Meet The Speakers

Keynote Cassandra Macgregor, PT

Cass is a Clinical Specialist Physiotherapist at NHS Lanarkshire Chronic Pain Service, providing input to pain care with the interdisciplinary team, and across different health services. She is undertaking a PhD studentship jointly funded by NHS Lanarkshire and Glasgow Caledonian University. Her PhD research takes a critical perspective on ‘acceptance’ of chronic pain, considering how health inequities impact this experience and using intersectionality as a theoretical framework to develop the research programme. 

Her qualifications include BSc. (Hons) in Physiotherapy from Queen Margaret University College, Edinburgh (2001) and MSc. in Pain Science and Management from Keele University (2014). Cass has worked as a physiotherapist in London, Australia, New Zealand and Scotland, moving from community, musculoskeletal and primary care work, to a focus on chronic pain with NHS Lanarkshire in 2010.

The presentation at San Diego includes PhD research conducted with: Dr Chris Seenan, Prof Emmanuelle Tulle (Glasgow Caledonian University); Claire L Campbell (NHS Fife), Ruth J Barber (Lanarkshire resident), Dr David N. Blane (University of Glasgow) and Dr Jackie Walumbe (University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust).

Twitter: @MacgCass

Cassandra.Macgregor@gcu.ac.uk

Keynote Joletta Belton

Hey there, thanks for reading my bio. I go by Jo. I'm a  reader, writer,.nature lover, snowboarder, and activist, I also live with pain, although I’m living quite well with it at the moment. I got hurt many a moon ago working as a firefighter paramedic. I wasn’t doing anything cool, just stepped off the fire engine awkwardly. It wasn’t much of anything at the time, then became life-altering and world upending. I medically retired from the career that had defined me and started down a path of trying to better understand pain. I’m still on that path.

MyCuppaJo.substack.com is where I muse about pain, epistemic justice, equity, and ethics; everything from my own lived experiences of pain and trauma and struggling to find the right care, to pain research and treatment, to how we think about and treat pain (and people with pain) in the broader world. I'm also a patient partner in pain research, the Patient & Public Partnerships editor at JOSPT, and a fierce advocate for the equitable inclusion of lived expertise in the work of pain.

Keynote Tasha Stanton, Ph.D.

Associate Professor Tasha Stanton is the Osteoarthritis Research Theme Lead for IIMPACT in Health at The University of South Australia, Adelaide. She is a clinical pain neuroscientist, with original training as a physiotherapist. She has a specific interest in chronic pain, pain science education, cortical body representation, and new technologies such as virtual and mediated reality.

Meryl Alappattu, DPT, PhD

Meryl Alappattu, DPT, PhD graduated from the Doctor of Physical Therapy program at the University of Florida (UF) in 2008 and then completed a year-long residency at University of Florida Health in Cancer and Pelvic Health Rehabilitation. Dr. Alappattu completed her PhD in Rehabilitation Science at UF in 2014 and a postdoctoral fellowship at the UF Pain Research and Intervention Center of Excellence (PRICE). She is currently a Research Assistant Professor in the UF Dept. of Physical Therapy. 

Her research is focused on the mechanisms underpinning pelvic pain conditions in women and the prevalence and impact of musculoskeletal pain and sexual dysfunction following gender affirmation surgery. Her work is funded by the National Institutes of Health and the Academy of Orthopedic Physical Therapy.

Dr. Alappattu serves on the Board of Directors for the International Pelvic Pain Society (IPPS) and chairs its Scientific Abstracts Committee and Ethics, Equality, and Professionalism Committee. She also serves as co-chair of the UF Dept of Physical Therapy Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Accessibility Committee.

Felicity Braithwaite, Ph.D.

Dr Felicity Braithwaite is an early-career postdoctoral fellow with the prestigious Body in Mind research group, University of South Australia. She completed her PhD in 2018 and her Bachelor of Physiotherapy (with Honours) in 2014. She is passionate about using rigorous methodology to enhance the quality of clinical research and ultimately, the evidence-base for pain treatments. Her PhD work on improving blinding in clinical trials for complex pain treatments has been highly influential in the pain field. Her research has been presented at >30 national and international conferences and professional events and published in 22 peer-reviewed articles in top-quality journals.

She is currently Lead Coordinator of a multisite clinical trial investigating education and exercise for knee osteoarthritis. In 2020 she was awarded a $150,000 research translation fellowship (Arthritis Foundation of South Australia) to lead her own line of osteoarthritis research, in which she aims to improve the lives of people with chronic pain through strong partnerships with consumers.

Aidan Cashin, Ph.D.

Dr Aidan Cashin is a NHMRC Emerging Leadership Fellow. Aidan worked clinically as an exercise physiologist before completing a PhD in Medicine from the University of New South Wales. He has published his research in leading general medical and speciality journals such as JAMA, BMJ, and Pain and has been recognised for his research including receiving the IASP Ronald Dubner Research Prize and the APS Rising Star Award. Aidan’s current research focuses on investigating the mechanisms of healthcare interventions for optimisation and translation into clinical practice and health policy. Most of his work is applied to the management of chronic musculoskeletal pain conditions.

Aidan also conducts methodological work that aims to improve research transparency and openness. He is a full-time Research Fellow at the Centre for Pain IMPACT, Neuroscience Research Australia and an Associate Lecturer at the School of Health Sciences, The University of New South Wales. 

Robert Coghill, Ph.D.

Dr. Robert C. Coghill is the Director of the Pediatric Pain Research Center and a Professor in the Division of Behavioral Medicine and Clinical Psychology at Cincinnati Children's Hospital.  Dr. Coghill earned his PhD from Virginia Commonwealth University and completed post-doctoral fellowships at the Universitè de Montrèal and the Montreal Neurological Institute, and the National Institutes of Health. He was the 2018 recipient of the Frederick W.L. Kerr medallion for his work in the basic science of pain.

Dr. Coghill’s research interleaves data obtained with functional MRI of brain activity with subjective reports of pain and psychological state. He is highly interested in understanding how the nervous system evaluates and constructs an experience of sensory components of pain, including perceived intensity and location. Dr. Coghill also seeks to develop of better tools for the measurement of multiple dimensions of the pain experience. His laboratory is combining pain assessments, psychological profiles, and neuroimaging endpoints to develop strategies to better predict, diagnose, and treat pain. Together with a highly collaborative group of clinicians and scientists within the Pediatric Pain Research Center at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, he is using these approaches to better understand multiple forms of pediatric chronic pain.  

Dr. Coghill serves as a Councilor for the International Association for the Study of Pain, Section Editor for imaging and measurement for PAIN, and on the National Advisory Council for Complementary and Integrative Health.

Dershnee Devan  

Dershnee is an Occupational Therapist with 23 years of clinical experience and a  special interest in chronic pain.  

She has a master’s degree in the field of HIV and chronic pain. Additionally, she has a  Certificate in Pain Management through the Train Pain Academy and a Postgraduate  Diploma in Interdisciplinary Pain Management. 

She has worked in both the public, academic and private sectors. She has experience  in clinical and vocational rehabilitation specific to the field of chronic pain. She has  served as the secretary and a council member of PainSA (2012-2021). She is the past chairperson of the Occupational Therapy Pain Management Group (2019-2022).  

She owns Pain Coach, a company that specializes in the mentorship of clinicians in the  field of chronic pain management.

Michael Falcon OTD, OTR/L, MHA

Michael is a humanitarian, licensed to practice occupational therapy, and the Capstone Coordinator and Assistant Professor in the Occupational Therapy Doctorate program at Hawaii Pacific University. His expertise in international program development and consultation, facilitated through a global community-based perspective, has allowed him to work with communities in Ecuador, Haiti, and Colombia, present in India and South Africa and currently consulting in New Zealand.

He has the honor of being one of the founding members of GAPPA, the Global Alliance of Partners for Pain Advocacy and currently serves on several Executive committees, Working groups and Task forces with IASP. Michael has lived with chronic pain for over 15 years.

Lauren Heathcote, Ph.D.

Dr. Lauren Heathcote is an Associate Professor of Health Psychology at King’s College London. Her research sits at the interface of pain psychology and medicine, having completed a PhD in Experimental Psychology at the University of Oxford and a 5 year Postdoctoral Fellowship in Pain Medicine at Stanford University School of Medicine. Dr. Heathcote has published over 80 papers on the psychology of pain and symptom perception, including in children and adults living with persistent and post-cancer pain. Dr. Heathcote was the 2023 winner of the Ulf Lindblom Young Investigator Prize for Clinical Pain Science, the Hiroomi Kawano New Investigator Award in Psycho-Oncology, and the Children Young Investigator Award in Child Health.

Michelle Johnson-Jennings, PhD, EdM (Choctaw Nation)

Dr. Johnson-Jennings was unable to speak due to health concerns, please keep her and her loved ones in your thoughts.

Dr. Michelle Johnson-Jennings is a Choctaw Nation tribal member and clinical health psychologist trained in integrated primary care. She currently serves as a University of Washington full professor in the School of Public Health and Social Work and as the International Deputy for the pandemic response, Collaborative Indigenous Engagement Development and Research/CIEDAR, under the COVARR-NET scientific network for the government of Canada. For nearly two decades, Dr. Johnson-Jennings has addressed chronic non-cancer pain, addictions related to opioids, and related chronic diseases among Indigenous communities and others.

Her work includes examining the influence of racial discrimination and pain, as well as developing culturally appropriate assessments. To do so, she has worked with communities, clinics, and providers to co-develop interventions that recognize the influence of historical trauma and life stressors on chronic pain and disease and the need to build healthy interpersonal relationships and narratives of wellbeing. Her work with many international and national Indigenous nations, organizations, and communities has been collaboratively funded by the National Institute of Health, Canada Institute of Health Research and New Zealand Health Research Council funding.

Dr. Johnson-Jennings recently served as the Canada Research Chair for Indigenous Community Engaged Research at the University of Saskatchewan and as the founding Scientific Director for the Wuniska HIV/AIDS Centre and the Research for Indigenous Community Health Center at the University of Minnesota. She was also awarded a U.S. Fulbright Scholarship to research traditional healing and chronic pain decision making in Aotearoa/New Zealand.

Dr. Johnson-Jennings has presented her research at numerous professional conferences held in Italy, the Czech Republic, Australia, New Zealand, Mexico, Canada, and the U.S. Her training includes completing a Biomedical Research Excellence postdoctoral fellowship with the University of Montana on substance use addiction and pain research; as well as obtaining a doctoral degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, a master’s degree from Harvard University, and a BS from the University of Oklahoma.

She further holds a joint/affiliate appointments at the University of Colorado’s School of Public Health, University of Saskatchewan, and the University of Waikato. She is the mother to four amazing children who continually motivate her to create a better future. 

Anna Marie LaChance, Ph.D. 

Dr. Anna Marie LaChance is a chemical engineer and STEM educator with numerous professional and creative projects. Through her teaching work, podcast (Rule 63), social media presence (Substack & TikTok), and local political organizing, she is an advocate for abolitionist engineering education and intersectional transfeminism. 

Anna transitioned at the age of 22 while getting her PhD in Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering at the University of Connecticut. As a graduate student, she has mentored dozens of women and gender-diverse people in STEM, empowering them to bring their “full selves” into their engineering work. She has served as a member of several graduate student organizations and has been widely recognized for her research, teaching, and mentorship, most recently with the 2021 Connecticut Women of Innovation® Award in the Inspiring STEM Equitability category by the Connecticut Technology Council—Anna was the first openly transgender or non-binary person to win in any category in the award’s 17-year history.

Anna is currently working as a Lecturer for the Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.

Name: Dr. Anna Marie LaChance (pronunciation) 

Pronouns: She/Her/Hers 

Personal website: www.ThatAnnaMarie.com 

TikTok, Instagram, & Twitter: @ThatAnnaMarie 

Mastodon: ThatAnnaMarie@mstdn.social 

Newsletter: ThatAnnaMarie.substack.com

Katleho Limakatso, Ph.D.

Dr. Katleho Limakatso (PhD) is a post-doctoral research fellow at Neuroscience Research Australia (NeuRa). He holds a PhD in Anaesthesia, MSc in Pain, PGDip in Interdisciplinary Pain Management, and BSc (Honours) in Physiotherapy. He has a special interest in chronic post-surgical pain syndromes, particularly phantom limb pain in people with amputations. His research combines experimental and clinical methods to develop and test new interventions for managing phantom limb pain. He is recognised as an emerging researcher in phantom limb pain, serving as a regular speaker at national and international conferences.

Melanie Noel, Ph.D., RPsych

Melanie Noel, PhD, RPsych is an Associate Professor of Clinical Psychology at the University of Calgary and a Full Member of the Alberta Children's Hospital Research Institute and the Hotchkiss Brain Institute. She directs the Alberta Children’s Pain Research Lab within the Vi Riddell Pain & Rehabilitation Centre at the Alberta Children’s Hospital in Canada.  

Dr. Noel’s expertise is on children’s memories for pain and co-occurring mental health issues and pediatric chronic pain. She published guiding conceptual models of children’s pain memory development, co-occurring PTSD and chronic pain, and fear-avoidance. In recognition of her contributions to advancing knowledge of the psychological aspects of children’s pain, Dr. Noel received early career awards from the International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP), the Canadian Pain Society, the American Pain Society, the Canadian Psychological Association, and the Society of Pediatric Psychology. She was named Avenue Magazine Calgary’s Top 40 Under 40 (Class of 2017) and a Killam Emerging Research Leader (2020).

Dr. Noel is an advocate for the use of developmentally tailored psychological interventions for pediatric pain management and serves on committees to promote and implement evidence-based interventions within her children’s hospital and beyond. As an evidence lead on the Help Eliminate Pain in Kids and Adults team, Dr. Noel co-authored clinical practice guidelines for pain and fear management for vaccine injections. Many of these recommendations were adopted by the World Health Organization.

Dr. Noel has broad clinical experience spanning both child-clinical (mental health) and pediatric (coping in the context of illness or injury) psychology and is fascinated by the role of parents and family in children's mental and physical health. Particular clinical interests include pediatric acute and chronic pain (cognitive-behavioral and acceptance based therapies), emotion dysregulation (dialectical behavior therapy), and chronic illness. 

Tim Salomons, Ph.D.

Dr. Tim Salomons is an Associate Professor of Clinical Psychology and Director of the Pain, Affect, and Cognition Lab at Queen’s University. His work uses neuroimaging, quantitative sensory testing, and both quantitative and qualitative pain assessments to examine the cognitive and biological mechanisms that make pain salient, and how individual differences in these mechanisms might underlie differences in coping and treatment response.

Peter Stilwell, Ph.D.

Peter Stilwell is a Postdoctoral Researcher at McGill University in the School of Physical and Occupational Therapy. He is the past Ronald Melzack Fellow in Chronic Pain Research at the Alan Edwards Centre for Research on Pain. He also recently held a visiting fellowship in qualitative research at the University of Southern Denmark. Most of his research is focused on the topics of pain, suffering, and person-centred care.

Before completing a PhD in Health in 2020 at Dalhousie University, he obtained an undergraduate Kinesiology degree from the University of Calgary, Doctor of Chiropractic degree from the Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College (CMCC) in Toronto, and a MSc in Rehabilitation Research in Physiotherapy from Dalhousie.

In addition to his research and clinical background, he has been heavily involved in teaching and community-based initiatives, including co-creating and facilitating a free health education and walking program in Nova Scotia that attracted over 1700 members. 

Jackie Walumbe, MSc, BSc, DPhil

Jackie Walumbe, DPhil (Primary Care), MSc (Global Public Health and Policy), MSc (Pain), BSc (Hons) Physiotherapy is an advance practice physiotherapist at University College London Hospitals NHS Trust in London, UK. Jackie works with multidisciplinary teams and is involved in the management of complex pain in an integrated system across specialities as well as primary, community, secondary and tertiary care. Jackie is an independent prescriber and clinical researcher.

She completed her DPhil (PhD) in Primary Health Care at the Nuffield Department of Primary Health Care Sciences, University of Oxford as part of a NIHR/HEE funded Clinical Doctoral Research Fellowship in 2022. Her research focused on understanding how self-management is understood and enacted by people living with chronic pain, and how they are supported in policy and practice using mixed qualitative methods.

Jackie is a Topol Digital Health Fellow alumnus (Cohort 3) where she explored digitally enabled solutions to support people living with chronic pain. She is the co-chair of the Physiotherapy Pain Association.

Timothy Wideman, Ph.D.

Timothy Wideman is a physical therapist and associate professor at McGill University. His research focuses on better understanding and managing pain and suffering. He has published his work in the leading pain and rehabilitation journals and received several national awards for excellence in research and teaching, including a New Investigator Award from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.