About DVPMI

As a result of current conflicts, we have witnessed the greatness of America through the service and sacrifice of our brave men and women in uniform.

Established in 2003, the Defense & Veterans Pain Management Initiative (DVPMI) seeks to improve the management of pain in military and civilian medicine. Through clinical research efforts, it has become a model for effective integration of acute and chronic pain medicine.

DVPMI is a collaborative research partnership between Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Washington D.C. and the Conemaugh Health System, Johnstown, Pa.

Staff Profiles:

Colonel Chester "Trip" Buckenmaier, III

COL Trip Buckenmaier is the current Chief of Anesthesia & Operative Services; Chief of Regional Anesthesia; and Program Director for the Defense & Veterans Pain Management Initiative (DVPMI) at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. In addition, he is president of the Tri-Service Military Advanced Regional Anesthesia and Analgesia initiative (MARAA) anesthesia consultant group. He is an assistant professor at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences and a diplomat, with the American Board of Anesthesiology.

He attended Catawba College on a Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) scholarship, graduating with a degree in Biology. He then attended East Carolina University in Greenville, N.C., receiving a master's in science in biology. He graduated from the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Md., and completed his anesthesia residency at Walter Reed. In addition, he completed a one-year fellowship in regional anesthesia at Duke University, resulting in the creation of the only regional anesthesia fellowship in the Army at Walter Reed.

In September 2003, he deployed to the 21st Combat Support Hospital in Balad, Iraq, and demonstrated that the use of advanced regional anesthesia can be accomplished in the battlefield. He performed the first successful application of continuous peripheral nerve block (CPNB) for pain management in theater on SPC Brian Wilhelm.

In collaboration with the Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine and Telemedicine and Advanced Technology Research Center, he established the Army Regional Anesthesia and Pain Management Initiative (ARAPMI). This program is a congressionally funded collaborative effort with the John P. Murtha Neuroscience and Pain Institute, part of the Conemaugh Health System in Johnstown, Pa.