May 2025 President’s Message

Dear AAPM Member,

Woohoo! What a phenomenal #PainConnect2025!!

As the 41st President, I am honored to lead our Academy and excited for our future. I am proud of our accomplishments in support of our mission: advancing the full spectrum of multidisciplinary pain care, education, research, and advocacy to improve function and quality of life for people in pain.

I would like to highlight our Academy’s notable recent accomplishments and share my deepest gratitude for our members. Thank you for your dedication to our Academy, patients, and field of pain medicine. There is much to be proud of, and so much more for us to do together!

#PainConnect2025: Scholarship and Innovation

Austin was an unforgettable celebration of the scholarship, innovation, and collaboration for our patients with acute and chronic pain. It was truly energizing to see so many of you in person. These were just a few of the moments that have stayed with me:

• Exploring Women’s Pain Across the Lifespan
  Our panel-turned-talk-show on women’s pain—”from girls to grandmas”—brought new energy to an important topic. Drs. Kristen MacKenzie, Tania Di Renna, Olga Kciuk, and Kike Oduba, blended insight, humor, and humanity to tackle disparities and solutions for pain care for women.
• Pushing Boundaries in Cancer Pain
  Sessions led by Drs. David Copenhaver, Amitabh Gulati, Ann Shah, and Nathan Neufeld reminded us of the importance of thinking beyond traditional models and expanding the boundaries of what’s possible in interventional care.
• Celebrating Innovation
  One of my favorite events at our annual meeting, we heard from inspirational innovators on novel pharmacotherapies to neuromodulation technologies to virtual reality systems and AI-guided decision support. Your boldness in reimagining pain care is going to take us somewhere big.
• Inspiring the Next Generation
  After 48+ hours of rapid-fire learning, problem solving, and solutions, our pain hackathon students from The University of Texas at Austin impressed us all. The hackers worked together with patient advocates, physicians, researchers, insurers, entrepreneurs, and more, to captivate us with their drive and vision. The future of pain medicine is bright.
• Music and Connection
  Whether it was the P4Z and the Painkillers debut or the fun night of cowboy boots and karaoke with Sharon Kneebone and so many others, the music was as I like to say, simply soul fulfilling. Not only is what we do for our patients, research, teaching, and community essential, it’s also about sharing these unforgettable connections and memories with all of you which fuels us.

A heartfelt thank you to everyone who brought #PainConnect2025 to new horizons: Sharon Kneebone, Alexandra Moya-Clark, Amitabh Gulati, Meredith Barad, David Copenhaver, Trent Emerick, Josh Parece, Jeremy Adler, Traci Speed, Tim Furnish, Priya Singla, Beth Hogans, Charles Argoff, Marie Hanna, Farshad Ahadian, David Jevotovsky, Salman Hirani, Bryan Mayrsohn, our inspirational speakers, super star annual meeting committee members, and so so many others. Your work makes this epic meeting possible.

I look forward to seeing you March 5–8, 2026, in Salt Lake City at the Grand America Hotel. Thank you Dr. Copenhaver for your vision for #PainConnecto2026. The team is launched for an amazing meeting you don’t want to miss. And as an avid snowboarder and mountaineer, I hope to also see you all on the slopes!

Research: Advancing Knowledge, Guiding Care

#PainConnect2025 marked the launch of an important next milestone: the AAPM Foundation’s newest guideline on Neural Interface Technologies for Restoring Neuromuscular Function and Improving Pain. Under the leadership of Drs. Trent Emerick and Joel Castellanos, our multidisciplinary expert panel is working to define the future of patient access to restorative function technologies.

We are also proud to be collaborating with Oregon Health Sciences University on the Acute Low Back Pain Clinical Guideline. With the systematic review completed, the Guideline Development Group, co-chaired by Dr. Jessica Oswald, finalized recommendations during #PainConnect. AAPM will now focus on creating and distributing education and tools to support clinicians who treat patients every day. Thank you to all involved in this effort. Your commitment to research that is inclusive, interdisciplinary, practical, and impactful will be essential to increasing patient access to back pain care.

Advocacy: Standing for Science, Standing with our Patients

In a recent Pain Medicine commentary, AAPM leaders outlined our collective concerns about the flawed BMJ network meta-analysis on interventional spine procedures. The study’s oversimplified conclusions risk limiting access to effective, patient-centered care.

As our authors wrote: “Pain medicine requires a nuanced, individualized approach that cannot be adequately captured by a flawed, overgeneralized meta-analysis and guideline.”

We are committed to defending the integrity of our field—and most importantly, advocating for the needs of patients who deserve access to comprehensive pain care. This includes calling for greater funding for research, more inclusive trials, and collaboration to advance our field. Thank you Drs. Nathaniel Schuster, Mustafa Broachwala, Farshad Ahadian, Charles Argoff, Steven Cohen, Shravani Durbhakula, Amitabh Gulati, Robert Hurley, Lynn Kohan, Zachary McCormick, and Sayed Wahezi for leading this critical response.

Thank You

Dr. Farshad Ahadian, thank you for your extraordinary service and wisdom as Immediate Past President. Dr. Charles Argoff, I am grateful for your inspirations, tireless dedication to AAPM, and friendship over this past year as our President. Congratulations to Dr. Marie Hanna on your new role! I’m excited for the work ahead.

And my greatest thanks are to all of you, our members, committees, AAPM foundation, journal and editors, administrative team, and Board of Directors. I joined AAPM as a Pain Medicine fellow many years ago because of the amazing people who are a part of this organization. Thank YOU.

Serving as the Academy’s first woman president is a huge honor. I am proud to represent our members and our mission. I want to hear from you. How can AAPM best support you, your work, and your patients?

2025 has been a challenging year in the United States and with many unknowns. Let’s continue to build an Academy that reflects our shared passions, strengthens our practice, and uplifts every patient we care for. Here’s to the future!