Clifford Baker, MD is a Board-Certified Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation, Interventional Spine & Pain Management Specialist.
Since finishing his chief residency and fellowship in 2010, Dr. Baker has dedicated his career in medicine to serving patients in the West Valley of Phoenix. He founded Novaspine Pain Institute in 2014 along with co-partner Dr David Tom, with the mission of providing outstanding and fully comprehensive spine and pain management care to patients suffering with chronic pain, thereby helping them regain CONTROL of their life and CONTROL of their pain.
In particular, Dr. Baker is passionate about: acute and chronic pain in the geriatric population, including treatment of spinal compression fractures and failed back surgeries, cancer related pain, and complex neuropathy pain conditions. Dr. Baker also performs several spinal surgeries including spinal cord stimulator implants, interspinous fixation devices, sacroiliac joint fusion, basivertebral nerve ablation, kyphoplasty, and other minimally invasive spine procedures.
Dedicated to advancing the field of pain medicine, Dr. Baker combines the latest innovations in interventional spine care with compassionate, individualized treatment plans. His goal is simple — to help each patient live with less pain and more freedom.
Beyond his clinical work, Dr. Baker has always been deeply committed to community service. He founded the NovaHope Foundation in 2020 in response to the COVID pandemic, as a means of providing free cell phones to the elderly population, and allow them to keep in contact with loved ones as well as have access to medical services through telehealth. In the past, he provided care to underserved populations through the Commitment to Underserved People (CUP) Program and served as a volunteer and caregiver to those affected by Alzheimer’s disease through the Alzheimer’s Association of Tucson.
A proud University of Arizona alumnus, Dr. Baker earned his undergraduate degree in microbiology and received a NASA Space Grant to study the effects of microgravity on the immune system. He went on to complete his medical degree at the University of Arizona and his internship and residency in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at Loma Linda University Medical Center in California. During his training, he was honored as Internal Medicine Resident of the Year and served as Chief Resident. He later completed a fellowship in interventional spine and pain management, gaining advanced expertise in diagnosing and treating complex spinal and chronic pain conditions.
Outside of his career, Dr Baker is a devoted father to his two children and enjoys weightlifting, playing piano, composing his own music, and learning to be fluent in Spanish.
Dr. Baker is currently seeing patients at our Sun City and Sun City West locations.