Eugene Lipov is one of the world’s leading experts on the physical consequences of trauma.   As a board-certified physician in anesthesiology & pain, Chief Medical Officer at Stella Center, founder of Erase PTSD Now! and author, Dr Lipov has made it his mission to help others find relief from symptoms of stress, anxiety, etc. and restore hope to their spirit.

In his recently released book The Invisible Machine:  The Startling Truth about Trauma and the Scientific Breakthrough that can Transform Your Life (April 11, 2023), Dr. Lipov along with other leading experts, share a new understanding for post-traumatic stress and a safe & effective treatment that could have profound implications for medicine, mental health and society at large.

A pioneer in treatments for symptoms of post-traumatic stress, Dr. Lipov knows first-hand that trauma can be all-consuming. He grew up in Ukrainian SSR living with a veteran father stricken with PTSD, and a mother who suffered from debilitating depression eventually taking her own life.  Dr. Lipov has witnessed the physical, emotional and psychological impact that trauma can have on the lives of many.  

In Chicago he attended school at Frances W. Parker High School and continued his studies receiving a bachelor's in biochemistry from Northwestern University (1980), a medical degree from  Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine (1984) and surgical residency at Cook County Hospital/University of Illinois. Dr. Lipov spent two years in an anesthesiology residency at the University of Illinois before completing his training at Rush St Luke's with advanced training in pain management.  

In 2006, he pioneered the use of Stellate Ganglion Block (SGB) for the treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) — a procedure that was initially approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the 1920s to treat certain types of pain and circulation disorders. In 2004, Dr Lipov achieved scientific success in using SGB to help women suffering from extreme symptoms of menopause who were also cancer patients.  Today, his treatment protocol has been upgraded to Dual Sympathetic Reset (DSR) which still alleviates symptoms related to post-traumatic stress but warrants longer effectiveness.  It has been 85% successful in  ‘rebooting’ the body's sympathetic nervous system and resetting a patient's 'fight or flight' response and is available to everyone - civilians, soldiers, first responders, veterans, etc.  

Thousands of Dr. Lipov’s procedures are being done each year among Special Forces and the military at Fort Bragg alone. Dr. Lipov has done grand rounds on his revelatory relief at Walter Reed in Washington, D.C. and Womack Military Hospital on Fort Bragg. As more comprehensive studies are achieved, his work may be found to be the greatest medical innovation of the 21st century for human well-being.  Even U.S. Senator Barack Obama wrote a letter in 2007 to the U.S. Army in support of Dr. Lipov’s procedure.  He has testified on PTSD treatment before the U.S. House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs (2010) and in collaboration with neuroscientists, he has become the world’s leading authority on the physiology of PTSD. Dr. Lipov has published his findings on PTSD in Biological Psychiatry, Current Psychiatry, Military Medicine, Pain Research & Treatment, Psychiatric Annals, the Journal of Anesthesia & Clinical Research, the Journal of Trauma and Treatment, the Lancet and the World Institute of Pain. 

In 2016, the Pentagon approved funding for a study at three Army medical centers, citing SGB’s potential to be a huge game changer for many affected people with PTSD, whether from combat, sexual assault or other trauma. Published in 2019, an Army-funded study, conducted by RTI International, confirmed that SGB was more than two times as effective compared to a placebo in relieving PTSD symptoms.

Earlier this year, Dr. Lipov was awarded Outstanding Achievement in Research by the American Society of Interventional Pain Physicians (ASIPP).  His work has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, the Chicago Tribune, USA Today, Wired, Playboy, Univision, Stars & Stripes, and it has been featured on CBS This Morning, ABC, NBC and WGN.

Additionally, in 2008, Dr. Lipov founded Erase PTSD Now, a nonprofit focused on eradicating post-traumatic stress from the lives of those impacted by it. The goal of the organization is to restore individuals, as well as affected families and communities, to a pre-trauma state.  Erase PTSD Now designates most of its funding to the support of the dual sympathetic reset/stellate ganglion block treatment for survivors of trauma.  90% of donations go towards the treatment of vetted applicants while the remaining 10% goes towards admin and care coordination costs.    

In bringing more attention to the symptoms of post-traumatic stress, Dr. Lipov has joined forces with world renown psychiatrist and pioneer in trauma science Dr. Frank Ochberg, to “re-name” post-traumatic stress DISORDER (PTSD) to post-traumatic stress INJURY (PTSI).  A recent survey showed that the stigma of a mental disorder keeps many people from seeking help, believing their diagnosis is not treatable and this negative association can lead to suicides, domestic violence, etc.  While the term PTSD references post-traumatic stress as a “disorder”, it’s been proven to be a biological “injury” and should be referred to as PTSI, post-traumatic stress injury. Even the military community has expressed support for the name change. 

Today, somewhere between 5000 -10,000 patients have been successfully treated with SGB and DSR and many are now reaching 10-15 years of relief.  

Dr. Lipov lives in Chicago with his wife Robin and son Sam.  In his free time, he enjoys the company of his poodle Gomez, reading fantasy and military science fiction and playing games of competitive Rummikub.