Devi Elizabeth Nampiaparampil is an American physician and researcher who specializes in preventing and treating chronic pain. She performs x-ray-guided invasive spinal procedures for pain, teaches medical students and trainees, comments on medical issues for various platforms, and appears on news and talk shows. She has appeared on the daytime soap operaGeneral Hospital.
Biography
Nampiaparampil was born at NYU Medical Center to Mary and Joseph Nampiaparampil, Catholic Indians who had immigrated to the U.S. from Kerala, India. She was educated at Ardsley High School in New York. Between 1995 and 2002, Nampiaparampil attended the seven-year combined B.A./ M.D. program at Northwestern University, where she double-majored in economics and biology. She completed her specialty and subspecialty medical training at Harvard Medical School. In 2015, she became an associate professor of Rehabilitation Medicine at NYU School of Medicine, WNYW-Fox 5 NY's on-air medical contributor, and opened her own private practice, Metropolis Pain Medicine, in downtown Manhattan.
Career
Nampiaparampil began working for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs in 2008 and started the Brain Injury Clinic at the VA Central California in Fresno. She moved to New York City in 2009 to direct and develop the Pain Management program at the VA Hudson Valley. She served as the head of the regional Pain Management program for the New York/ New Jersey region but stepped down to further develop the VA's Interventional Pain Management program in New York City. She established the Veterans' Hospital in Manhattan as a referral center for invasive pain procedures. She was an assistant professor in the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine at NYU School of Medicine from 2009 to 2015 and then was promoted to associate professor. In 2015, she was elected to the board of the American Society of Interventional Pain Physicians.
Nampiaparampil appeared as a physician on the daytime soap opera, General Hospital, before becoming a physician in her real life. She intermittently appeared on the show between 2002 and 2005. She made her debut as a medical expert on television on The Dr. Oz Show when she demonstrated botox injections for chronic migraine pain in front of a live audience. Mehmet Oz nicknamed her Dr. Devi when she appeared on his show. Since then, she has had appeared on the national news over 400 times to explain medical developments. She also has a master's degree in journalism from Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. She has been working on a documentary short, entitled, "A Life For A Life: Trading Organs For One More Today," which won a Jury Award at the Directors Guild of America Student Film Awards. She published a related article in Newsweek. In 2016, Doctor Devi became an on-air medical contributor for Fox 5, analyzing medical developments for Good Day NY, Fox 5 News at 5, News at 6, and News at 10. She is also an editor for Pain Physician, an academic journal for pain management specialists.
