SPINE & NERVE DIAGNOSTIC CENTER - Key Persons
Ethelynda Tolentino, MD, is double board-certified in physical medicine and rehabilitation, and pain medicine. At Spine & Nerve Diagnostic Center she works as a physiatrist and has extensive experience in pain management and musculoskeletal disorders.
Dr. Tolentino was born and raised in the Philippines, earning her bachelor's degree in physical therapy and her medical degree. She moved to the United States in 1994, practiced as a physical therapist for three years, and then completed her residency training in physical medicine and rehabilitation at the University of Cincinnati in Ohio.
She joined the Spine & Nerve Diagnostic Center in 2007. Her background as a physical therapist enables her to assist her patients in returning to a functional level.
Dr. Tolentino understands the complexity of chronic pain and hopes to help her patients gain control of their lives by controlling pain. Her experience working with spinal cord injury patients, stroke patients, and brain injury patients has expanded her understanding of disability. This experience gives her a different perspective on treating patients affected by chronic pain.
Dr. Tolentino also serves as the director of worker's compensation for the Spine & Nerve Diagnostic Center.
Job Titles:
- Anesthesiologist and Interventional Pain Management Physician
Jason Kung, MD, is a board-eligible Anesthesiologist and Interventional Pain physician at Spine & Nerve Diagnostic Center.
He graduated from the University of San Francisco in California with a bachelor's degree in biology. He then went to Boston University School of Medicine in Massachusetts for his medical degree.
Dr. Kung completed his residency in Anesthesiology and fellowship in Interventional Pain at Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts General Hospital in 2020.
Dr. Kung specializes in several interventional procedures, including spinal cord stimulation, epidural injections, radiofrequency ablations, implantable devices, and ultrasound-guided nerve/joint injections.
Julie Hastings, MD, is a board-certified physical medicine and rehabilitation physician at Spine & Nerve Diagnostic Center. She has a special interest in interventional spine.
Dr. Hastings completed a North American Spine Society (NASS) recognized fellowship in interventional spine and musculoskeletal medicine at Desert Spine and Sports Physicians in Phoenix, Arizona. Before this, she was a faculty member at the University of Arizona in Tucson and Creighton Medical School in Phoenix, where she focused on pelvic pain and pelvic floor dysfunction.
Dr. Hastings completed residency training in physical medicine and rehabilitation at the University of Colorado. She earned her medical degree from Mount Sinai in New York City and her Bachelor of Arts in community studies from UC Santa Cruz in California.
Dr. Hastings strives to provide patients with the care she would want for her own family, including an accurate diagnosis and treatment plan customized to each patient's specific goals.
Whether your pain keeps you from athletic endeavors, work, or simply enjoying time with your family, Dr. Hastings aims to get you back to those activities empowered with knowledge about your own body and skills to manage your pain.
Dr. Hastings has presented research nationally on interdisciplinary chronic pain care, opioids and suicide, pelvic pain and joint hypermobility, and healthcare quality improvement, as well as co-authored a textbook chapter on nonsurgical pain management. She believes strongly in education and mentorship and works with medical students and residents around the country as a mentor.
Outside of medicine, Dr. Hastings enjoys spending time outdoors, fitness, cooking, and being with her friends and family.
Karen Cain is a Physician Assistant who specializes in spine disorders. She attended Pepperdine University in California and in Germany where she earned a Bachelor's of Science degree in Health Science. After earning her Physician Assistant degree in Southern California, Karen returned to the Sacramento area and worked in Pain Management from 2001 through 2004. In 2004, she joined Spine & Nerve Diagnostic Center and became the first medical provider to join Dr. Vinay Reddy. In 2007, Karen assisted in the development of the Roseville office. Karen believes in the strength of an integrated approach to help patients manage chronic pain. A multimodal approach is used to create treatment plans individual to each patient. She is a Sacramento native. Karen lives in Placer County and is married and has two sons. She enjoys spending time with her family. She also enjoys cooking, photography and animals.
Raman Gurai, MD, is a board-certified physical medicine and rehabilitation physician with a special interest in interventional spine. He serves patients at Spine & Nerve Diagnostic Center.
Dr. Gurai was born and raised in northern California. His interest in medicine started in college, where he majored in molecular and cell biology with an emphasis on neuroscience at the University of California at Berkeley.
After graduating, he headed to Grenada (West Indies) for his medical degree. After that, he completed his physical medicine and rehabilitation residency at the West Los Angeles Veterans Affairs Medical Center in California. Dr. Gurai stayed for an extra year to complete his current specialty, interventional spine.
His medical interests include diagnosing and healing ailments of the spine with a multitude of modalities, including EMG/NCS nerve testing and spine procedures, including facet injections, epidurals, medial branch blocks, radiofrequency ablations, sacroiliac joint injections, and spinal cord stimulation, among other cutting edge techniques.
Dr. Gurai's personal approach to medicine is to treat each individual as if they were a family member. With this approach, he hopes to restore the quality of life and function each person deserves.
Job Titles:
- Board Certified Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation Physician
Ryan Hagens, MD, is a board-certified Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (PM&R) physician. He completed his ACGME-accredited fellowship in Pain Medicine at UCLA/West Los Angeles Veterans Affairs Medical Center.
Prior to his fellowship, Dr. Hagens completed his residency in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at the University of Colorado, where he received the Senior Resident Impact Award and was inducted into the Gold Humanism Honor Society. He earned his medical degree from Rush University in Chicago, Illinois. He graduated from the University of California, Davis with a B.S. in Exercise Biology where he also played for the UC Davis Mens' Water Polo Team.
Dr. Hagens prides himself in treating each of his patients with the same thoughtfulness and dedication as he would with treating one of his own family members. He strives to treat the whole individual and aims to provide comprehensive care. He utilizes a variety of treatments, including non-pharmaceutical modalities, physical therapy, medications, as well as ultrasound and fluoroscopically-guided interventional procedures.
As a Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation trained doctor, he aims to not just treat your pain, but also to restore function and optimize your quality of life.
In his time off, Dr. Hagens spends time with his wife, Kate, and their Bernese Mountain Dog, Bliss. He is an outdoorsman and can often be found in the mountains camping, skiing, hiking and sailing around Lake Tahoe with friends and family.
Job Titles:
- Physician
- Internal Medicine & Pediatric Care
Dr. Surekha Reddy is a physician board certified in both Internal Medicine and in Pediatrics. A native of Longview, Texas, Dr. Reddy earned her undergraduate degree from Austin College. She earned her medical degree from the University of Texas-Houston (McGovern) Medical School. She did her residencies in Internal Medicine and Pediatrics at the University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston.
After the completion of her two residencies, Dr. Reddy joined Sutter Medical Group (SMG) and practiced both Internal Medicine and Pediatrics in Lincoln, CA from 2003 to 2015. Dr. Reddy was recognized on multiple occasions by SMG for her consistently high patient satisfactions scores.
Dr. Reddy joined the Spine & Nerve Diagnostic Center team in 2015. Since that time, Dr. Reddy has worked in an administrative capacity at Spine & Nerve Diagnostic Center. Her responsibilities include new clinician training, quality control, and research coordination. Dr. Reddy provides education and guidance to new providers in the use of EPIC, the predominant electronic health record in the Sacramento region. She has coordinated Spine & Nerve Diagnostic Center's participation in the Health and Human Services Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) Program and in Sutter Community Connect's Practice Improvement Projects.
Dr. Reddy currently serves as a liaison between Spine & Nerve Diagnostic Center and national and international medical device companies to coordinate multiple research projects targeted at improving patients' quality of life.
Dr. Reddy continues to keep up her Internal Medicine and Pediatric skills by volunteering weekly at Wellspace Health Services. She is active in a number of charitable organizations including National Charity League (NCL) and Boys Team Charity (btc). She lives in Granite Bay, CA with her husband, two children and their dog, Chessie.
Vinay Reddy, MD, is a physiatrist specializing in spine and nerve disorders. In 2003, he founded Spine & Nerve Diagnostic Center in Roseville, California, with the goal of building a state-of-the-art institution dedicated to providing hope, education, compassion, and treatment for spine pain sufferers. He currently serves as the president and chief medical officer of the practice.
Dr. Reddy is a diplomate of the American Board of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, the American Board of Pain Medicine, and a diplomate of the American Board of Electrodiagnostic Medicine. He is also a certified brain injury specialist.
Dr. Reddy's professional interests include electrodiagnosis, neuromodulation, regenerative medicine, treatment of traumatic spine injuries, and interventional spine procedures. He has worked as a pain consultant for several pharmaceutical and biomedical companies and has given lectures on pain and spine disorders locally and nationally. Dr. Reddy also teaches at a number of academic institutions.
He is a partner at Fort Sutter Surgery Center and formerly served on the Board of Governors. He is currently the chief of pain services for Sutter Independent Physicians.
Dr. Reddy enjoys family life with his wife, two children, and their dog in Granite Bay, California.