2024

Bio on Robert J. Echenberg, MD, FACOG

Dr. Robert Echenberg did his undergraduate work at Brown University, medical training at Jefferson Medical College, and residency in Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Michigan Medical Center. He began private practice in Bethlehem, PA ,in the early 1970s

Soon after board certification, he realized that those excellent programs had not taught him much of what he needed to know concerning women’s health

.Aside from his comprehensive OB/GYN routine medical and surgical care of women, the first 35 years of his career, in large part was devoted to advocating for women and their families by working at local, regional, and national levels to advance the science and art of patient- centered care for all aspects of pregnancy and birthing choices, counseling and aiding couples with sexual intimacy issues, establishing programs to support families through pregnancy loss and developing support for decision making regarding seriously ill newborns forming one of the first perinatal ethics committees in the country

.

His interest in chronic pain began in 2001 while developing a hospital-based program designed to create a non- surgical approach to treating chronic pelvic pain.

He soon joined the International Association for the Study of Pain, started reading scientific journals on pain, attended numerous pain- related conferences and seminars, and became actively involved in the International Pelvic Pain Society, serving for a year on its Board of Directors.

Dr. Echenberg’s passion for patient advocacy and integrative care in women’s health continued with his creation in 2006 of the first privately owned pain management practice specializing in the assessment, diagnosis, and treatment of chronic pelvic, genital, and sexual pain disorders. Through his website,www.TheEchenbergInstitute.com, women and men continue to reach out to him worldwide. They are all suffering from conditions related to persistent pain in the pelvic region. His expertise in developing a model of care based on the most recent evidence-based protocols applying neuroscience in a bio-psychosocial non-surgical approach has led to successful outcomes for over 2200 patients from 40 states and 20 foreign countries.

Over the past decade, he has become one of the most sought-after practitioners in the world for conditions such as Interstitial Cystitis, Pudendal and other pelvic Neuropathies, Vulvodynia, Vestibulodynia, Hypertonic Pelvic Floor Dysfunction, and the spectrum of genital hyper-arousal disorders ranging from Restless Genital Syndrome to Persistent Genital Arousal Disorder. (RGS/PGAD)

Echenberg strongly believes that institutional changes in medical education and awareness among younger people will eventually allow for much earlier diagnosis and prevention of end -stage chronic pelvic pain syndromes. Currently, it is estimated that there are at least 30 million American women (and an unknown number of men) suffering from combinations of these disorders.

Persistent painful symptoms in the genital region are not taken seriously by most healthcare systems around the world. It is educationally and clinically the “invisible” part of the body. Dr. Echenberg aims to help “pass forward” his decades of clinical experience and knowledge of these conditions. He also seeks collaboration in academic institutions to create multi-disciplinary Centers of Excellence for these disorders so that they can adequately be clinically researched.