Building Bridges: An Interdisciplinary Framework for Evaluating and Treating Pediatric Chronic Pain Syndromes

Dr. Cara Hoffart is a Pediatric Rheumatologist at Children’s Mercy Kansas City currently serving as Director for the Pain Clinic and Medical Director for the Rehabilitation for Amplified Pain Syndromes (RAPS) Program at Children’s Mercy Kansas City. Her academic affiliations include Associate Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Medicine, and Clinical Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Kansas School of Medicine. As a pediatric rheumatologist, she has substantial clinical experience working with children and adolescents with musculoskeletal pain and chronic pain disorders. She completed her rheumatology fellowship training at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, which has an internationally known treatment program for patients with chronic musculoskeletal pain disorders. Upon completing training, she was inspired to continue treating this population in her practice. In her roles as the Medical Director for the Pain Management Clinic and RAPS Program, she has devoted the last decade to building a state-of-the-art clinical program while simultaneously developing a foundation for research in this population. The RAPS Program is an intensive outpatient intensive interdisciplinary pain rehabilitation program, one of only a handful in the country, which helps children with chronic pain reclaim their lives through an innovative functional approach. She and her team have presented the results of their research and outcomes of this program on both a national and international stage and gained national recognition for expertise in Amplified Pain Syndromes.