Our Board of Directors supports the ACPA with expertise in many areas and helps to guide our development. We are grateful for their participation in achieving our goals.
Click on an individual’s name below to read their biography.
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Penney Cowan
Founder & CEO, American Chronic Pain Association
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Mary Jane Bent
Development and Distance Education at the University of Pittsburgh
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Jennifer Christian, M.D.
President of Webility Corporation
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Edward Covington, M.D.
Director of the Neurological Center for Pain in the Neurological Institute at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation
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Steve Feinberg, M.D.
Adjunct Clinical Professor and teaches at the Stanford University Pain Service and in the Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation Department
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Daniel Galia
Director of Global Support & On Demand Operations,
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Tomio Inomata, MBA
Senior Account Executive LiveWire Media
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Donna A.K. Kalauokalani, MD, MPH
Kaiser Permanente
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Kathryn H. Keller
PharmD, CPE
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Nicole Kelly
Consultant
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Chris Pasero, MS, RN-BC, FAAN
Co-founder American Society of Pain Management Nurses
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Claire Patterson
Founder Trigeminal Neuralgia Association
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David A. Provenzano, M.D.
Executive Medical Director of the Ohio Valley General Hospital Institute for Pain Diagnostics and Care
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Joanne H. Schneider, MSN, CNS, CNP
Psychiatric Clinical Nurse Specialist and Adult Nurse Practitioner in Psychiatry/Pain Medicine in the Neurological Institute Center for Pain at the Cleveland Clinic
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Dennis C. Turk, PhD
John and Emma Bonica Professor of Anesthesiology and Pain Research and the Director of the Fibromyalgia Research Program at the University of Washington
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John Williamson, J.D.
Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Nicholson Graham LLP
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Board Members Emeritus
Joseph Baim, Ph.D., Baim Associates;Charles Lidz, Ph.D. University of Massachusetts; Darlene Lovasik, R.N., M.N. University of Pittsburgh Medical Center
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Penney Cowan is the founder and chief executive officer of the American Chronic Pain Association (ACPA). She herself is a person with chronic pain and established the ACPA in 1980 to help others living with the condition. The ACPA provides peer support and education in pain management skills to people with pain and their families. The ACPA also works to build awareness about chronic pain among professionals, decision makers and the general public.
Over the past 30 years, Cowan has been an advocate and consumer representative for pain issues. She was awarded the Jefferson Medal for Outstanding Citizen by the Institute for Public Service, Washington, and is listed in Who's Who in America, 24th Edition. The American Pain Society awarded her the 2005 John and Emma Bonica Public Service Award. She is the author of Patient or Person, Living With Chronic Pain, published by Gardner Press. In addition she has written all manuals and materials used by the American Chronic Pain Association. Most recently she has been appointed as a Consumer Representative for the FDA/CDER Division of Anesthesia, Analgesia and Addiction Products (DAAAP).
Cowan began the Partners for Understanding Pain campaign in 2002 in an attempt to raise awareness about the need to better understand, asses, and treat pain. There are more than 80 partner organizations. The campaign, under the direction of the ACPA, successfully established September as Pain Awareness Month.
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Mary Jane Bent is presently the manager of the Photographic Services within the Center for Instructional Development and Distance Education at the University of Pittsburgh. She also does free lance photography and teaches at Pittsburgh Filmmakers. She has taught in the past at Pittsburgh Center for the Arts, Carnegie Mellon University and privately. Formerly the Director of Photography at Allegheny General Hospital, her work has appeared regionally and nationally.
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Jennifer Christian is a nationally-known physician thought leader with a special interest in work disability prevention and reduction. She is residency-trained and board-certified in occupational medicine, holding both an MD and MPH from the University of Washington in Seattle. Her 20 year career in occupational medicine has been spent in multiple settings: in private practice, in heavy industry, in public health, in managed care, in workers’ compensation insurance, and in consulting.
Since 1999, Dr. Christian has been President of Webility Corporation, whose purpose is to serve as a catalyst for positive change in disability benefits and workers’ compensation systems. Webility provides management consulting as well as live and web-based training services to employers, claims payers, and healthcare organizations.
Dr. Christian is also a leader in the American College of Occupational & Environmental Medicine (ACOEM), the medical specialty most concerned with the impact of the workplace on health, as well as the impact of health on the workplace. She led the development of ACOEM’s guideline entitled “Preventing Needless Work Disability by Helping People Stay Employed,” adopted in May 2006. The main message of the guideline is that work avoidance and job loss following injury or illness (or aging) is largely preventable (not medically required). The guideline points out that a team approach by employers, doctors, insurers and others is required to promptly help ill, injured and aging people keep life as normal as possible and get “right back in the saddle” to safe and medically appropriate work. Otherwise, lack of appropriate care and education, along with prolonged tenure in the passive “patient” role, increases the risk of developing an “I can’t” self-concept, along with needless long-term withdrawal from work and social roles, and the loss of an otherwise productive member of society.
Shortly after the ACOEM work disability prevention guideline was adopted, she founded the “The 60 Summits Project,” a non-profit organization with the goal of propagating the guideline’s new paradigm for preventing needless work disability across North America. The 60 Summits Project aims to convene multi-lateral conferences of healthcare providers, employers, insurers, policymakers, and people living with medical conditions and impairments in the 50 US states and 10 Canadian provinces in which the participants agree together how to implement the ACOEM guideline’s 16 recommendations.
Dr. Christian’s goal as a board member is to increase the awareness and visibility of ACPA among employers, insurers, healthcare delivery organizations, and treating clinicians, and to encourage them to refer people to ACPA.
Dr. Christian lives in the suburbs of Boston, Massachusetts, is married, and has three grown children. She has had little personal experience with chronic pain, but now that she’s in her 60’s, she’s getting used to some discomfort somewhere in her body everyday.
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Edward Covington is the Director of the Neurological Center for Pain in the Neurological Institute at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation in Cleveland, Ohio. He developed and directs the Clinic's Chronic Pain Rehabilitation Program. Dr. Covington is Certified by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology with Subspecialty Certification in Addiction Psychiatry, and Certified by the American Board of Pain Medicine.
Dr. Covington received his MD from the University of Tennessee, served his internship at Baptist Memorial Hospital, Memphis, Tennessee, and his Psychiatry residency at The Mayo Graduate School, Rochester, Minnesota.
Dr. Covington is past president of the American Academy of Pain Medicine, the Ohio Psychiatric Association and the Cleveland Psychiatric Society. He is Secretary of the American Board of Pain Medicine and serves on its Board of Directors.
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Steven Feinberg is a Diplomat of the American Board of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, the American Board of Pain Medicine and the American Board of Electrodiagnostic Medicine. He is a California Qualified Medical Evaluator (QME).
He is a past president (1996) of the American Academy of Pain Medicine. He served as a longtime member of the Board of Directors of the California Society of Industrial Medicine and Surgery and served as Year 2001 President. He serves on the Board of Directors to the American Chronic Pain Association.
Dr. Feinberg is an Adjunct Clinical Professor and teaches at the Stanford University Pain Service and in the Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation Department.
Dr. Feinberg received the 1998 Professional of the year Award from the California Governor's Committee on Employment of the Disabled. He is the recipient of the 1999 American Academy of Pain Medicine Founders Award. In 2006, he received the Silver Scalpel Award by CSIMS and the Stanford Pain Management Center Award for Teaching Excellence.
Dr. Feinberg served on the ACOEM Chronic Pain Guidelines Chapter update for 2008 on the Panel and as an Associate Editor and he serves as a Medical Consultant to the Official Disability Guidelines (ODG).
He is in private practice in Palo Alto & Los Gatos California.
Dr. Feinberg has special interest in the areas of delayed recover and early intervention and in Functional Restoration chronic pain management.
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Daniel Galia is Director of Global Support & On Demand Operations, Oracle Corporation Global Support and On Demand Operations focuses on automation and standardization of systems, process and tools for Global Support & On Demand Sales. Daniel Galia is responsible for Partnering, On Demand & Enterprise Linux Support. In 1997, he received his Bachelor’s degree in Marketing and Business Operations from California State University, Sacramento. Over the past ten years at Oracle, Daniel has worked in several management and operational roles within Finance.
After seventeen years of volunteering for the ACPA, Daniel was elected to the ACPA board of directors in 2004. Since then he has served as the Treasurer.
Daniel lives in Rocklin, CA with his wife Kimberly, and his children Aidan and Devyn. When he is not traveling for work, Daniel enjoys spending his time with his family
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Michael Gillis is the Associate Director for Administration of the Clinical and Translational Science Center at the University of California, Davis. The Clinical and Translational Science Center is a National Institutes of Health supported program to improve the way biomedical research is conducted across the country, reduce the time it takes for laboratory discoveries to become treatments for patients, and engage communities in clinical research efforts.
Mr. Gillis provides administrative oversight, program planning and execution, fiscal oversight, and overall grants management for the program at UC Davis. His duties include monitoring and administering the CTSA grant and developing collaborative partnerships with other Institutions, community organizations and industry sponsors. Mr. Gillis oversees all financial and programmatic aspects of the CTSC and coordinates internal and external marketing coordination efforts. He is tasked with helping to create a comprehensive, integrated academic home that promotes research and education in clinical and translational sciences at UC Davis. Mr. Gillis is responsible for overseeing and coordinating the implementation of the program functions that comprise the Clinical and Translational Science Center.
Mr. Gillis completed his undergraduate degree at the University of California, Davis and earned a Master in Business Administration from Saint Mary’s College of California.
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Tomio is a Senior Account Executive LiveWire Media. Tomio leverages his expertise and vast industry experience in the design and development of systems that streamline the interaction between employees and businesses. Most recently, Tomio has focused his efforts on the area of Talent Management.
Tomio has worked in the IT industry for over 19 years, concentrating on the challenges faced within the Human Resources and Employee Communications areas. Designing, developing and marketing easy-to-use web-based software and award-winning web sites has been central to his mission throughout his career. His expertise includes the analysis, problem-solving, development and project management for systems that help companies interact more efficiently, effectively and profitably with their employees, clients, investors, and partners. Tomio’s consulting experience includes development of Web-based solutions for HR intranets, Talent Management Systems, decision-support tools, online surveys, total compensation statements, enrollment systems, pension administration systems, employee self-service and manager self-service.
Tomio founded and managed Aylix Technologies, a Web Technology firm that has served clients nationally since July 2000, before joining the company’s forces with LiveWire. Before founding Aylix, Tomio was the HRIS manager for Carnegie Mellon’s Human Resources and was responsible for pioneering new technologies such as Web-based Employee Self-Service and Benefits Administration Software Implementation.
Prior to working for Carnegie Mellon, Tomio was a systems developer for Buck Consultants. His responsibilities included all facets of systems development for Buck’s retirement administration software. These applications were installed at clients’ sites or in outsourced call centers.
Tomio received his BS in Applied Math/Operations Research (’89) from Carnegie Mellon and his Master of Business Administration (MBA, ‘00) from the Graduate School of Industrial Administration at Carnegie Mellon (now Tepper School of Business).
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Donna Kalauokalani received her medical degree from the University of Hawaii John A. Burns School Of Medicine.. She has completed post-graduate training in Anesthesiology, Pain Medicine, Preventive Medicine, Public Health, and Health Services Research. She completed a prestigious fellowship in the Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholar’s program and obtained her master’s degree in Public Health at the University of Washington in Seattle.
While on faculty at University of California Davis, she established and directed the Pain Telemedicine Clinic in the Center for Health Technology at UCD Medical Center which provided consultative services to all California State Prisons. She has also developed a program for quality improvement for the California Department of Corrections for managing chronic pain management which is largely based on training their primary care work force.
Her research interests focus on the access and delivery of care to vulnerable populations and on understanding factors that influence need, demand and utilization of both conventional and alternative pain management services. Recent projects include evaluating a tailored patient education and coaching technique in reducing cancer related pain funded by the American Cancer Society; studying Racial Disparities in Treating Occupational Low Back Pain, funded by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality; and evaluating the Community Oriented Pain-Management Exchange (COPE) Program, funded by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. She also participates in the International Forum for Low Back Pain Research in Primary Care.
While on faculty at Washington University in St. Louis, she co-founded and chaired the Missouri Pain Initiative. In 2003 she won the National Leadership Award, as Honorary Chairman (Missouri) Physicians Advisory Board by the National Congressional Committee; was selected as one of America’s Top Physicians; and was recognized for Outstanding Commitment to the People of Missouri by the Missouri Pain Initiative.
Dr. Kalauokalani lectures nationally and internationally on a wide range of topics in pain medicine. She is a member of the International Association of the Study of Pain and regularly participates in the International Forum for Low Back Pain Research in primary Care. She serves as reviewer for various medical journals, publishes on a broad range of pain medicine topics, and serves as Editor for Resource Reviews for Pain Medicine, journal of the American Academy of Pain Medicine. She has served as organizing committee member and Vice-Chair for the Disparities in Pain section of the American Pain Society. She advocates nationally for equal access to pain care and educates practitioners and policy makers in various settings about optimal pain treatment.
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Kathryn Keller received her Doctorate in Pharmacy from the University of California at San Francisco (UCSF) School of Pharmacy where she also completed her Clinical Pharmacy Residency. Dr. Keller has been a California licensed pharmacist since 1979.
While a doctoral pharmacy candidate, Dr. Keller simultaneously completed a Multidisciplinary Fellowship in Applied Gerontology, a program administered through the Medical Anthropology and Medical Sociology Departments at UCSF and sponsored by the Administration on Aging. Dr. Keller has held an appointment as an Assistant Clinical Professor of Pharmacy at UCSF since 1982 for her work in educating medical and pharmacy residents, students and as an invited CME lecturer in pharmacology and toxicology. She currently maintains her volunteer clinical service to UCSF with an appointment as an Associate Clinical Professor of Pharmacy since 2000. During this period she also served as a member of the Human Research Committee, the FDA-mandated Institutional Review Board serving UCSF, San Francisco General and the San Francisco Veterans Administration Hospitals.
From 1980 through 2000, Dr. Keller provided emergency consultation on overdose and poisoning management as a nationally Certified Specialist in Poison Information at the nationally-recognized San Francisco Bay Area Regional Poison Control Center, where she actively contributed to the scientific discipline of clinical toxicology through publications and teaching. She maintains her membership in the American Academy of Clinical Toxicology. Throughout this experience she began to recognize the devastating impacts on mental, social and financial health for those who suffer with chronic pain.
Since 2000, Dr. Keller has served as a field-based Medical Affairs Liaison in the pharmaceutical industry focusing primarily on pain management and addiction issues. In this capacity, she has provided hundred of consultations, lectures and workshops on analgesic pharmacology and pain management. Dr. Keller completed and received a Graduate Certificate in Pain Management from the UCSF Graduate Division in 2007.
Dr. Keller was vital to the reinvigoration of the Northern California Pain Initiative (NCPI) and has continuously served on the Advisory Council. The NCPI is a state chapter of the Alliance of State Pain Initiatives, and a project of the American Cancer Society, dedicated to promoting improved pain management and quality of life for all persons with pain. She was honored to receive recognition as a State Pain Initiative Champion, one of three such national awards presented by the Alliance of State Pain Initiatives, at their annual meeting in October, 2009.
As a member of the American Society of Pain Educators (ASPE), Dr. Keller was among the first to become a Certified Pain Educator (CPE) by successfully qualifying for and passing the first offering of this certification examination in 2009. Dr. Keller is currently an independent consultant pharmacist, joining the ACPA Board of Directors in March, 2010.
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Nicole Kelly has been a member of the American Chronic Pain Association board of directors for more than 25 years and is now in the second year of her most recent term as board president and program director. She is a member of the American Pain Society.
In addition to her work for the ACPA, she consults independently in the areas of human resources communications, public relations writing, and multi-media writing and production. In 2004, she retired as a principal and Communications Practice Leader in the Pittsburgh office of Buck Consultants. She previously served as Communication Practice Leader for William M. Mercer’s Pittsburgh office, manager of public relations for Allegheny International, and Allegheny General Hospital. She also has taught introduction to professional writing, technical writing, writing for digital media, and the capstone class in the Chatham College Masters in Professional Writing program but has given it all up to be a full time granny nanny.
A Pittsburgh native, she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Carnegie Mellon University.
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Chris Pasero is a pain management author, educator, and clinical consultant from El Dorado Hills, California. She is a co-founder and past president of the American Society for Pain Management Nursing and serves on the Board of Directors of the American Chronic Pain Association. Chris is a Fellow in the American Academy of Nursing, board certified in Pain Management Nursing, and the recipient of numerous pain management education and clinical practice awards.
Chris serves on the Editorial Boards for Nursing Consult, Federal Practitioner, Pain Management Nursing, American Journal of Nursing, and the Journal of PeriAnesthesia Nursing. Major publications include numerous pain management articles, position papers, guidelines, book chapters, and the book, Pain: Clinical Manual, and two CDs on pain management with Margo McCaffery.
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Claire Patterson founded the Trigeminal Neuralgia Association (TNA) in 1990 to provide information and support to those with trigeminal neuralgia and their families following a ten year personal experience with trigeminal neuralgia and after having the pain resolved through a microvascular decompression neurosurgical procedure TNA's mission was expanded in 2000 to include individuals with related facial pain conditions (other than TMD). Served as President/CEO for 13 years during which time Claire was involved with all aspects of organizational development - patient education materials, public and professional outreach efforts, funding and staffing needs etc. Budget development from $3,000 in 1990 to $500,000 in 2003. Under her leadership a patient support group and telephone support network was developed which included over 75 support groups throughout the US and several foreign countries. Facilitated the formation of several sister associations- TNA of the United Kingdom, TNA of Canada and two associations in Australia. TNA currently serves over 25,000 individuals Served as a member of the TNA Board of Directors for 16 years and following her retirement as President/CEO served as TNA's Director of Institutional Relations and Research to facilitate trigeminal neuralgia and orofacial pain research efforts with the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and scientific investigators . Has served for 12 years as a member of the Patient Advocate Group for the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Resources.
Elected to the ACPA Board of Directors in 2005, Serve as liaison to NIH. Represents ACPA at the Annual NIDCR( National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Disorders Research) Patient Advocates Day and as a member of the NIAMS (National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases) Coalition. Serves on the ACPA Executive Committee as Chair of the Research Committee
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Dr. David Provenzano is the Executive Medical Director of the Ohio Valley General Hospital Institute for Pain Diagnostics and Care. Prior to becoming the Medical Director, he received his undergraduate degree from Colgate University where he graduated Magna Cum Laude and became a Phi Beta Kappa member. He received his medical degree from the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry. He completed a surgical internship at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital and a residency in anesthesiology at The Western Pennsylvania Hospital. During his last year he was elected Chief Resident of the anesthesiology residency program. He completed a Pain Management Fellowship at the Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center.
Dr. Provenzano has served as a principal investigator on multiple research studies, authored a book chapter and published scientific articles. His research interests include the effects of preinjected fluid on monopolar and bipolar radiofrequency lesioning. He has lectured at numerous national meetings on the management of acute and chronic pain. Furthermore, he serves as an external member of the Robert Morris University IRB, a Board Member of the American Chronic Pain Association and an Adjunct Assistant Professor at Duquesne University Department of Pharmacology. Dr. Provenzano also serves as a member of the Research, Newsletter, and Continuing Medical Education Committees for the American Society of Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine. He has extensive interests and expertise in the conservative treatment of pain originating from the cervical and lumbar spine.
Dr. Provenzano resides in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania with his wife, daughter, and son.
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Joanne is a Psychiatric Clinical Nurse Specialist and Adult Nurse Practitioner in Psychiatry/Pain Medicine in the Neurological Institute Center for Pain at the Cleveland Clinic. She has worked as a multidisciplinary team member in the Chronic Pain Rehabilitation Program for 23 years, which treats individuals with chronic pain, addiction and psychological issues. As part of her role, she evaluates patients to assess, plan and implement treatment of their chronic pain, orchestrate the care of a team of patients undergoing treatment in the Chronic Pain Rehabilitation Program, plus addresses psychological, substance use and relapse prevention issues. In addition, she see patients for follow-up to assess treatment outcome, provided medication management, and psychotherapy. She helps educate nursing staff, medical students, and residents in art of pain management.
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Dennis C. Turk, PhD, is the John and Emma Bonica Professor of Anesthesiology and Pain Research and the Director of the Fibromyalgia Research Program at the University of Washington. Prior to his current position he was Professor of Psychiatry and Anesthesiology and Director of the Pain Evaluation and Treatment Institute at the University of Pittsburgh. Dr. Turk currently serves as a Special Government Employee within the US Food and Drug Administration.
Dr. Turk is a former Editor-in-Chief of the Annals of Behavioral Medicine and Pain Management Today and is currently Editor-in-Chief of The Clinical Journal of Pain. He is co-coordinator of the Initiative on the Methods, Measurement, and Pain Assessment in Clinical Trials (IMMPACT). He has published over 425 journal articles and chapters in scholarly texts, and has written and edited 13 volumes, most recently, The Pain Survival Guide: How to Reclaim Your Life.
Dr. Turk is a past President of the American Pain Society, and position he held from 2004-2006. He is a fellow of the American Psychological Association, Society of Behavioral Medicine, and Academy of Behavioral Medicine Research. Dr. Turk has received the American Psychological Association, Division of Health Psychology, Outstanding Scientific Contribution Award; the American Association of Pain Management’s Janet Travell Award for Outstanding Contribution to Pain Management; and the John C. Liebeskind Research Award for Outstanding Contributions to the Field of Pain. Dr. Turk was identified as one of the Top 10 Leaders in Pain Research and Treatment Development by an international survey conducted by the University of Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada, which was published in The Pain Clinic in 2000.
Dennis is currently the Chair of the American Chronic Pain Association Professional Advisory Committee.
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John Williamson is a partner in the K&L Gates law firm and focuses his practice on all aspects of intellectual property law including litigation, licensing, infringement analyses, strategies, and asset management.
Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Williamson was assistant general counsel IP for PPG Industries, Inc. He was president of Intellectual Property Owners (IPO) from 2002 to 2004. Mr. Williamson was assistant general counsel and group manager for Westinghouse Electric Corporation where he was responsible for the intellectual property law group of the company including major businesses in energy systems, defense electronics, power generation, refrigeration, and broadcasting. From 1978 to1987 he worked for Allegheny International, Inc. where he served as general patent counsel from 1981 to 1987. Mr. Williamson worked in a boutique law firm from 1974 to 1978 where he handled all aspects of intellectual property law including litigation, domestic and international patent preparation and prosecution, licensing, infringement and validity opinions, and trademark and copyright work. Prior to entering the practice of law he worked as product engineer in an Atomic Energy Commission facility operated by Fortune 150 Bendix Corporation.
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