Robert Heros, MD

Board-Certified in Pain Medicine and Rehabilitation

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Serving patients in Tualatin & Newberg, Oregon

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Specializes in Pain Medicine

Robert D. Heros, M.D.

Board-Certified in Pain Medicine & Rehabilitation

Dr. Robert D. Heros, M.D. specializes in pain management and minimally invasive interventions for back, neck, pelvis, and neuropathy-related conditions. As the President and Owner of Spinal Diagnostics, located in Tualatin, Oregon, Dr. Heros leads a private practice that provides a multidisciplinary approach to spine care.

He brings a wealth of experience to patients in Tualatin, Portland, and Newberg, Oregon. As a doctor of physiatry, and with board certifications in physical medicine and rehabilitation, Dr. Heros also brings a unique passion to the practice. He enjoys helping patients achieve optimal health by acting as an intermediary between their primary care physicians and spinal surgeons.

Following his belief that every patient is unique and deserves the same care he would want for his own family, Dr. Heros develops the customized treatment they need to overcome pain. By taking the time to make an accurate diagnosis, and thoughtfully choosing highly focused treatments, pain relief is possible.

Expertise & Professional Involvement

Dr. Heros has developed a passion for neuromodulation and the hope this treatment brings to patients with severe and chronic nerve pain. He’s at the cutting edge of this newly evolving technology and offers spinal cord stimulation and dorsal root ganglion stimulation.

He is also an active member of multiple professional organizations, including the North American Neuromodulation Society, the International Neuromodulation Society, the American Society of Pain & Neuroscience, and the Pacific Spine & Pain Society. His expertise has led him to chair various committees, including the Interventional Spinal Injection Service, the Surgical Subspecialty Spine Committee, the Multidisciplinary Pain Rehabilitation Team, and the Quality Assurance Committee.

At Tripler Army Medical Center (TAMC) in Honolulu, Hawaii, Dr. Heros was vital in coordinating the transfer of war casualties worldwide for specialized care. He also excelled in outpatient physiatry, focusing on musculoskeletal medicine, electrodiagnostic medicine, and pain management.

Education & Training

Dr. Heros completed his academic and clinical training at top-tier institutions, gaining a strong foundation in both medical knowledge and hands-on experience. His education reflects a commitment to excellence and leadership in physical medicine and rehabilitation.

✔ M.D. – University of Tennessee, Memphis College of Medicine (1995–1999)

✔ B.A., cum laude – St. Olaf College, Northfield, MN (1991–1995)

✔ Residency – Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation, University of North Carolina Hospitals (2000–2003) -Chief Resident (2002–2003)

✔ Transitional Internship – University of North Carolina Hospitals

Board Certification

Dr. Heros is board-certified in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, reflecting his advanced clinical training and commitment to providing evidence-based, high-quality care for patients with complex pain conditions.

✔ American Board of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (Board-Certified since 2004)

Professional Memberships

As an active member of several national and international medical organizations, Dr. Heros stays at the forefront of innovation in pain management and neuromodulation. His involvement ensures he remains connected to the latest research, techniques, and standards of care.

✔ American Association of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (since 2003)

✔ International Spinal Injection Society (since 2003)

✔ North American Neuromodulation Society (since 2016)

✔ International Neuromodulation Society (since 2020)

✔ American Society of Pain & Neuroscience (since 2020)

✔ Pacific Spine & Pain Society (since 2020)

Awards & Recognition

Dr. Heros was recognized as one of Portland’s Top Doctors in Pain Medicine by Portland Monthly Magazine in 2015 and 2016—an honor based on peer nominations and professional votes.

Clinical Research & Publications

Dr. Heros is actively involved in clinical research, particularly in neuromodulation and spinal cord stimulation. He has authored or co-authored several peer-reviewed publications and participates in scientific committees within national and international neuromodulation societies. His publications include:

Hunter CW, Raskin JS, Mekhail NA, Petersen EA, Lad SP, Pope JE, Costandi SJ, Kapural L, Boeding RB, Antony A, Rosen SM, Heros RD, Sayed D, Li S, Raslan AM, Smith GL, Goree JH, Leitner A, Soliday N, Duarte RV, Deer TR. ECAP-controlled Closed-loop Spinal Cord Stimulation for Chronic Non-surgical Refractory Back Pain: Subgroup Analysis from Two Prospective Multicenter Clinical Trials. Spine (Phila Pa 1976). 2025 Jul 1. doi: 10.1097/BRS.0000000000005445. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 40590186.

Deer T, Heros R, Scarfo K, Gilligan C, Jameson J, Pilitsis JG, Desai MJ, Panchalingam T, Goates S, Benison AM, Okaro U, Falowski S. A Cost Effectiveness Analysis of Spinal Cord Stimulation versus Conventional Medical Management for the Treatment of Low Back Pain Using Data from DISTINCT RCT and Medical Claims from a U.S. Commercial Payer Database. J Pain Res. 2025;18:2823-2838
https://doi.org/10.2147/JPR.S486759

Falowski S, Dorsi MJ, Heros R, Sales R, Tavel E, Lansford T, et al. Paddle leads for the treatment of nonsurgical back pain—The DISTINCT study. Pain Pract. 2025; 25:e70033. https://doi.org/10.1111/papr.70033

Deer TR, Pope JE, Petersen EA, Abdallah RT, Amirdelfan K, Azeem N, Bansal V, Barkoh K, Chapman KB, Denis DR, Dorsi MJ, Escobar A, Falowski SM, Garcia RA, Hagedorn JM, Heros RD, James WS, Kalia H, Lansford T, Malinowski MN, Manzi SM, Mehta P, Moghim RZ, Moore GA, Motivala SL, Navalgund YA, Patel RG, Pilitsis JG, Schatman ME, Shumsky PM, Strand NH, Tomycz ND, Yue JJ, Sayed D. An Evidence-Based Consensus for the Use of Neurostimulation for the Treatment of Non-Surgical Low Back Pain: The NEURON Group. J Pain Res. 2025 Mar 14;18:1247-1274. doi: 10.2147/JPR.S500342. PMID: 40104824; PMCID: PMC11917438.

Schwab F, Mekhail N, Patel KV, Langhorst M, Heros RD, Gentile J, Costandi S, Moore G, Gilmore C, Manion S, Chakravarthy K, Meyer SC, Bundy JV, Tate JL, Sanders R, Vaid S, Szentirmai O, Goree J, Patel VV, Lehmen J, Desai MJ, Pope JE, Giuffrida A, Hayek S, Virk SS, Paicius R, Klemme WR, Levy R, Gilligan C; RESTORE investigators. Restorative Neurostimulation Therapy Compared to Optimal Medical Management: A Randomized Evaluation (RESTORE) for the Treatment of Chronic Mechanical Low Back Pain due to Multifidus Dysfunction. Pain Ther. 2025 Feb;14(1):401-423. doi: 10.1007/s40122-024-00689-0. Epub 2025 Jan 15. PMID: 39812968; PMCID: PMC11751280.

Deer T, Heros R, Tavel E, Wahezi S, Funk R, Buchanan P, Christopher A, Weisbein J, Gilligan C, Patterson D, Antony A, Ibrahim M, Miller N, Scarfo K, Johnson G, Panchalingam T, Okaro U, Yue J. Comparing Conventional Medical Management to Spinal Cord Stimulation for the Treatment of Low Back Pain in a Cohort of DISTINCT RCT Patients. J Pain Res. 2024 Aug 23;17:2741-2752. doi: 10.2147/JPR.S472481. PMID: 39193462; PMCID: PMC11348985.

Yue JJ, Gilligan CJ, Falowski S, Jameson J, Desai MJ, Moeschler S, Pilitsis J, Heros R, Tavel E, Wahezi S, Funk R, Buchanan P, Christopher A, Weisbein J, Patterson D, Levy R, Antony A, Miller N, Scarfo K, Kreiner S, Wilson D, Lim C, Braun E, Dickerson D, Duncan J, Xu J, Candido K, Mohab I, Michael F, Blomme B, Okaro U, Deer T. Surgical treatment of refractory low back pain using implanted BurstDR spinal cord stimulation (SCS) in a cohort of patients without options for corrective surgery: Findings and results from the DISTINCT study, a prospective randomized multi-center-controlled trial. N Am Spine Soc J. 2024 Jun 21;19:100508. doi: 10.1016/j.xnsj.2024.100508. PMID: 39139617; PMCID: PMC11321325.

Carayannopoulos A, Johnson D, Lee D, Giuffrida A, Poply K, Mehta V, Amann M, Santillo D, Ghandour Y, Koch A, Langhorst M, Heros R. Precision Rehabilitation After Neurostimulation Implantation for Multifidus Dysfunction in Nociceptive Mechanical Chronic Low Back Pain. Arch Rehabil Res Clin Transl. 2024 Mar 21;6(2):100333. doi: 10.1016/j.arrct.2024.100333. PMID: 39006113; PMCID: PMC11240036.

Deer T, Gilligan C, Falowski S, Desai M, Pilitsis J, Jameson J, Moeschler S, Heros R et al. Treatment of Refractory Low Back Pain Using Passive Recharge Burst in Patients Without Options for Corrective Surgery: Findings and Results From the DISTINCT Study, a Prospective Randomized Multicenter Controlled Trial. Neuromodulation. 2023 Oct;26(7):1387-1399.

Patterson, D.G., Wilson, D., Fishman, M.A., Heros R. et al. Objective wearable measures correlate with self-reported chronic pain levels in people with spinal cord stimulation systems. npj Digit. Med. 6, 146 (2023)

Huygen, F., Hagedorn, J.M., Falowski, S., Heros RD et al. Core patient-reported outcome measures for chronic pain patients treated with spinal cord stimulation or dorsal root ganglia stimulation. Health Qual Life Outcomes 21, 77 (2023).

Heros R, Patterson D, Huygen F, Skaribas I, Schultz D, Wilson D, Fishman M, Falowski S, Moore G, Kallewaard JW, Dehghan S, Kyani A, Mansouri M. Objective wearable measures and subjective questionnaires for predicting response to neurostimulation in people with chronic pain. Bioelectron Med. 2023 Jun 21;9(1):13.

Heros RD, Anderson JG, Cariello C. Cephalad extraspinal spinal cord stimulator lead migration & salvage: A case report. Pain Pract. 2023 Nov;23(8):974-977.

Hagedorn J, Vesper J, Schultz D, Falowski S, Fishell M, Heros RD et al. Burst Spinal Cord Stimulation for Treatment of Non-surgical and Surgical Chronic Low Back Pain: Results from the Prospective, Multicenter, International REALITY Study. Submitted for publication.

Heros R, Gilligan CJ, Chakravarthy KV. Re: Strand N et al. Evidence-Based Clinical Guidelines from the American Society of Pain and Neuroscience for the Use of Implantable Peripheral Nerve Stimulation in the Treatment of Chronic Pain. J Pain Res. 2022 Aug 23;15:2483-2504 [Letter].

Chakravarthy K, Lee D, Tram J, Sheth S, Heros R, Manion S, Patel V, Kiesel K, Ghandour Y, Gilligan C. Restorative Neurostimulation: A Clinical Guide for Therapy Adoption. J Pain Res. 2022 Jun 20;15:1759-1774. doi: 10.2147/JPR.S364081. PMID: 35756364; PMCID: PMC9231548.

Deer, T., Wilson, D., Schultz, D., Falowski, S., Tavel, E., Moore, G., Heros, R., Patterson, D., Fahey, M., Capobianco, R. and Anitescu, M. (2021), Ultra-Low Energy Cycled Burst Spinal Cord Stimulation Yields Robust Outcomes in Pain, Function, and Affective Domains: A Subanalysis From Two Prospective, Multicenter, International Clinical Trials. Neuromodulation: Technology at the Neural Interface. https://doi.org/10.1111/ner.13507

Pope, J.E., Fishman, M., Chakravarthy, K., Hanes M, Gerling, M., Heros, R.D., Falowski S, Shah J, Orhurhu V, Urits I, & Deer T. A Retrospective, Multicenter, Quantitative Analysis of Patients’ Baseline Pain Quality (PROMIS-29) Entering into Pain and Spine Practices in the United States (ALIGN). Pain Ther (2021).

Heros R.D., Fishman MA, Pope JE, Falowski SM, Patterson DG. Pain Impact Scores are an Effective Predictive Tool for Neurostimulator Trial Success: Initial Results of the STIMPACT study. In: NANS Annual Meeting. Las Vegas; 2020.

Pope, J.E., Schu, S., Sayed, D., Raslan, A.M., Baranidharan, G., Heros, R.D., Blomme, B., Capobianco, R.A. and Deer, T.R. (2020), Anatomic Lead Placement Without Paresthesia Mapping Provides Effective and Predictable Therapy During the Trial Evaluation Period: Results From the Prospective, Multicenter, Randomized, DELIVERY Study. Neuromodulation: Technology at the Neural Interface, 23: 109-117.

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