Sota Omoigui M.D. is medical director of the L.A. Pain Clinic in Hawthorne, California. He is board certified in Anesthesia with subspecialty certification in Pain Medicine.  He has served as an adviser to the United States, FDA Advisory Committee on Anesthetics and Life Support Devices.

He has 1000 plus Google Scholar citations for his research work.

He is a Recipient of the US FDA Advisory Committee Service Award, in recognition of his distinguished service to the people of the United States of America

On July 4th, 2024, he described the

The First Solution in 7300 years to prevent and stop a sickle cell crisis in the golden half hour

Let Oxygen be your medicine

He is an independent translational researcher, analyzing and translating patterns in basic science research to discover novel clinical applications. He is presently the Medical Director of L.A. Pain Clinic in Hawthorne, and CEO of State-of-the-Art Technologies, Inc.

His research work in Pain Pharmacology, Anesthetic Pharmacology, Inflammation and the Inflammatory response, has also greatly impacted the medical field. Dr Sota Omoigui is a bestselling author with drug handbooks published in six languages (Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Malaysian, Polish and Portuguese), and used by pain specialists and anesthesiologists all over the world. In his seminal book titled: The Biochemical Origin of Pain and published in 2002, he proposed his theoretical law that the origin of pain is due to inflammation and the inflammatory response.  His subsequent publication of his theory as a journal article in 2007 been cited as of this date by 484 medical publications in Google Scholar.  In his 2002 theory, he demonstrated a clear association between migraine and the release of inflammatory mediator calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) and substance P (SP). In 2019, seventeen years later, the US FDA approved members of a new class of drugs specifically designed to treat migraine by targeting calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP). Those drugs have been the greatest advance in the treatment of migraine.

His Sota Omoigui’s Anesthesia Drugs Handbook as well as Sota Omoigui’s Pain Drugs Handbook, have been cited in 116 different publications in Google Scholar.  Apps of his Anesthesia drug handbooks are available on the Google PlayStore and the Apple App store.

The Physics law of conservation of mass, as embodied in the equation of continuity states that, in any steady state process, the rate at which mass enters a system is equal to the rate at which mass leaves the system. Applying that law to injection procedures, Dr Omoigui has pioneered minimally invasive myofascial nerve block injection procedures utilizing a 30G 5/8 in needle to treat spinal pain and radiculopathy that hitherto required epidural injections with 3-5 inch needles.  Thus democratizing the utilization of spinal injections by primary care physicians as well as physician assistants and nurse practitioners.  Furthermore, based upon his theory, Dr Sota Omoigui has advocated a change in the practice of pain medicine whereby current procedural injections for back, neck and radicular pain focus on structures that are visible with imaging, skeletal system (bones, joints, intervertebral discs) and central nervous system (brain and spinal cord) components while completely ignoring the treatment of inflammation and the targeting of  the largest organ in the spine and most often the initial site of injury, which are the paraspinal muscles and fascia –cervical, thoracic and lumbar. 

His theory has been recently validated in 2023. As stated in the NIH, HEAL Initiative Fund Opportunity [29], the field of musculoskeletal pain has largely focused on the skeletal system (bones, joints, intervertebral discs) and central nervous system (brain and spinal cord) components. The contribution of myofascial tissues, especially fascia, and the interactions of fascia, muscles, and peripheral nerves are understudied and remain mostly unknown. Pain originating from muscles and fascia is likely an important component of many severe and chronic pain conditions. The perimuscular fascia is richly innervated with small-diameter fibers whose receptive fields increase in the presence of inflammation. Thus myofascial tissues play a significant role as pain generators.

The NIH noted that for many years, structural imaging was the main tool to guide treatment decisions, including surgery. Meanwhile, imaging and other objective measurements of “soft” tissues including muscles, and connective tissues or “fasciae,” were not even considered as musculoskeletal pain biomarker candidates. Thus NIH has called for development of biomarkers of myofascial tissues for effective pain management regimens.

His research work on sickle cell disease builds on the work by Hahn and Gillespie (1927) who suggested that hypoxia caused the sickling of red blood cells and work by Hargrave et al  (2003) which concluded that, low nocturnal oxygen saturation appears to be highly significantly associated with frequent painful vasoocclusive crisis in Sickle Cell Disease. Chang et al (2024) confirmed that 43% of sickle cell patients had sufficient nocturnal hypoxemia to warrant oxygen therapy. The basic science research by Franck and  Chiu (1983), Robert Hebbel (1991), Melanie Gonick (2015) combined with the clinical trial in Canada by Zipursky et al (2015)  demonstrated conclusively that reoxygenation of reversible sickle cells would restore them to their normal discoid shape and Dr Sota Omoigui’s clinical research found that restoration with home oxygen would occur within the golden half hour. Subsequent to that time, and by the time patients arrive at the hospital, reversible sickle cells undergo repeated sickling, progress to irreversible sickle cells, undergo cell wall damage with cell death and can no longer be restored by oxygen. Thus leading to an intractable sickle cell crisis with the attendant complications. Dr Omoigui’s research documents a 90% decrease in sickle cell crisis when oxygen is administered at night or during daytime sleep in the presence of one or more triggers such as stress, exertion/exhaustion, increased sedation, alcohol ingestion, altitude, infection and cold environment. And advocating a standard of care protocol for sickle cell multi-organ ischemic crisis that is no less timely than the protocols for acute coronary syndromes and stroke. The patient’s physician or hospital should prioritize pain control not just to reduce pain and suffering but to prevent chest splinting, shallow breathing and decreased oxygenation that are a prequel to acute chest syndrome that is known to have 25% mortality. Pain control requires parenteral doses of pure opioids like Morphine, Hydromorphone, Pethidine, Fentanyl or the potent analgesic Ketamine. These should be combined with anti-inflammatory injections that the patient has previously tolerated. Weak opioids like Pentazocine or Tramadol should never be used in a sickle cell crisis. Pentazocine is banned in the United States for its psychiatric side effects. 

Dr. Sota Omoigui pioneered the technique of audio-capnometry and holds a United States patent for the audio-capnometer monitor and a United States patent for the process of continuous non-invasive hemometry (measurement of hemoglobin). He also holds 5 United States patents for the Xchange Mall – Super App, a social media app that he developed.

Dr Sota Omoigui is one of the five co-authors of the All Nigerian National Anthem. The anthem was adopted in 1978 and replaced the previous national anthem, “Nigeria, We Hail Thee“. The lyrics are a combination of words and phrases taken from five of the best entries in a national contest. The words were put to music by the Nigerian Police Band under the directorship of Benedict E. Odiase. Dr Sota Omoigui’s contribution is a legacy for years to come.