Dr Serra received his medical degree from the University of Barcelona in 1988 and his Neurology specialty in 1992. He spent the next two and a half years at the Neuromuscular Unit of Good Samaritan Hospital and Oregon Health Sciences University in Portland, Oregon, USA, where he specialized in the study, diagnosis and treatment of neuropathic pain patients. During this period, he was trained in the technique of microneurography. This is the only available technique to detect positive sensory phenomena (i.e. pain and paraesthesia) originating in peripheral nerves. His expertise also lies in the areas of electromyography, nerve conduction studies, evoked potentials, quantitative sensory testing, thermography, and intraoperative electrophysiological monitoring.
He cofounded both the Pain section of the American Academy of Neurology and the Neuropathic Pain Group of the Spanish Society of Neurology, where he served as the first Chairman. He is a member of the International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP), the British Society of Clinical Neurophysiology and the British Peripheral Nerve Society.
Dr Serra has authored many scientific journal articles and book chapters. He is a frequent invited speaker and organizes courses on neuropathic pain. He also serves as a reviewer for several scientific journals. Since 2014, he has been a Consultant in Clinical Neurophysiology at King’s College Hospital, London.