SomaticNerveBlock near Potomac, MD

Biography: Marina G. Protopapas, D.O. is practicing out of National Spine & Pain Centers' Fair Oaks, VA center. She is diligent and thoughtful in the practice of her profession. With an unwavering focus on quality of care, she takes an individualized and comprehensive approach with each patient.

Biography: Dr. Wegner is a spine surgeon. Eliminating debilitating pain and seeing people return to active, productive lives is extremely rewarding. A technically well-done spine surgery, performed for the correct reason, can be one of the most effective interventions in modern medicine and he is grateful for the opportunity to improve the lives of his patients. He finds it is important to develop a relationship with each individual patient through compassion and communication, and he strives to treat every patient as he would treat a member of his own family. He enjoys teaching and empowering his patients so they can make informed decisions about their spine care in order to obtain the best possible results.Dr. Wegner has extensive training from world leaders in both pediatric and adult spinal surgery. He treats all spinal pathologies from degenerative conditions to complex scoliosis and kyphosis, tumors, and revision surgery of the cervical, thoracic, and lumbar spine. In his free time, Dr. Wegner enjoys spending time with his wife and two kids.

Biography: Dr. Matthew Piazza, MD, is a board-eligible neurological surgeon specializing in the surgical treatment of neurologic conditions affecting the spine and brain. He treats the breadth of conditions of the spine including cervical, thoracic, and lumbar spine degenerative disease, ankylosing spinal conditions, adult degenerative spinal deformity, spine trauma, and spinal tumors using the latest advances in surgical technology utilizing both minimally invasive and traditional open approaches. Dr. Piazza also manages a variety of intracranial conditions including cranial trauma, primary brain tumors, metastatic brain tumors, meningiomas, and hydrocephalus. Dr. Piazza's primary goal is to provide patients with the maximum benefit with the smallest intervention using the most up-to-date surgical techniques and evidenced based management. He believes that the patient-surgeon relationship is a partnership, and he strives to work with his patients to achieve the best outcome from both surgical and non-surgical treatments. After graduating from Princeton University magna cum laude, Dr. Piazza received his medical degree at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons where he was awarded a Doris Duke Clinical Research Fellowship. He completed his neurosurgical training at the University of Pennsylvania. While at the University of Pennsylvania, he served as an internal fellow in spine surgery during which time he received specialized training in the surgical management of complex spinal disorders including degenerative spinal disease, adult degenerative spinal deformity, spinal oncology, and spine trauma. His post-doctoral research focused on quality improvement in peri-operative neurosurgical care and the development of animal models for studying spinal disc regenerative therapies, and he has co-authored more than 40 peer-reviewed research publications, book chapters, and reviews.