Chris Kottenstette, PA-C

Biography

Chris Kottenstette started in patient care as an athletic trainer for high school and college students and then moved to emergency services as a paramedic for 17 years. This led him to his training at the University of Utah Physician Assistant Program where proper pain treatment was initially instilled in him by Art Lipman, one of the pioneers of pain management, Palliative Care, PharmD, and others.

Since completing PA school, he has worked in family practice, orthopedic surgery, and emergency medicine, and since 2001, in the field of pain medicine. During this time, he has been a consultant and speaker for many national companies and provided expert medical testimony in several cases involving pain management issues. He spent two years traveling and teaching pain management at a national level as a Medical Science Liaison in the pain field and has had the opportunity to learn from a variety of nationally known experts. Chris has been active in the PA community at a national level since 1998 when he was elected to the Student Academy Board as Director-at-Large. He is a past president of the Colorado Academy of Physician Assistants, and in 2003, he founded the PAs in Pain Medicine Special Interest Group of the American Academy of Physician Assistants and is their current president.

He has extensive interest and experience in the diagnosis and treatment of patients with chronic disabling sacroiliac (SI) joint pain. He continues to find ways and technology to successfully diagnose and treat these patients. He founded SI-Technology, a spinal implant development company that develops innovative technology to diagnose and treat patients with chronic SI joint pain. The company’s headquarters is at the Innosphere, the Fort Collins biomedical incubator, which is supported by the state of Colorado, Colorado State University, and the City of Fort Collins. They have been issued multiple national and international patents and are in the process of obtaining FDA clearance for effective minimally invasive sacroiliac stabilization and fusion technology. They also have multiple other spine-related technology and development.

Chris has been appointed to the Board of Examiners for the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, helped form the American Society for Pain Educators as one of the initial members of the Board of Advisors, and is directly involved at a national level in many pain and addiction-related issues. Chris was an invited member of the AAPM and APS guidelines for the management of chronic non-cancer pain and has participated in the creation of both state and national pain guidelines.

In addition to being a clinical PA in a spine surgery and interventional pain practice, he is also the president of Abuse Tech, LLC, which provides engineered solutions for abuse deterrence and clinically-focused education in abuse prevention, mitigation, and compliance in the field of pain medicine.