Born with a passion to help others, Dr. José Sarria founded the Aspire Pain Relief Institute in Tampa, an innovative pain management practice focused on helping patients overcome chronic pain, and get back to a rich, fulfilled, active life. While many people reading this article may have met him already, we wanted to share some of Dr. Sarria’s background, experience, and philosophy of patient care that has allowed him to help so many people get relief from their pain.
Originally from Caracas, Venezuela, Dr. Sarria and his family moved to Spain when he was a young child. In high school, he returned to Venezuela and pursued medical school.
His uncle was a pediatrician, and his grandfather was a prominent physician as well. At the age of 14, Dr. Sarria made the decision to follow in the footsteps of his family and become a doctor.
The Journey to Tampa
“After I graduated from medical school, I came to the United States for my residency training, which I started at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. After that, I came to Tampa, and fell in love with this city,” he explains.
Dr. Sarria attended the University of South Florida, then moved to Baltimore in 2005 to pursue his training in pain medicine at John Hopkins.
Dr. Sarria then became a faculty member at USF, and a member at Moffitt Cancer Center, where he was the Chief of Interventional Pain Medicine Service and remained in this leadership position for 10 years.
“I was a part of the fellows’ education which is the training grounds for future pain doctors. The thing is that Interventional Pain medicine was only really beginning to become recognized as it is an extremely specific area of medicine to specialize in.”
A Leader in Pain Medicine
Mentored by the late Dr. Rafael Miguel, who held one of the highest medical board appointments in the state, Dr. Sarria became a triple-board certified physician and his research was published. Focusing on cancer pain, anesthesiology, and pain medicine, Dr. Sarria’s passion for understanding pain now fuelled a desire to help patients through his own private practice.
“I love what I do,” says Dr. Sarria. “Interventional pain medicine can change lives, along with minimally invasive procedures, to treat and help patients get pain relief. It’s a situation that offers very, very low risk and very high positive outcomes to patients’ lives.”
At Aspire Pain Relief Institute, we treat patients who truly aspire to be pain-free. Our team believes in a comprehensive treatment plan that doesn’t rely on medications to mask the symptoms, or surgery unless that is the final option. From the initial consultation to treatment and even psychological support, we treat the whole person to help them get a better quality of life.
To learn more about Aspire, contact us today.