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.
The AAPM Member Focus nominee for August 2022 is David A. Edwards, M.D., Ph.D.
An active supporter of AAPM since 2014, Dr. Edwards serves as Education and CME Oversight Committee Chair and was a member of the 2022 Annual Meeting Program Committee.
Outside of AAPM, Dr. Edwards serves as an Associate Professor of Anesthesiology and Division Chief of Pain Medicine at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. In this role, he oversees the care of patients in urban and rural specialty clinics that treat cancer pain, chronic pain, operative pain, and substance use disorder.
His research programs include NIH-funded investigations of outcomes after perioperative opioid exposure and trials in drug development of non-opioid options for treatment of pain and opioid use disorder.
Dr. Edwards earned his Ph.D. and obtained his M.D. at the University of Maryland before completing his residency in anesthesiology at the University of Florida and his fellowship in pain medicine at Harvard.
“I was encouraged by my early mentors Patrick Tighe, Rob Hurley, Andre Boezaart, and Padma Gulur. They recommended I obtain the ABMS Pain Medicine fellowship (at the time there was not an ACGME fellowship for acute pain) and get involved in the societies, especially AAPM,” shares Dr. Edwards.
“Through Patrick, Rob, Andre, Padma and then Steve Cohen, Sean Mackey, Mike Kent, Jenn Hah, Dan Carr, and Trip Buckenmaier, I participated with these great colleagues in work on consensus articles, and PROMIS, listened to them present at AAPM and have benefitted from their collaboration with me. Since then, many other members and leaders of AAPM have continued to graciously involve a broad array of specialists.”
He says the diversity of specialty and vision of interdisciplinary care continues to bring him back and keep him involved.
At Vanderbilt Medical School, Dr. Edwards also teaches a course on pain, policy, and addiction where students learn to impact policy.
“I think the most rewarding part of my current practice and focus of my time involves advocacy,” he says. “I spend a great deal of time teaching and training students across the medical school, in our residency and fellowship, and across the United States about pain medicine, and how to properly practice to reduce over reliance on opioids.”
He regularly speaks nationwide on a variety of pain medicine topics and is a co-author of dozens of evidenced-based publications and guidelines.
In addition to his commitment to AAPM, he is president of the Tennessee Pain Society.
To view his full CV, visit his bio page on the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine website.
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.