Dr. Elkind explains that he got his start "moonlighting at the Montefiore Hospital Headache Unit" during his residency at the hospital. That clinic was the first of its kind in the U.S.; Dr. Elkind became its director in 1973. For the past 20 years he has run his own center and worked on the staffs of the Mt. Vernon Hospital and New York Medical College. He also travels and lectures extensively and serves as vice president of the National Headache Foundation based in Chicago.

About one in five people suffer from migraine headaches, which are twice as common in women and seem to be hereditary, says Dr. Elkind, author of the layperson's guide, Migraines: Everything you need to know about their cause and cure (Avon).

Men, however, are the primary sufferers of "cluster headaches," attacks of excruciating pain, often behind an eye, that last about 45 minutes and occur throughout the day once or twice a year. Whereas migraine sufferers lie down in a dark room and try to shut the world out, cluster sufferers run around and literally bang their heads against a wall.

For over three decades the headache doctor has helped in the development and testing of several new drugs. "Drugs have become much more effective in the past three years and they future looks even brighter," he says.

What he can't tell his patients is that he feels their pain. "I don't get headaches," he says. "Nobody in the family does. Maybe I scared them away."