About
Dr. Spencer Liu is an anesthesiologist and Director, Perioperative Pain Service at HSS. He originally joined HSS in 2006, after 13 years on staff at the University of Washington and Virginia Mason Medical Center in Seattle. In addition to clinical care of patients, he performs research, has been an editor for 4 anesthesiology or pain medicine journals, and has on numerous occasions been invited to lecture at national and international meetings.
His clinical and research interests center on pain medicine, including acute postoperative pain, regional anesthesia, and analgesia. "To me," says the Attending Anesthesiologist, "pain medicine represents a continuum of treatment for the patient. The most interesting work ultimately results in better analgesia, fewer side effects, and more rapid return to or improvement of function for our patients."
Departments
Special Expertise
Regional anesthesia
Pain medicine
Patient Stories
Insurance
Please call our office if you have questions regarding your insurance coverage. If you have out-of-network benefits, then your insurance may reimburse you for a portion of your office visit. We will work with you and your insurance to minimize your out-of-pocket costs. Financial assistance may be available for patients in need.
Credentials
Appointments
Director, Perioperative Pain Service
Attending Anesthesiologist, Hospital for Special Surgery
Clinical Professor of Anesthesiology, Weill Cornell Medical College
Affiliations
Board examiner for the American Board of Anesthesiology
Certification
American Board of Anesthesiology
Pain Medicine from American Board of Anesthesiology
Education
BA, Johns Hopkins University
MD, University of Alabama
Residency
Northwestern University, Anesthesiology
Fellowship
Regional Anesthesia & Research, Virginia Mason Medical Center
State Licensure
Languages
English
Publications by
Professional Education
Editorial Appointments
Section Editor, Pain Medicine for Anesthesia & Analgesia
Editor, Regional Anesthesia & Pain Medicine
Selected Journal Articles
Richebe P, Rivat C, Liu SS: Perioperative or postoperative nerve block for preventive analgesia: Should we care about the timing of our regional anesthesia? Anesthesia Analgesia 2013 May;116:969-70
Liu SS, Buvanendran A, Rathmell JP, et al. A cross-sectional survey on prevalence and risk factors for persistent postsurgical pain one year after total hip and knee replacement. Regional Anesthesia Pain Medicine 2012:37:415-22
Block BM, Liu SS, Rowlingson AJ, et al. Efficacy of postoperative epidural analgesia: A meta analysis. JAMA 2003:290, 2455-63.
For more publications, please see the PubMed listing.
Research
Industry Relationships
Industry Relationships
One of the goals of HSS is to advance the science of orthopedic surgery, rheumatology, and related disciplines for the benefit of patients. Physicians at HSS may collaborate with outside companies for education, research and medical advances. HSS supports this collaboration in order to foster medical breakthroughs; however HSS also believes that these collaborations must be disclosed.
As part of the disclosure process, this website lists physician collaborations with outside companies. The disclosures are provided by information provided by the physician and other sources and are updated regularly. Further information may be available on individual company websites.
As of November 13, 2019, Dr. Liu reported no relationships with healthcare industry.
By disclosing the collaborations of HSS physicians with industry on this website, HSS and its physicians make this information available to their patients and the public, thus creating a transparent environment for those who are interested in this information. Further, the HSS Conflicts of Interest Policy does not permit physicians to collect royalties on products developed by him/her that are used on patients at HSS.