SİBEL DEMİR

Clinical Professor | Physician-Scientist | NIH Investigator
Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation
Departments of Orthopaedic Surgery and Neurological Surgery
Spine Center
University of California, San Francisco
San Francisco, California

PROFESSIONAL PROFILE

Dr. Sibel Demir is an internationally recognized spine specialist, physician-scientist, and educator with more than 25 years of expertise in non-operative spine care, interventional therapies, and translational research in chronic low back pain.

She is a Co-Investigator on the NIH/NINDS-funded INSPIRE study (Integrating Nonpharmacologic Strategies for Pain with Inclusion, Respect, and Equity), a multi-phase HEAL Initiative program developing culturally sensitive, multilingual digital interventions that integrate mindfulness meditation, cognitive behavioral therapy, physical therapy, and telehealth coaching for chronic pain management.

Dr. Demir is an invited speaker nationally and internationally on spine interventional therapies, paraspinal muscle pathology, Modic changes, comprehensive non-surgical spine care, and mindfulness-based interventions for chronic pain.

NIH HEAL INITIATIVE LEADERSHIP – INSPIRE (R61/R33, NINDS/NIH)

Total Funding: 6.4 million dollars | 2022–2027
INSPIRE is transforming chronic pain management in primary care through equity-centered, scalable, nonpharmacologic digital interventions.

Leadership Contributions:

• Designed and authored structured mindfulness meditation modules for chronic pain.
• Led multilingual adaptation of interventions in English, Spanish, and Cantonese.
• Guides training of telehealth health coaches delivering mindfulness-based care.
• Contributes to implementation strategies integrating patient-reported outcomes into primary care workflows.
• Participates in design and oversight of a 12-month pragmatic randomized clinical trial measuring NIH HEAL common data elements.

CLINICAL EXPERTISE

• Provides 1,500 to 1,800 clinical hours annually in tertiary non-operative spine care.
• Treats approximately 1,000 patients per year.
• Performs approximately 2,200 fluoroscopy-guided spine injections annually.
• Leader in comprehensive, multidisciplinary non-surgical treatment of spondylolisthesis and degenerative disc disease.
• Integrates biopsychosocial and mindfulness-based frameworks into spine care.

RESEARCH IMPACT AND SCHOLARSHIP

Author of more than 29 peer-reviewed publications in leading journals including Spine, European Spine Journal, The Spine Journal, Journal of Orthopaedic Research, and JAMA Dermatology.

Recipient of the ISSLS Prize (2019) for research demonstrating that the relationship between vertebral endplate pathology and chronic low back pain symptoms depends on paraspinal muscle quality.

Principal Investigator of multiple funded clinical trials including the Pfizer SA4Ag Trial and the Nociscan Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy Trial.

SELECTED INVITED LECTURES

• International Society for the Study of the Lumbar Spine (ISSLS)
• American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (AAPMR)
• North American Spine Society (NASS)
• NIH HEAL Initiative Lecture Series – Introduction to Mindfulness
• UCSF Annual Spine Symposium
• International Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Conferences

MINDFULNESS AND INNOVATION

Completed a two-year Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Certification in 2023, Awakening Joy in 2024, Mindfulness Mentor Training in 2025 and Mindfulness Training Institute Teacher Certification Program in 2026. Develops structured mindfulness-based programs for patients with chronic pain and integrates these approaches into NIH-funded digital health platforms.

Her work bridges spine medicine, neuroscience, behavioral science, implementation research, and digital health innovation to advance equitable and scalable chronic pain treatment.