CENTRAL STATES PAIN CLINIC - Key Persons

Job Titles:

• FIPP, DABA, DABA - PM, DUCNS - HM, CIME Fellowship Trained Interventional Pain Specialist

Dr. Andrzej (Andy) Szczepanek offers multidimensional approach to various painful conditions, focusing on the interventional procedures. He is highly skilled in the most advanced interventional pain procedures and performs wide range of diagnostic and therapeutic procedures for spinal mediated pain, headache pain and extremity pain. Trained to treat and care for all varieties of chronic painful disorders, Dr. Szczepanek is the only interventional pain management anesthesiologist in the state of Iowa that is sub specialized and board certified in the field of headache medicine by the United Council for Neurologic Subspecialties (UCNS). Currently there are only six other physicians in the United States and North America that hold this combined sub specialty certification. Dr. Szczepanek is also board certified and is a diplomat of the American Board of Anesthesiology (Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine) and the World Institute of Pain (Fellow of Interventional Pain Practice). He is also a Certified Independent Medical Examiner by the American Board of Independent Medical Examiners, and he performs impairment rating for the Workers' Compensation System and civil cases, second opinion evaluations, Fitness-For- Duty evaluations and Peer Review services. In his spare time, Dr. Szczepanek enjoys spending time with his family, outdoors and traveling. He is also an enthusiast of classical movies.

Dr. Birkland is a native of Spirit Lake, Iowa. He attended college at Northwestern College in Orange City, where he met his wonderful wife. He obtained his medical school education at Des Moines University, and grew to love Des Moines during that time. Following medical school, he moved to Omaha, Nebraska where he obtained residency training in Anesthesiology, and fellowship training in Pain Medicine at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. He finished his training in June of 2020, and stayed on as faculty at UNMC, serving as an assistant professor in the anesthesiology department during the late summer and early fall of the Covid-19 pandemic. Although he enjoyed his time in Omaha, he always knew if an opportunity opened up to return to Iowa and settle in Des Moines, he wouldn't be able to resist. Central States gave him that opportunity, and he moved his wife and two children back to Des Moines in the fall of 2020. He is excited to be here and contribute to the excellent patient care and innovative pain management therapies that Central States provides! He spends as much of his spare time as possible with his family, where he enjoys game and movie nights the most. He is a soccer enthusiast, and also roots on his Nebraska Cornhuskers in the fall.