In operation since July 2006, the Center for Pain Relief at Butler Memorial Hospital has expanded to a second location and welcomed a second pain specialist to the treatment team.

Ellis Berzon, M.D., joined the hospital medical staff in November and is now seeing patients in the Center for Pain Relief at its second location at the Butler Ambulatory Surgery Center at the Benbrook Medical Center in Butler Township.

He joins medical director Sophie Hanna, M.D., as a board certified pain management specialist focusing on interventional pain management. Dr. Hanna is also board certified in electrodiagnostic medicine and physical medicine.

The center is supported by Randy Rawa, M.D., and David Hertzog, D.O., both anesthesiologists.

This team offers a full spectrum of pain relief treatments, meaning patients can get the treatment regimen best suited to help relieve their pain.

"Our Center for Pain Relief is all about patient care," says Rick Allen, senior vice president, New Business Development and Strategic Planning. "Our goal is to continue to enhance patient convenience and the quality of clinical care by offering four highly trained physicians, including two board certified pain management specialists, with an expanded list of treatment options and the option of two convenient locations."

Drs. Hanna and Berzon are the only physicians in Butler who are board certified in pain management, which makes the Center for Pain Relief unique in this region.

The BMH Center for Pain Relief can be reached at 724-284-4612.

An anesthesiologist and pain specialist, Dr. Berzon earned his bachelor's degree from Towson University in Baltimore and his medical degree from the Medical College of Virginia in Richmond. He did a surgery residency at St. Agnes Hospital in Baltimore, and then a residency in anesthesiology at George Washington University Hospital in Washington and a fellowship in pain management at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York.

He is a clinical assistant professor in the department of anesthesiology at the University of Pittsburgh, and he previously taught at George Washington University.

Dr. Berzon joins the practice of Butler Anesthesia Associates, which provides anesthesiology services for Butler Memorial and for the Ambulatory Surgery Center at Benbrook.