The ASAM Pain & Addiction: Common Threads XXIII - 2022

Barbara St. Marie is a certified Adult, Gerontology, Primary Care Nurse Practitioner, Pain Management Certified through ANCC, and Assistant Professor at the University of Iowa College of Nursing. She is a Fellow in the American Association of Nurse Practitioners, and a Fellow in the American Academy of Nursing. Dr. St. Marie has a PhD from the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, and completed Postdoctoral studies in Pain and Associated Symptoms at the College of Nursing, University of Iowa from 2012-2014. She has been editor of the first and second edition of the Core Curriculum for Pain Management Nursing through the American Society for Pain Management Nursing. As Principal Investigator on three grants, her research focuses on patients with pain receiving opioids, experiences and decision making for all prescribing healthcare providers, and in looking at alternative means of managing pain and risk for opioid use disorder. Dr. St. Marie is now the PI on a study funded through the National Institute of Health -- National Institute on Drug Abuse entitled, Decision Support for Responsible Pain Management.

Matthew Herbert, PhD, is a Research Psychologist at the VA San Diego Healthcare System and Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at University of California San Diego. Dr. Herbert's research program consists of elucidating biopsychosocial factors that underlay the maintenance and severity of chronic pain and the development and evaluation of mindfulness-based treatments for chronic pain. An additional focus of his research is compassion; specifically, novel strategies for measuring compassion and the impact of contemplative compassion practice on treatment outcomes. Dr. Herbert also is a licensed clinical psychologist and a clinical supervisor in the Clinical Psychology Joint Doctoral Program at UCSD and San Diego State University.

Aram Mardian, M.D. is a clinical associate professor of Family, Community, and Preventive Medicine at the University of Arizona College of Medicine–Phoenix is a board-certified family physician and holds additional certifications in addiction medicine, pain medicine, and medical acupuncture. He is the founding Chief of the Chronic Pain Wellness Center at the Phoenix VA Health Care System, which models interprofessional whole-person care for patients with pain and opioid use disorder.  Dr. Mardian serves as Co-Chair for the Arizona Pain and Addiction Curriculum Workgroup.

Dr. Vilaubi is a Physical Therapist at the Phoenix VA within the Chronic Pain Wellness Center. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Manual Physical Therapists and was a sergeant in the United States Marine Corps. He specializes in movement therapy and pain neuroscience education for both individual and group treatment. Dr. Vilaubi’s professional interests include narrative medicine, leadership development, and high-performance coaching.

Dr. Hanson is a Pain Psychologist at the Phoenix VA within the Chronic Pain Wellness Center and is the Pain Psychology Program Manager. They are a Assistant Profession at University of Arizona College of Medicine – Phoenix (UA COM-P). They are a VA National Trainer and Consultant for CBT-CP and they give a variety of trainings and consultations throughout the year to bolster pain treatment within the VA. In addition, Dr. Hanson teaches, supervises, and mentors Addiction Medicine Fellows and Psychology Interns/Fellows in evidence based treatment for pain and addiction. They are well versed in a variety of treatments for chronic pain as well as understanding the importance of good clinical assessment of addiction within the context of pain management. Dr. Hanson’s professional interests include sociopsychological aspects of pain and addiction as well as intersectionality of diversity factors influencing pain and addiction treatment.

Bethany A. DiPaula, Pharm.D., BCPP, FASHP is professor at the University of Maryland, School of Pharmacy and a consultant with School of Medicine Maryland Addiction Consultation Service (MACS). Dr. DiPaula is a residency trained, board certified psychiatric pharmacist with a passion for managing patients with substance use disorders (SUD). Dr. DiPaula practices with a medical group in Baltimore City providing medication management services for patients diagnosed with SUD and other psychiatric disorders. She is active in shaping state collaborative drug therapy management (CDTM) practice. She created pharmacist medication management practices for indigent patients with SUD and has lectured and published on these experiences. Dr. DiPaula worked with a state legislative committee to allow for expanded access to naloxone through pharmacist dispensing using a state standing order. She has educated over 900 county residents about overdose management and received a grant to provide opioid use disorder academic detailing to community pharmacists. Dr. DiPaula is the University of Maryland PGY2 Psychiatric Pharmacy Residency Program Director and volunteers as an American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) accreditation guest surveyor. She recently served on the ASHP Opioid Taskforce. She has served as the Chairperson for the College of Psychiatric and Neurologic Pharmacists (CPNP) Substance Abuse Taskforce and Substance Use Steering Committee. She just completed her second term on the Board of Pharmacy Specialties (BPS) Specialty Council on Psychiatric Pharmacy.

Anita Karnik M.D. is the program director for University of Arizona College of Medicine Phoenix Addiction Medicine Fellowship. She is an addiction psychiatrist at the Phoenix VA Health Care System and practices in an integrated pain and addiction chronic pain and wellness center. She received her M.D. at Texas A&M College of Medicine and completed her general and child and adolescent psychiatry training though the Baylor Scott and White Psychiatry Residency Program. Dr. Karnik went on to further specialize in addiction psychiatry at the University of Cincinnati Addiction Psychiatry Fellowship. Dr. Karnik specializes in caring for patients who have co-occurring chronic pain, substance use disorders, and mental health concerns. She is passionate about destigmatizing addiction care. Dr. Karnik enjoys teaching and encourages medical students, residents, and fellows to partner with their patients and approach addiction care from an integrated whole person approach.

Pamela Pentin, M.D., JD, FAAFP is an Associate Professor in the Department of Family Medicine at the University of Washington School of Medicine in Seattle, where she teaches residents and medical students. She is chief of service for family medicine at the UW Medical Center. She is a graduate of Sidney Kimmel Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University, and completed her residency in family medicine at the University of Vermont, where she also served as chief resident.

Dr. Pentin is a full scope family physician, including obstetrics and hospital medicine, but her area of focus within primary care is substance use disorders. A waivered Buprenorphine prescriber since 2004, she has extensive experience managing acute and chronic pain, opioid use disorder, and the intersection between them. Her office-based practice rapidly shifted to a mostly Telehealth format at the start of the COVID pandemic, and she learned much from trial and error with thay move to virtual medicine. Dr. Pentin is also the primary care leader of UW Telepain, a weekly video-conference-based knowledge network providing guidance managing challenging pain and addiction patients to providers throughout the Pacific Northwest and beyond.

Vania Rudolf, MD, MPH, DFASAM is a family and addiction medicine physician who is providing care to pregnant and parenting women with substance use disorder. She has a background in family medicine with OB and has completed Fellowships in Integrative Medicine, Addiction Medicine and High Risk Obstetrics at Swedish Medical Center. She has earned public health training at the UW. Dr. Rudolf continues to be a compassionate advocate for improving kind non-judgmental services and removing barriers to care. Providing compassionate trauma-responsive care to vulnerable women, babies and families is the primary focus of her practice in addition to clinical research related to clinical outcomes for substance use disorder, transition to MAT and prescribing policies to optimize safe and adequate postpartum analgesia management. She is the Medical Director for Addiction Recovery Services at Swedish Medical Center, an assistant professor at University of Washington, Seattle, WA and the Chair for the National Womens' Addiction Group related to the American Society of Addiction Medicine. She serves on the maternal mortality review board for the state of Washington and has many years as a practicing clinician.

Mollie Bea Nisen, MD (she/her) is a current fellow with the Swedish Addiction Medicine program in Seattle, Washington. After graduating from Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx, NY, Mollie completed her residency training as one of the Chief Residents of the Swedish Cherry Hill Family Medicine program. She maintains a full spectrum primary care practice with particular interest in primary and obstetrical care for patients with substance use disorder and the intersection of reproductive justice and harm reduction in addiction medicine. Mollie has a background in community organizing and strives to ground her clinical work in social justice and antiracist praxis.

Michael Sprintz, D.O. received his medical degree from Midwestern University-Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine in 1997 and went on to a residency in Anesthesiology at Johns Hopkins Hospital. He left Hopkins to do post-doctoral research in biomedical nanotechnology before returning to complete his anesthesia training at University of South Florida. Dr. Sprintz completed a Pain Medicine Fellowship at MD Anderson Cancer Center in 2012 and is triple-board-certified in Anesthesiology, Addiction Medicine, and Pain Medicine. Dr. Sprintz is the Past-President of the Texas Society of Addiction Medicine, as well as the CEO of iLumHealth, a software company developing world-class products to prevent abuse and diversion of prescription drugs, educate providers, and employ rational solutions that save lives and create value. In addition, Dr. Sprintz is the Founder and Chief Medical Officer of the Sprintz Center for Pain and Dependency, an ultra-specialized outpatient center for the comprehensive treatment of chronic pain, dependency and addiction, located in The Woodlands, TX.

Stephanie T. Weiss, MD PhD is the staff Research Physician serving the Translational Addiction Medicine Branch (TAMB) of the NIDA Intramural Research Program. After earning a Ph.D. in pharmaceutical chemistry, Dr. Weiss received her medical degree from Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine. She is board certified in emergency medicine and medical toxicology, a subspecialty that cares for patients with poisonings, environmental exposures, and overdoses. She subsequently completed a second fellowship in addiction medicine research and was selected to participate in the Boston University Research in Addiction Medicine Scholars Program prior to joining NIDA. Dr. Weiss assumes responsibility for providing optimal, safe, and ethical care to study participants and clinical support toward the TAMB mission conducting inpatient and outpatient proof-of-concept human laboratory studies. Her research interests include novel psychoactive substances, medication misuse, and improving interpretation of urine drug testing.

Phillip Coffin, MD, MIA, is a board-certified, practicing internist, infectious disease, and addiction medicine specialist, including inpatient and outpatient care. Dr. Coffin also directs the Center on Substance Use and Health, where he conducts and oversees clinical trials addressing therapies for substance use disorders and prevention or treatment of overdose, HIV, and viral hepatitis; observational studies addressing substance use and the shifting climate of opioid prescribing; local substance use epidemiology; and programmatic efforts to improve opioid management in clinical care.

Marianne Fingerhood has been a nurse for over 35 years. Her career began at the bedside in Cardiac Critical Care and continued as a staff educator. She has been a nurse practitioner in adult primary care for more than 20 years and a clinical preceptor and nursing instructor for the past 19 years. In all settings, she has brought a passion for education, whether it be with patients, students, or colleagues. As a nurse practitioner with Johns Hopkins Community Physicians, she collaborates with other members of the health care team to promote excellence in prevention and management of chronic illness and patient education. Her areas of interest are safe opioid prescribing, identification and treatment of opioid use disorder, and the support and education of nurse practitioners as they transition into their roles as primary care providers. In July 2020, she received a grant from the Maryland Higher Education Commission to begin a Primary Care Nurse Practitioner Fellowship.

Laura Morgan Frankart is currently Director of Education and Assessment and Associate Professor in the Department of Pharmacotherapy and Outcomes Science at Virginia Commonwealth University/Medical College of Virginia. She works as a clinical pharmacist in palliative care at VCU Health Massey Cancer Center. She previously worked for 9 years in the Primary Care Pain Clinic in the MCV Physicians Internal Medicine clinic. She has co-authored publications related to using opioid risk screening tools and prescription monitoring programs in practice and unintentional prescription opioid overdose.

Emanuel N. Husu, M.D. is currently an Assistant Professor of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation at Baylor College of Medicine where he integrates addiction medicine into his interventional pain management practice, the latter of which consists mainly of spine medicine, but also includes headache, abdominal pain, musculoskeletal pain management. He received his bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Irvine. He spent some time after that conducting brain cancer research and ketogenic diet research related to pediatric epilepsy. He then went on to obtain his medical degree from the University of Arizona School of Medicine Tucson. He completed his internship at Abington Hospital - Jefferson Health and residency in physical medicine and rehabilitation at Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University. Dr. Husu then completed a pain medicine fellowship in the Departments of Rehabilitation Medicine and Anesthesiology at the University of Minnesota. Following his pain medicine fellowship, he worked for two years as an interventional pain physician in the Chicagoland area during which he was confronted with a disturbingly high prevalence of substance abuse among his patients, in particular that of prescription opioids. This prompted him to complete an addiction medicine fellowship at Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine.

Dr Rudolf is a physician board certified in addiction medicine, pain medicine, medical acupuncture and family medicine practicing at Swedish Pain Services in Seattle. The clinic integrates multidisciplinary pain care approaches in an effort to optimize patient functional outcomes and self-efficacy. He has also worked extensively in inpatient substance use disorder treatment settings and has published on the topic of opioid withdrawal management. He is the current Chair of the ASAM Pain and Addiction Committee, the immediate past president of the Washington Society of Addiction Medicine, and is a clinical associate professor at University of Washington.