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.

Allan I. Basbaum, PhD, FRS is professor and chairman of the Department of Anatomy at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). Dr. Basbaum received his BSc from McGill and his PhD from the University of Pennsylvania. His research addresses the molecular mechanisms that underlie the generation of persistent pain after tissue or nerve injury and his laboratory has recently developed cell transplantation approaches to pain management. He has served on the council and as treasurer of the International Association for the Study of Pain, and in 2013 relinquished his position as editor-in-chief of Pain. He is a recipient of the F. W. L. Kerr Memorial Award from the American Pain Society and the Bristol-Myers Squibb Prize for Distinguished Pain Research. He was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, to the Institute of Medicine and is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and of the Royal Society in the UK.

Rami Burstein, PhD is Professor, Department of Anesthesia and Critical Care at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) in Boston, Massachusetts. Dr. Burstein is also Vice Chairman for Research Affairs and Academic Director, Harvard Medical Faculty Physician Comprehensive Headache Center at BIDMC. In addition, Dr. Burstein is Professor of Anesthesia at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Burstein currently is an associate editor for Headache Currents, Journal of Headache and Pain, and Cephalalgia. He received the Javits Neuroscience Merit Award from the National Advisory Neurological Disorders and Stroke Council.

Ricardo Cruciani, MD, PhD, is a physician who specializes in pain management and a researcher who has broad expertise in clinical research on chronic pain. He also has training in basic pharmacological research. He is Chief of Neurology, Director of both the Center for Comprehensive Pain Management and Palliative Care and the Laboratory for Neuromodulation and Plasticity at the Institute for Neuroscience at Capital Health Medical Center, Hopewell, New Jersey. His primary research focus is on the development of new treatment strategies for chronic pain, including pharmacological and complementary approaches, and non-invasive brain stimulation. His clinical speciality is pain management of complex chronic pain conditions and palliative care with a focus on multidimensional approaches to care. He earned a Ph.D. from the University of Buenos Aires and an M.D. from Cornell University. He is board certified in Neurology and Pain Medicine.

William Maixner, DDS, PhD is the Mary Lily Kenan Flagler Bingham Distinguished University Professor and Director of the Center for Neurosensory Disorders in the School of Dentistry at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Dr. Maixner’s research program focuses on identifying the pathophysiological processes that underlie pain perception, persistent pain conditions, and related disorders. His current research focuses on genetic, environmental, biological, and psychological risk factors that contribute to the onset and maintenance of chronic pain conditions. A long term goal of his program is to translate new discoveries into clinical practices that improve the ability to diagnose and treat patients experiencing chronic pain. Dr. Maixner received his BA, DDS, and PhD from the University of Iowa. He recently was awarded the New York College of Dentistry Distinguished Scientist Award and the Wilbert E. Fordyce Clinical Investigator Award from the American Pain Society. Dr. Maixner serves on the editorial board of Pain and the Journal of Pain, and has authored several book chapters.

Judith Paice, PhD, RN, FAAN is Director of the Cancer Pain Program, Division of Hematology-Oncology, at Northwestern University, Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, Illinois. She is also a full member of the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center and Research Professor of Medicine. Dr. Paice has served as President of the American Pain Society and Secretary of the International Association for the Study of Pain. Earlier this year, she received the Distinguished Career Achievement Award from the Hospice and Palliative Nurses Association. Dr. Paice currently is on the editorial board for the Journal of Pain, Clinical Journal of Pain, and Journal of Pain and Symptom Management.

Richard Payne, MD is the Esther Colliflower Professor of Medicine and Divinity at Duke Divinity School, Department of Medicine, Division of Geriatrics at the Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina. He is also the Faculty Director of the Collaborative on Health Care in Aging Populations with Advanced Illness and the John B. Francis Chair in Bioethics at the Center for Bioethics in Kansas City, Missouri. Dr. Payne is a board certified neurologist, with certifications in pain and palliative medicine. He is a past president of the American Pain Society and serves on the editorial boards of several journals, including the Journal of Pain and Symptom Management and Clinical Advances in Hematology and Oncology.

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. Since 1980, 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. The American Pain Society awarded her the 2005 John and Emma Bonica Public Service Award, Presidential Commendation, American Academy of Pain Medicine, 2013 and the Elizabeth Narcessian Award for Outstanding Educational Achievements, from the American Pain Society, 2013. 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. She served as a Consumer Representative for the FDA/CDER Anesthetic and Analgesic Drug Products Advisory Committee (AADPAC) for 2012. Cowan successfully established September as Pain Awareness in 2002 to raise awareness about the need to better understand, asses, and treat pain. More than 80 partner organizations joined the campaign.

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.

Christina Spellman, PhD is Executive Director of The Mayday Fund, a small family foundation dedicated to alleviating the incidence, degree, and consequence of human physical pain. She is responsible for overseeing the program of charitable giving on behalf of the Trustees of the Fund, as well as for the day-to-day administration of the Fund. While at Mayday, Dr. Spellman has become familiar with various disciplines in medicine that address pain and its relief and represents the Fund at professional meetings. Among the goals of the Mayday Fund Trustees is to bring other funders to the table in support of pain programs. The Mayday Fund maintains an interest in the public policy debates surrounding the medical care of pain and supports the Mayday Pain and Society Fellowship, designed to help clinicians communicate more effectively. She received the John and Emma Bonica Public Service Award from the American Pain Society.

Cindy Steinberg is the National Director of Policy and Advocacy at the U.S. Pain Foundation, a member of the Steering Council of the Massachusetts Pain Initiative (MassPI), and Chair of MassPI's Policy Council. Ms. Steinberg is New England Director of the American Chronic Pain Association (ACPA) and Leader of the Boston Area Chapter of the ACPA, which she founded in 2000. She is also a member of the Leadership Advisory Council for the State Pain Policy Advocacy Network, the Advisory Council for the Massachusetts Prescription Monitoring Program, and the Joint Policy Workgroup on Opioid Prescribing established by the Massachusetts Legislature in 2012. In 2009, Ms. Steinberg was awarded the American Pain Foundation's Presidential Medal for outstanding contributions to the field of pain management. Ms. Steinberg was selected as one of six leaders in the field of pain management to receive the prestigious Mayday Pain and Society Fellowship for 2013-2014.

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.