Division Chief, Pain Medicine, UC Davis Health

Director, Cancer Pain Management & Supportive Care, UC Davis Health

Associate Clinical Professor, Department of Anesthesiology & Pain Medicine, UC Davis Health

David J. Copenhaver, MD  joins the Napa Pain conference as a board-certified anesthesiologist and pain medicine specialist and faculty in the Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine at UC Davis Health Center.

Dr. Copenhaver is the director of Cancer Pain Management and Supportive Care Program in addition to the Pain Medicine Telehealth program at UC Davis.

Dr. Copenhaver has research interests in health services administration, pain medicine education, responsible opioid management, targeted drug delivery, and the applied use of stem cells in the setting of intervertebral disc disease.

Copenhaver completed his undergraduate degrees in Neuroscience, Physiology and Behavior at UC Davis. He subsequently went on to UCLA to complete his medical school education and a master’s degree in public health. Dr. Copenhaver completed his residency in Anesthesiology at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons and his pain medicine fellowship at UC Davis.

Sessions with Neurovations Education

2021 Napa Pain Conference

  • Competencies for Pain & Substance Use Disorder from the Medical Schools of the University of California

8th Annual Cancer Pain Conference

  • Conference Co-Chair

2019 Napa Pain Conference

  • The Case for Buprenorphine
  • Abdominal & Pelvic Visceral Cancer Pain

Select Publications

  • Copenhaver DJ, Karvelas NB, Fishman SM. Risk Management for Opioid Prescribing in the Treatment of Patients With Pain From Cancer or Terminal Illness: Inadvertent Oversight or Taboo? Anesth Analg. 2017 Nov;125(5):1610-1615.
  • Solberg J, Copenhaver D, Fishman SM. Medial Branch Block and Ablation as a Novel Approach to Pain Related to Vertebral Compression Fracture. Current Opinion in Anesthesiology. 2016.
  • Smith HS, Sheth SJ, Copenhaver DJ, Fishman SM: Radiation and Imaging Radiation Safety for the Pain Specialist, Principles and Practice of Pain Medicine. 2016.
  • Calderon R, Copenhaver D. Buprenorphine for chronic pain. J Pain Palliat Care Pharmacother. 2013 Dec;27(4):402-5. . Epub 2013  Nov 18.