In 1980, Dr. Robert Scaer developed a keen interest in the rehabilitation of chronic pain sufferers as part of his work to establish a rehab facility at the Boulder Memorial Hospital , now the Mapleton Rehabilitation Center of Boulder Community Hospital. This interest started him down a path that led to his life work in chronic pain, traumatic brain injury, and life trauma.

Born in Oak Park , Illinois , Bob received a BA in Psychology and his M.D. degree from the University of Rochester . After his internship at Colorado General Hospital and two years in the U.S. Army, he took his residency in Neurology at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center. He began his medical career on the staff of Boulder Community Hospital and was asked in 1980 to assume Medical Directorship of the rehabilitation facility at Boulder Memorial. It is from this experience that he developed an expertise in the fields of traumatic brain injury and chronic pain, and more recently in the study of traumatic stress and its role in physical and emotional symptoms, and in diseases.

As he saw patients and heard their stories, Bob became more and more convinced that there was a connection between their life traumas and their physical and emotional symptoms. Based on his experiences with the work of traumatologist Peter Levine, he developed theories in this regard, leading to the publishing of two books, The Body Bears the Burden: Trauma, Dissociation and Disease, presenting a new theory of dissociation and its role in many diseases, and The Trauma Spectrum: Hidden Wounds and Human Resiliency, addressing the broad and relatively unappreciated spectrum of cultural and societal trauma that shapes every aspect of our lives. He has lectured extensively in the field of traumatic stress, and has published several articles on posttraumatic stress disorder, dissociation, the whiplash syndrome and other somatic syndromes of traumatic stress.

While currently retired from clinical medical practice, Dr. Scaer continues to write and lecture in the field of traumatology, giving workshops in the United States, Europe, and South America to treatment centers, professional organizations, and societies that specialize in the treatment of life trauma.

Bob is an accomplished skier and cyclist, and enjoys spending time with his four adult children and one grandchild.