Dr. Angela Mailis-Gagnon was born in Athens, Greece, where she obtained her medical degree. She received specialty training in the field of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, as well as a Master degree from the University of Toronto, Canada. She specializes in Chronic Pain and she is the founder and director of the Comprehensive Pain Program of the Toronto Western Hospital in Toronto, Ontario. She is also a senior investigator with the Krembil Neuroscience Centre and the Toronto Western Research Institute, full Professor in the Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto and Chair of ACTION Ontario. She has published and lectured extensively around the world in the field of Chronic Pain.
Dr. Philip Peng is a pain specialist, researcher and educator in University Health Network and Mount Sinai Hospital. He is the director of Anesthesia Chronic Pain Program in University Health Network and Associate Professor in Anesthesiology in University of Toronto.
Dr Barry J. Sessle is Professor at the University of Toronto Faculty of Dentistry and Faculty of Medicine, a member of the Centre for the Study of Pain, and is the holder of a Canada Research Chair. He is also an elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and member of the Canadian Academy of Science. He is currently President of the Canadian Pain Society, and Past-President of the International Association for the Study of Pain.
Dr. James L. Henry, Scientific Director of the Michael G. DeGroote Institute for Pain Research and Care, and Professor of Psychiatry & Behavioural Neurosciences and of Anesthesia at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario. While at McGill University (1976-2002) Dr. Henry became internationally known for his pioneering discovery that the peptide, substance P, is a regulator of synaptic transmission in pain pathways, opening a new field of research in understanding pain mechanisms. He was Chair of the Department of Physiology and Pharmacology at the University of Western Ontario (2002-2004) and moved to McMaster University in 2005. His research is on mechanisms generating acute and chronic pain using electrophysiological, behavioral and imaging techniques, applied to animal models of neuropathic, osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, cancer and central post-stroke pain, and focuses upon translational research with clinicians on chronic pain in humans.
Dr. Picard is in active clinical practice. He has been a neurologist for almost 25 years. He has a special interest in neuropathic pain. Dr. Picard serves as attending physician at the Wasser Pain Management Centre of the Mount Sinai Hospital at the Spinal Cord Clinic, University Health Network and at the Elkie-Adler Multiple Sclerosis Clinic at Baycrest Hospital.
Ms. Kianda Snaith, RN, MScN, CNS/AP,N graduated from Yale University in 2004 with a MSN/ONP degree. She is a PhD student in the Faculty of Nursing at the University of Toronto. She is an Clinical Nurse Specialist and Advanced Practice Nurse with the Acute Pain Service at St. Michael's Hospital where she provides leadership in pain assessment, management, and education. Kianda is a member of numerous internal and external committees related to pain management. She has presented at national and international conferences related to pain management.
Dr. Judith (Judi) Hunter is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Physical Therapy, a physical therapist, and the Canadian Paraplegic Association Ontario Research Fellow at the Toronto Rehabilitation Institute, where she focuses on chronic pain after spinal cord injury. She is Associate Scientific Staff at Mount Sinai Hospital, Wasser Pain Management Centre and a founding member of the University of Toronto Centre for the Study of Pain. Her research aims to understand individual differences in chronic pain patients after neurological injury to provide targeted, tailored, comprehensive pain management. During her PhD studies, Dr. Hunter received a fellowship from the PFC-CIHR Collaboration, and CIHR Strategic Training Program in Cell Signaling and Mucosal Inflammation fellowship. She was also a multiple recipient of the Clinician-Scientist Award from the UT Centre for the Study of Pain (UTCSP). Dr. Hunter is Chair of the innovative “Interfaculty Pain Curriculum,” which won the Northrop Frye Award for linking research to education and instructs 800 students from six health science faculties at the University of Toronto.
Dr.Tara Jeji is currently the Program Director for Spinal Cord Injury Program at Ontario Neurotrauma Foundation and Adjunct Assistant Professor at Wayne State University, Detroit, Department of PM & R. Tara serves on several service and advocacy boards to facilitate service delivery and enhance community participation and quality of life for individuals with a spinal cord injury. Tara has a personal insight of living with neuropathic pain and works towards developing a co-ordinated neuropathic pain strategy for those suffering with neuropathic pain.
Dr. Jennifer Stinson is an Assistant Professor in the Lawrence S. Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing, at the University of Toronto. She is a Clinician Scientist in Child Health Evaluative Sciences and an Advanced Practice Nurse in the Chronic Pain Program at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto. She helped to develop one of the first multidisciplinary chronic pain programs for children in Canada in 1998. She received her Bachelor’s of Science in Nursing from the University of Western Ontario, Master’s of Science from the University of Toronto, a Post-Master’s Pediatric Nurse Practitioner Certificate from the State University at Sunny Buffalo, and a PhD in Nursing from University of Toronto. Her major clinical research interests are in the area of pain and symptom management and the use of e-health technologies to improve the assessment and management of pain and other symptoms in children with chronic illnesses. She is the current recipient of a Ministry of Health and Long-term Care Career Scientist Award.
ACTION PNP (People with Neuropathic Pain) Members:
Chairperson
David Harlow
Co-Chair PNP
Janice Frampton
Olga Benvenuto-Whitham
Rachel Weisz
Julie Feldman
Maxine Bergman