Alok Gopal, MD

About

Dr. Alok Gopal joined Advanced Pain Relief Centers in 2005, helping the practice expand its Virginia office locations and establishing the first comprehensive pain center in Martinsburg, West Virginia. He served as vice president of the centers before becoming part of National Spine & Pain Centers in 2015 through a partnership agreement.

In addition to his medical degree, Dr. Gopal is one of the few physicians in the country who is board certified in medical acupuncture and Chinese Herbals for pain, receiving his training from the UCLA Medical School. He is interested in combining alternative medicine with western modalities when appropriate to achieve healthy drug-free pain options for patients.

The focus of Dr. Gopal practice is management of the spine and other chronic pain conditions with fluoroscopic (x-ray) and ultrasound-guided interventions.

Dr. Gopal is the director of pain management at the 445-bed Winchester Medical Center. In order to educate the medical staff and stay current with new ways to treat pain, he leads a journal club of musculoskeletal medicine at the hospital with members meeting regularly to evaluate recent scholarly articles and research studies.

Prior to Advanced Pain Relief Centers, Dr. Gopal was on staff of the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in New Hampshire for three years. During that time, he also was an assistant professor, teaching anesthesiology and pain management at the Veterans Administration Medical Center at Dartmouth Medical School.

Dr. Gopal completed a pain management fellowship at Dartmouth Medical School. He trained for his anesthesia residency at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical center (Harvard Medical School) and received advanced training in anesthesia and pain management at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.

Dr. Gopal has shared his research and knowledge in a variety of publications. Much of his work reflects his interest in the evaluation and management of low back pain.

Dr. Gopal enjoys riding a road bike in the mountains of the Shenandoah Valley in the summer and skiing the same mountains in the winter. He helps run a nonprofit organization in the Shenandoah Valley and, during his visits to India, he volunteers to provide care for an orphanage.