AAPM members are invited to nominate fellow members for our monthly AAPM Member Focus feature by filling out the form found here. Below is this month’s focus member.
Member Focus: Dr. Kristen MacKenzie — Advancing Education, Innovation, and Best Practices in Pain Medicine
This month, AAPM is proud to spotlight Dr. Kristen
MacKenzie, a clinician, educator, and passionate advocate reshaping how we understand and treat pain in women.
Dr. MacKenzie is a Clinical Assistant Professor in the Department of Anesthesiology, Perioperative, and Pain Medicine at Stanford University, where she specializes in chronic pelvic, abdominal, and peripartum pain. As Co-Director of the Stanford Pelvic Pain Program and part of the Stanford Pelvic Health Center, she works with an all-female clinical team to deliver interdisciplinary, multimodal care rooted in empathy, expertise, and patient-centered innovation.
“Women’s pain has been accepted as inevitable for so long,” she shares. “It’s time to change that.”
Dr. MacKenzie earned her medical degree from UCSF, graduating AOA, and completed both her residency and fellowship at Stanford. Beyond her clinical work, she is deeply engaged in advancing communication in medicine, having completed a Stanford Faculty Medical Humanities Fellowship and serving as Co-Director of the Women’s Sexual Dysfunction Case Conference. She also represents the Pain Division on the Stanford Anesthesia Communications Council and mentors through the Women in Medicine program.
At AAPM, Dr. MacKenzie’s leadership continues to grow. For the 2025–2026 year, she serves as Co-Chair of the Women in Pain Medicine Shared Interest Group and as Chair of the Media & Public Relations Committee, helping amplify the voices and perspectives of pain professionals across disciplines.
When she’s not seeing patients or mentoring the next generation of physicians, Dr. MacKenzie finds joy on the trails around the Bay Area and in the everyday adventures of family life with her husband and two young sons.
Her dedication to equitable, interdisciplinary pain care and her leadership across both clinical and communication spaces make her a powerful force in the field—and a true embodiment of AAPM’s mission. We’re honored to feature Dr. Kristen MacKenzie in this month’s Member Focus.
Nominate a fellow AAPM member who exemplifies our mission to advance multidisciplinary pain care innovation, education, advocacy, and research by completing the nomination form here.
