At Neura Health, we’re proud to partner with providers who combine clinical expertise with human-centered care. Dr. Clinton Lauritsen, DO is a board-certified neurologist and headache specialist with advanced training in refractory and chronic migraine. But what truly sets him apart is how he blends scientific knowledge with lived experience—both as a headache specialist and as someone who knows what it’s like to live with chronic pain.

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From Jefferson to Neura: A Headache Specialist Committed to Complex Care

After completing his fellowship in headache medicine, Dr. Lauritsen was appointed director of the Inpatient Headache Program at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital’s Headache Center, where he also treats a wide spectrum of outpatient cases, working with patients across all levels of severity, ranging from mild but disruptive headaches to disabling, daily migraine attacks.

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Dr. Lauritsen has a special interest in the more complex presentations of migraine, which often go unrecognized. “Often you'll see unusual symptoms that go along with these headache disorders, whether these are motor or sensory symptoms, or cognitive symptoms, or often vestibular symptoms.”

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A Personal Understanding of Chronic Pain

What makes Dr. Lauritsen’s care especially impactful is his ability to understand what patients are feeling, not just medically, but personally. That’s because he’s experienced chronic pain himself. “As a teenager, I sustained a severe, disabling back injury, and over the years, I've continued to struggle with chronic symptoms.”

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He describes years of daily pain, neurological weakness, and a deep sense of isolation, particularly as a young adult living with an “invisible” condition. “I was a teenager, twenties, and having like crippling back problems, and my friends kind of looking at me like, ‘what–are you 70 years old? This doesn't make sense.’ And so I felt kind of isolated.”

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That lived experience shapes the way he shows up for his patients. For Dr. Lauritsen, empathy and compassion aren’t interchangeable—they’re complementary. “Practically speaking, I think of empathy as putting myself in the shoes of the patient, and feeling what they might be feeling. Whereas compassion is more of the actual drive and motivation to take the action to actually help them.”

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Teamwork, Trust, and Layered Treatment

Dr. Lauritsen focuses on what matters most: improving each patient’s quality of life through practical, realistic steps. His care model is collaborative and tailored. “My general approach to treating patients is not just gathering a list of symptoms, but first, I want to know how exactly their disorder is affecting their quality of life from day to day. And then we establish what goals it might look like for them personally.”

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He views the patient as a teammate—not a passive recipient of care. “I like to approach it as a team effort, not just me deciding what's best for their patient, but coming together as a team and moving forward.”

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And he understands that progress often means layering treatments over time. “It isn't until you layer these treatments on top of each other with each of them working in their own individual ways as part of the overall puzzle, right? So I tell them, ‘Look, we're going to keep working on you overtime until you get better.’”

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Migraine Advocacy and Community Support

Dr. Lauritsen is a passionate advocate for migraine awareness. Since his headache fellowship, he’s worked closely with organizations like Miles for Migraine, helping patients feel seen, heard, and less alone. “Every year we have an annual event, we fundraise, and then it culminates with an event where patients and providers come together for a walk and run event to celebrate this increased awareness for migraine.”

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This year, he’s joining his mentor, Jefferson’s Dr William Young, in a colorful show of support. “I'm joining him in a little personal endeavor of growing both of our hair quite long... we'll dye both of our hair purple... which is the color that represents migraine awareness.”

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Get Started with Dr. Clinton Lauritsen, DO at Neura Health

If you're living with chronic or refractory migraine, you're not alone—and you're not out of options. Dr. Clinton Lauritsen brings unmatched clinical training, a patient-first mindset, and a personal understanding of chronic pain.

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Book a visit today with Dr. Lauritsen to receive personalized care from a leading headache specialist.

Video Transcript:

 Hi, I'm Clinton Lauritsen, I'm a neurologist and headache specialist.

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What’s your special interest within your specific field?

After fellowship training in headache, I was given the opportunity to become the director for the Inpatient Headache Program at Jefferson, where we treat patients with particularly refractory chronic headache disorders with a variety of IV infusions. I also see lots of outpatient patients with a wide clinical spectrum of severity, patients mildly affected to severely affected, along with refractory nature of headache disorders.

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Often you'll see unusual symptoms that go along with these headache disorders, whether this is motor or sensory symptoms or cognitive symptoms or often vestibular symptoms. I have a particular interest in all of those niche areas as well. But certainly I have a wide level of expertise and motivation to treat a whole variety of patients with any sort of headache disorders.

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What do you think makes for great patient care?

Practically speaking, I think of empathy as putting myself in the shoes of the patient, and feeling what they might be feeling. Whereas compassion is more of the actual drive and motivation to take the action to actually help them.

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What’s your approach to treating patients?

My general approach to treating patients is not just gathering a list of symptoms, but first I want to know how exactly their disorder is affecting their quality of life from day to day. And then we establish what goals it might look like for them personally. It's important for them to realize it's not their fault, and it's not related to anything they've done wrong. And with that, I go through what I think is happening with them, and I provide a list of different treatment options for the patient and how we might approach that. Then I get feedback from the patient with their preference. 

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So I like to approach it as a team effort, not just me deciding what's best for their patient, but coming together as a team and moving forward. And what I find is it isn't until you layer these treatments on top of each other with each of them working in their own individual ways as part of the overall puzzle, right? So I tell them, look, we're going to keep working on you over time until you get better. So let's suppress things and people deal with a variety of different medical conditions on a daily basis with constant symptoms, but if you're able to manage them and suppress them, you can live an almost normal quality of life.

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If someone is walking around from day to day with seven to eight out of 10 pain, if we can suppress that down to a three or four, that can correspond to a major increase in function and quality of life.

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How has your personal experience shaped your approach to treating patients?

As a teenager, I sustained a severe, disabling back injury, and over the years, I've continued to struggle with chronic symptoms. I have herniated discs and impinged nerves that result in chronic daily pain, weakness, and numbness in the lower extremity, and over the years, at times, really limited my quality of life and my ability to participate in activities that I love to participate in. 

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I think that kind of inspired me to pursue a career in medicine and specifically chronic pain disorders, partially because of some of the disillusionment I found with certain medical providers, but also because of some of the positive experiences I experienced with other medical providers. Similar to migraine and other headache disorders, chronic spinal disorders there's a major genetic component, and I had family members even more severely affected than myself and including one family member who failed multiple back surgeries. I felt that kind of fear from a young age and kind of isolation. I was teenager, twenties and having like crippling back problems and my friends kind of looking at me like, "what- are you 70 years old? This doesn't make sense." And so I felt kind of isolated. I think other young migraine and headache patients that have become disabled also feel that sort of isolation from people their age that don't understand what they're going through.

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Why did you choose to specialize in headache medicine?

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I had a mentor in residency that was a headache specialist, and I spent time in the general pain department treating back pain, treating other chronic pain conditions. And then I also had separate time treating headache disorders specifically and I think just intellectually speaking, I was more fascinated with neurological disorders and headache disorders and more and more treatment options being available, and I found it to be even more rewarding than treating general pain conditions. That along with my own personal experience with chronic pain, I thought was a good mix, was a really good balance of intellectual curiosity, the ability to really make a major difference in people's lives and my own personal experience in kind of relating to patients.

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Why is there so much stigma around headache disorders, and how can we combat it?

I think it's maybe more critical for the spectrum of headache disorders than maybe any other diseases, including rare diseases, because headache as a symptom can be so common in the general population. Almost everyone you know has maybe had a mild headache here or there, so they hear of someone with a headache disorder and they don't realize that the level of severity and disability that people can deal with. They think oh, I know exactly what that's like. Whereas maybe they hear about someone with multiple sclerosis, and they have no idea about that. So it directly leads to this stigma, so we have to work even harder to fight that. 

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One of my mentors since I started at Jefferson is Dr. Bill Young, who is a real pioneer in that advocacy field for headache disorders and migraine. And he's gotten me involved with Miles for Migraine ever since I was in fellowship, and that's something near and dear to my heart. It gives the opportunity to increase awareness. Every year we have an annual event, we fundraise, and then it culminates with an event where patients and providers come together for a walk and run event to celebrate this increased awareness for migraine. And so this year I'm joining him in a little personal endeavor of growing both of our hair quite long. 

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You can see I'm working on that and eventually, when it gets closer to the event, we'll dye both of our hair purple, kind of like my tie here. Which is the color that represents migraine awareness, and I think patients can find a lot of strength in connecting with other individuals that are affected similarly to themselves. So of course we very strongly encourage patients to, whether it's Miles for Migraine or other advocacy groups, Headache on the Hill, to be involved as much as possible. I think that can be very rewarding for them as well.

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