Robin Hermes, MD

Meet Robin Hermes, MD

Fellowship-Trained Pain Medicine Specialist | Helping Santa Fe Patients Reclaim Their Lives from Chronic Pain

Dr. Robin Hermes is a board-certified anesthesiologist and fellowship-trained pain medicine specialist practicing in Santa Fe, New Mexico, at CHRISTUS Health. She earned her medical degree from McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston, completed her anesthesiology residency and pursued fellowship training in pain medicine at Johns Hopkins University where she developed the interventional and diagnostic skills that define her practice today. With more than 20 years of experience focused on treating spinal pain, Dr. Hermes brings a level of procedural depth and clinical judgment to Santa Fe that patients can feel the difference from their first visit.

Career at a Glance

• 20+ years of experience in anesthesiology and pain medicine
• Fellowship-trained in pain medicine at Johns Hopkins University 
• Board-certified in Anesthesiology by the American Board of Anesthesiology
• High-volume procedural focus in image-guided spinal interventions
• 100 patient reviews with a perfect 5/5 rating on US News, earning five patient awards including Patients' Top Choice, Listens Attentively, Clearly Explains, and Great Bedside Manner

Clinical Role and Leadership

Dr. Hermes practices pain medicine in Santa Fe at CHRISTUS Health. Her clinical focus is on chronic spinal pain: the conditions that limit how people sit, stand, sleep, and move through their day. Rather than relying solely on medications, her approach centers on image-guided interventional procedures that target the specific source of pain in the spine. This means patients receive treatment directed at the nerve, joint, or disc causing the problem: not just a prescription to manage symptoms. Her anesthesiology training provides a strong foundation in understanding how the nervous system processes pain, and her Johns Hopkins fellowship gave her advanced procedural skills in the techniques she uses daily.

She provides specialized care for conditions such as:

• Lower back pain, including disc-related and degenerative causes
• Neck pain and cervical spine disorders, including spondylosis and stenosis
• Thoracic spine pain and mid-back disorders
• Spinal stenosis and spondylolisthesis
• Facet joint pain in the lumbar, sacral, cervical, and thoracic spine
• Sacroiliac joint dysfunction
• Nerve root compression and radiculopathy

What You Can Expect from Care with Dr. Hermes

Patients consistently describe Dr. Hermes as a physician who listens carefully, explains conditions clearly, and delivers effective results. One patient put it simply: after two radiofrequency procedures for lower back pain, she went "years without pain." Across 100 patient reviews, the pattern is clear: Dr. Hermes earns trust by combining a caring, professional attitude with the clinical competence to deliver meaningful, lasting relief.

You can expect:

• A careful diagnostic evaluation to identify the specific source of your pain not just the symptom
• A clear explanation of your condition and the interventional options available, including how each procedure works and what results to expect
• Image-guided procedures performed with precision, designed to target the exact nerve or joint responsible for your pain
• A treatment plan that prioritizes function and quality of life helping you get back to the activities chronic pain has taken from you
• Attentive follow-up to assess your response and adjust the plan as needed

Interventional Pain Care

Dr. Hermes's practice is built on image-guided interventional procedures techniques that use fluoroscopy (live X-ray) to guide a needle precisely to the source of spinal pain. This level of accuracy allows treatment to be directed at the specific structure causing the problem, which improves effectiveness and reduces the need for broader systemic approaches. Her procedural expertise includes:

• Radiofrequency ablation of spinal facet joint nerves a procedure that uses controlled heat to disrupt the nerves transmitting pain signals from arthritic or damaged facet joints in the lower back, sacrum, neck, and mid-back. For many patients, this provides months to years of sustained pain relief.
• Epidural and nerve root injections targeted delivery of anesthetic and anti-inflammatory medication to irritated nerve roots in the sacral, lumbar, and cervical spine, providing relief from radiculopathy and disc-related pain.
• Stimulator implantation and programming an implanted device that uses mild electrical impulses to interrupt pain signals before they reach the brain, used for patients with chronic pain that has not responded to other treatments.
• Facet joint injections diagnostic and therapeutic injections used to confirm the source of spinal pain and deliver localized relief.