Membership & Agency Representation

Dr. Koroshetz became the Director of NINDS in June, 2015. Previously, he served as Acting Director beginning October, 2014 and Deputy Director of NINDS under Dr. Story Landis. Together, they directed program planning and budgeting, and oversaw the scientific and administrative functions of the Institute. He has held leadership roles in a number of NIH and NINDS programs including the NIH’s BRAIN Initiative, the Traumatic Brain Injury Center collaborative effort between the NIH intramural program and the Uniformed Health Services University, and the multi-year work to develop and establish the NIH Office of Emergency Care Research to coordinate NIH emergency care research and research training.

Before joining NINDS, Dr. Koroshetz served as Vice Chair of the neurology service and Director of stroke and neurointensive care services at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH). He was a professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School (HMS) and led neurology resident training at MGH between 1990 and 2007. Over that same period, he co-directed the HMS Neurobiology of Disease Course with Drs. Edward Kravitz and Robert H Brown.

A native of Brooklyn, New York, Dr. Koroshetz graduated from Georgetown University and received his medical degree from the University of Chicago. He trained in internal medicine at the University of Chicago and Massachusetts General Hospital. Dr. Koroshetz trained in neurology at MGH, after which he did post-doctoral studies in cellular neurophysiology at MGH with Dr. David Corey, and later at the Harvard neurobiology department with Dr. Edward Furshpan, studying mechanisms of excitoxicity and neuroprotection. He joined the neurology staff, first in the Huntington’s Disease (HD) unit, followed by the stroke and neurointensive care service. A major focus of his clinical research career was to develop measures in patients that reflect the underlying biology of their conditions. With the MGH team he discovered increased brain lactate in HD patients using MR spectroscopy. He helped the team to pioneer the use of diffusion/perfusion-weighted MR imaging and CT angiography/perfusion imaging in acute stroke.

Active in the American Academy of Neurology (AAN), Dr. Koroshetz chaired the professional organization’s Public Information Committee, led the AAN’s efforts to establish acute stroke therapy in the US, founded the Stroke Systems Working Group, and was a member of the AAN Board of Directors.

Sharon Hertz, MD is Deputy Director of the Division of Anesthesia, Analgesia, and Addiction Products, Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Dr. Hertz is a board certified neurologist who has worked for over a decade on regulatory issues related to analgesic drug products. She has worked with analgesic product development plans and is a leading expert on analgesic clinical trial design. She has been involved in the FDA's assessments of the toxicities associated with many of the analgesic drug classes. She has also participated in the Agency's efforts to address prescription opioid abuse. Dr. Hertz served as a member of the working group that developed the requirements for and reviewed the content of the Extended-Release/Long-Acting opioid REMS. As part of that effort she helped develop the FDA Blueprint for Prescriber Education for Extended-Release and Long-Acting Opioid Analgesics.

Richard Ricciardi, PhD, CRNP is the Health Scientist/Program Director/Project Officer at the Center for Primary Care, Prevention, and Clinical Partnerships at the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) in Rockville, Maryland. Before joining AHRQ in 2010, Dr. Ricciardi served on active duty for thirty years and had numerous positions with the Department of Defense, working as a Nurse Practitioner, Senior Leader, and Clinical Scientist. Dr. Ricciardi is a registered Pediatric and Family Nurse Practitioner in Maryland and the District of Columbia, and a fellow at the American Academy of Nursing and the American Association of Nurse Practitioners. He currently serves on the Interagency Multiple Chronic Conditions Workgroup and the Interagency Pain Research Coordinating Committee.

Martha J. Somerman, DDS, PhD has been Director of the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR) since August 2011. Prior to becoming NIDCR director, Dr. Somerman was dean of the University of Washington School of Dentistry (2002 - 2011), professor and chair of the periodontics/prevention and geriatrics at the University of Michigan School of Dentistry and professor of pharmacology at the School of Medicine (1991 - 2002), and a faculty member at the Baltimore College of Dental Surgery (1984 to 1991). Dr. Somerman's research focuses on defining the key regulators controlling the development, maintenance and regeneration of tissues that form the dental-oral-craniofacial complex. A native of Brooklyn, New York, Dr. Somerman received a Bachelor's degree in Biology and a D.D.S. from New York University, a Master's degree in Environmental Health from Hunter College, and a Ph.D. in Pharmacology from the University of Rochester. She completed her periodontal residency at the Eastman Dental Center in Rochester, New York.

Dr. Helmick is a senior medical epidemiologist with the Arthritis Program at the National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. His current responsibilities include directing the team’s scientific staff and resources to implement the surveillance, epidemiology, and prevention research strategies laid out in the National Arthritis Action Plan which he helped to write. He is also a Workgroup Coordinator as well as author of the first-ever Healthy People 2010 arthritis objectives. Dr. Helmick has nearly 29 years of experience in public health, working first on infectious disease issues as part of the Epidemic Intelligence Service training program at CDC, then on international public health issues at the Sierra Leone Caribbean Epidemiology Centre, followed by 24 years at CDC working on chronic disease problems, including multiple sclerosis, digestive diseases, and age-related disorders. Dr. Helmick received his undergraduate degree in Zoology from the University of Michigan and medical degree from Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. He has authored or co-authored over 100 articles in peer-reviewed journals and has received several awards for scientific work in public health and government service.

Colonel Chester “Trip” Buckenmaier III is the current Director of the Defense and Veterans Center for Integrative Pain Management and Fellowship Director of the Acute Pain Medicine and Regional Anesthesia program at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Washington DC. He is an Associate Professor in Anesthesiology at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences and a Diplomat, with the American Board of Anesthesiology. He attended Catawba College, on a Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) scholarship, graduating with a degree in Biology and Chemistry in 1986. He then attended East Carolina University in Greenville, N.C., receiving a Master in Science in Biology in 1988. In 1992, he graduated from the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Maryland, completing his Anesthesia Residency at Walter Reed. In addition, he completed a one year Fellowship in Regional Anesthesia at Duke University in 2002, resulting in the creation of the only Acute Pain Medicine Fellowship in the American military at Walter Reed. In September 2003, he deployed with the 21st Combat Support Hospital to Balad, Iraq, and demonstrated that the use of advanced regional anesthesia can be accomplished in a forward deployed environment. He performed the first successful continuous peripheral nerve block for pain management in a combat support hospital. In April 2009, he deployed to Camp Bastion, Afghanistan with the British military and ran the first acute pain service in a theatre of war.

Dr. Carr is a Professor at Tufts University School of Medicine and directs its interprofessional program in Pain Research, Education and Policy, the only such program based in a department of public health and community medicine. A clinician and investigator, he has published in pain research, evidence-based medicine, and the social and political aspects of pain relief. He was Founding Editor of IASP’s Pain: Clinical Updates, co-founding editor for pain trials in the Cochrane review group on Pain, Palliative and Supportive Care, and serves on editorial boards of pain-related journals. Key publications include co-editing the first two DHHS clinical practice guidelines on pain; the first monograph on evidence, outcomes and quality of life in pain management; and the latest edition of the authoritative Cousins and Bridenbaugh text on neural blockade and pain medicine. Beyond his work with IASP and the US AHCPR and AHRQ, he has had advisory roles for the American Society of Anesthesiologists, the American Academy of Pain Medicine, the American Pain Society, the Interstitial Cystitis Association, the Phoenix Society for Burn Survivors the Joint Commission, NIH, FDA, and the American Chronic Pain Association. He holds 20 analgesia-related patents. His honors include ASRA’s Bonica Lecture, APS’s Fordyce, Distinguished Service, and Narcessian (Educational Excellence) Awards, AAPM’s Lippe and Founders’ Awards, and two citations from the Secretary of HHS.

Roger Fillingim, PhD, investigates biopsychosocial contributors to individual differences in pain, including sex differences, racial & ethnic disparities, age-related influences and their interactions with both genetic and psychosocial factors.

Robert Kerns, PhD, is a clinical psychologist with broad clinical and health services research interests focused primarily on assessment and management of chronic pain and mental health and substance use disorder co-morbidities.

Michael Pasternak, Ph.D. served as an Officer on the Trigeminal Neuralgia Association for seven years and is the Founding Trustee of the Facial Pain Research Foundation, which funds research primarily to discover genes that predispose to facial pain, and sponsors international meetings on facial pain. He is a former pain patient and now an advocate for advancing pain research. He has a Ph.D. in education from Michigan State University.

Catherine H. Underwood, MBA, CAE has served as Chief Executive Officer of the American Pain Society since 1999. Under her leadership, the organization has become known as one of the most influential pain management professional societies in the United States and its annual scientific meeting and peer-reviewed publication, The Journal of Pain, have been widely praised for strong, cutting-edge scientific content. A strong motivator and strategic thinker, Ms. Underwood is responsible for all APS operations and its annual $3.5 million budget. During her tenure, APS has initiated three grant programs to increase funding for pain research, and instituted the Clinical Centers of Excellence Program which recognizes the importance of multidisciplinary pain treatment programs in the United States. In addition to her responsibilities with APS, Catherine previously served as executive director of the National Association of Neonatal Nurses and Wound, Ostomy Continence Nurses Society. Prior to joining the Association Management Center, which manages operations for APS, NANN and more than 25 other associations, Catherine was executive vice president at the Palliative Care Center of the North Shore from 1998-1999 and vice president at Northshore University Health System Evanston Hospital from 1991 to 1997.

Jan Favero Chambers is president of the National Fibromyalgia & Chronic Association (NFMCPA), a not for profit, 501c3 organization whose mission is to build a united patient and medical community that will execute advocacy programs regarding access to care, scientific research, diagnosis and treatment for people suffering with fibromyalgia and chronic pain.

George Carter suffers with Sickle Beta Zero Thalassemia.  He has been working with various sickle cell organizations for over 40 years.  He serves as a Sickle Cell Disease Patient Consultant for the Food & Drug Administration (FDA).  Currently, he primarily serves as the Administrator (unpaid Executive Director) of Statewide Sickle Cell Chapters of Virginia.

Statewide Sickle Cell Chapters of Virginia, Inc., also known as Sickle Cell Chapters of Virginia, is a non-profit 501(c)(3) tax-exempt community-based organization, that has a network of nine (9) community-based organizations (chapters) that provide a variety of services across the Commonwealth.   

George Carter’s main focus is to advocate for those who suffer from Sickle Cell Disease and distribute information about sickle cell and uplifting messages to patients.  Around 4,000 African Americans in Virginia suffer with Sickle Cell Disease and approximately 155,000 have Sickle Cell Trait.   

Under George Carter’s direction and lobbying, Statewide has received over one million dollars in funding from the State of Virginia since 2008.  The funds help several chapters provide education and assist individuals and families living with Sickle Cell to develop necessary skills and resources to improve their health status, family functioning, and self-sufficiency.

Katherine Hammitt is the Vice President of Medical and Scientific affairs of the  Sjögren’s Syndrome Foundation. Additionally, she directed the international clinical trials consortium; worked with experts to develop and validate classification criteria for Sjögren’s; and oversees the Foundation’s research grants program, medical and scientific advisory board and relationships with government agencies.

Gwenn Herman has been a chronic pain patient for over 23 years. Seventeen years ago she started a non-profit called Pain Connection to offer direct services to people with chronic pain. Pain Connection joined with US Pain Foundation and now Ms. Herman’s role is directing Pain Connection Programs for the US Pain Foundation.