologist, who worked closely with Dr. Kraus for thirty years. Dr. Sonkin was aware of Type 2 hypothyroidism as well as the shortcomings of modern laboratory tests to diagnose the illness.

The Starr Pain Clinic opened in Columbia Missouri in 1996. Dr. Starr continued research on the relationship between hormonal imbalances and pain while treating hundreds of patients. He moved his practice to Marietta Georgia for seven years before opening 21st Century Pain and Sports Medicine in Paradise Valley Arizona. He is a member of the International College of Integrative Medicine and is board certified by the State of Arizona Board of Homeopathic and Intregated Medicine Examiners. He also became involved with the American Academy of Environmental Medicine and began to recognize the importance of environmental illnesses and their relationships to pain.

Dr. Starr has given lectures on pain at the Eighth World Congress of  Pain in 1996 and at the Ninth Annual International Conference and Workshops on Neuropathic and Musculoskeletal Pain in 1997. Dr. Starr’s most recent presentations about Type 2 hypothyroidism were at the 2007 Orthomolecular Meeting in Toronto and in 2008 at the American Society of Bariatic Physicians Conference in Tampa.

"Type 2 Hypothyroidism: The Epidemic" was released in March, 2005. Dr. Starr has already begun work on his next book that will detail the diagnosis and treatment of pain in the 21^st century.