A desire to help people with chronic pain get back to a normal and meaningful life led Dr. Michael Roegner to seek out his journey into pain management.
“When people are sick and diseased they can't find their meaning and purpose," he said. “When they're healthy and vibrant – physically and mentally well – then they can search for that meaning and purpose. I always thought that was a very deep and philosophical approach that became my approach to medicine."
Dr. Roegner's mother is a registered nurse and he knew from a young age that he too wanted to work in the medical profession – specifically as a physician.
“As I grew older I stuck to it and went to a very heavy pre-med school at Creighton University," he said. “I think why I chose medicine was me seeing myself contributing to the greater function of society by helping people, maximizing their health, curing disease, and helping them with their ongoing quest for meaning and purpose to the world."
A board-certified anesthesiologist, Dr. Roegner treats patients for ailments causing pain such as headaches, face pain, neck pain, back pain, large and small joint pain, cancer-related pain, migraines and trauma-related pain.
“I always thought that anesthesia was the glue to the entire medical world," he said. “I enjoyed the medicine, the surgeries and the dangers of anesthesia in surgeries. I was drawn to difficulties and complications. I felt proud for someone to literally give their life to me because when you're under anesthesia, your entire life is in my hands. I thought that is a very powerful notion to give to somebody."
In his third year of medical school, Dr. Roegner rounded in Pain Management and found his professional home.
A native of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Dr. Roegner earned his medical degree from Saint Louis University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri. He completed a residency in anesthesiology at University Hospitals/Case Western Reserve in Cleveland, Ohio, and a fellowship in chronic pain management from the University of Pittsburgh Medical College in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
In his free time, Dr. Roegner enjoys sports, finances, stock market trading, business, outdoor activities, racing cars, sports cars, playing cards with his family, boating, fishing and traveling.