CPS 2020-2021 Board of Directors 

PRESIDENT (2020-2022)

Karen D. Davis, PhD, FCAHS

Dr. Karen Davis is a translational neuroscientist in the field of pain and brain imaging. She is a Full Professor at the University of Toronto, and Head of the Division of Brain, Imaging and Behaviour at the Krembil Brain Institute (Toronto Western Hospital, UHN). She is a founding member of the University of Toronto Centre for the Study of Pain and sits on its executive committee.

Karen pioneered electrophysiological and brain imaging approaches to study mechanisms of pain. Her "dynamic pain connectome" concept (Trends in Neuroscience, 2015) has advanced understanding of individual factors to predict treatment outcomes and develop personalized pain management strategies. She also has worked collaboratively with experts from around the world on pain classifications and most recently to produce a consensus report on pain biomarkers (Nature Reviews Neurology, 2020). She has given over 180 invited lectures, published over 185 papers with 19,000+ citations and an H-index of 73, and has held many leadership positions to advance research and education. She serves on the CIHR INMHA Institute Advisory Board, is a principle investigator of the Canadian Chronic Pain Network SPOR, and held editorial positions at Pain and other journals. She has also served as councillor of the I9nternational Association for the Study of Pain, chaired their fellowships/grants/awards committee, and spearheaded training to foster pain management leaders in developing countries.

Karen has a strong interest in education and knowledge translation and her TED-Ed video "How does your brain respond to pain?" has 2 million views. She is also active in research ethics, created a graduate student oath, was co-editor of the book “Pain Neuroethics and Bioethics” (2018), and chaired the IASP task force on the use brain imaging to diagnosis pain that culminated in published recommendations (Nature Reviews Neurology, 2017). Karen was a Mayday Pain and Society Fellow, was inducted into the Johns Hopkins Society of Scholars and the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences, and her honours include the CPS mentorship award and CPS distinguished career award.

PRESIDENT-ELECT (2020-2022)

John Xavier Pereira MD CM CCFP CIME CEDIR VI

Dr. John Xavier Pereira is the Immediate Past President of the Pain Society of Alberta and was a Founding Co-Chair of the Alberta Pain Strategy. He is a past Ronald Melzack Fellow of the McGill Pain Center and has spoken on the topic of chronic pain both nationally and internationally, including at the Centers for Disease Control, ANZCA Auckland, Massachusetts General Hospital, and the Mayo Clinic. He represented Western Canada on the committee of physicians who wrote our country’s National Guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of fibromyalgia. Dr. John Pereira was the physician lead of FibroFOCUS, an interdisciplinary chronic pain program that won a 2016 Patient Experience Award from the Health Quality Council of Alberta. He is a member of the Canadian Pain Task Force's External Advisory Panel and has personally visited more than fifty pain clinics worldwide to learn best practices.

PAST PRESIDENT (2020-2022)

Fiona Campbell, BSc, MD, FRCA

Dr. Campbell holds the rank of Professor in the Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine at the University of Toronto, and is Medical Director of the Chronic Pain Program in the Department of Anesthesia & Pain Medicine at the Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids). As Co-Director of the SickKids Pain Centre Fiona is one of the SKIP Hub co-leads (Solutions for Kids in Pain – kidsinpain.ca), and is involved in developing strategic initiatives to improve pain outcomes for children. Fiona helped spearhead the SickKids successful application for ChildKind certification in 2014 – the first Canadian Children’s hospital to achieve this status; she is now a member of the ChildKind Certification Committee. Her research interests include: knowledge translation on pain in children and factors influencing the transition from acute to chronic pain. Dr Campbell co-chaired the International Guideline Development Group for Pain in Children with Cancer, and has co-created globally accessible self-management pain apps, interactive pain educational modules, and a pain education website for children and families. She is a Mayday Fellow.

As the inaugural co-chair of the provincial Ontario Chronic Pain Network (Pediatric section) in partnership with Ontario Health, Dr Campbell has helped build capacity in the community by increasing access to pediatric chronic pain clinics, reducing disparities in care, standardizing model of care, and fostering research and education.

Having been appointed by the Federal Minister of Health in 2019 to be Co-chair of the Canadian Pain Task Force, Fiona is an advocate for the implementation of a Canadian National Pain Strategy.

She is a mother of five, rides her bike to work and a competitive tennis player.

@DrFCampbell

TREASURER (2019-2022)

Mojgan Hodaie, MD MSc FRCSC FAANS

Dr. Mojgan Hodaie is staff neurosurgeon at the Toronto Western Hospital, University Health Network, and holds the rank of Professor in the Department of Surgery, University of Toronto. Her subspecialty training and practice is in the field of Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery as well as Gamma Knife Radiosurgery, where she serves as the Surgical co-Director of the Joey and Toby Tanenbaum Family Gamma Knife Centre at the Toronto Western Hospital. Dr. Hodaie’s research focuses primarily on structural MRI imaging in functional neurosurgery, with a special focus in neuropathic pain. She has published key papers focusing on microstructural changes in trigeminal neuralgia, methods of small fiber tractography and structural neuroanatomical changes in the CNS gray and white matter in facial neuropathic pain.

The Hodaie lab’s innovative approach to the study of pain has been recognized with multiyear peer reviewed funding including operating grants from Canadian Institute of Health Research (CIHR) and the Multiple Sclerosis Society. Her teaching awards include the Bernard Langer Surgeon Scientist award by the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Toronto, the Division of Neurosurgery Alan Hudson Faculty teaching award for 2013 and most recently, the Institute of Medical Science Course Director award in 2017. She is and officer, past treasurer and current vice-secretary of the World Society of Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery (WSSFN), as well as Chair of the Scientific Committee for WSSFN meetings in Mumbai 2015 and Berlin 2017.

SECRETARY (2020-2023)

G. Allen Finley, MD FRCPC FAAP

Dr. Allen Finley is a pediatric anesthesiologist who has worked for 30 years in pain research and management. He is Professor of Anesthesia, Pain Management, & Perioperative Medicine at Dalhousie University, and is cross-appointed as Professor of Psychology & Neuroscience. He also holds the inaugural Dr. Stewart Wenning Chair in Pediatric Pain Management at the IWK Health Centre in Halifax and is Director of the Centre for Pediatric Pain Research. He has published over 140 papers in peer-reviewed journals (http://tinyurl.com/gaf-cits) and has lectured widely, with more than 300 invited presentations on six continents. He started the PEDIATRIC-PAIN e-mail discussion list in 1993, bringing together pain researchers and clinicians from over 40 countries. His own research and educational projects have taken him to Jordan, Thailand, China, Brazil, and elsewhere, with a primary focus on pain service development and advocacy for improved pain care for children around the world. To facilitate that, he is co-founder and Board Chair of the ChildKind International Initiative.

From 2016-2020 he served as Treasurer on the Executive of the International Association for the Study of Pain, an exciting opportunity to be part of the promotion of pain science and pain care around the world.

His current research work includes collaborations with colleagues at Dalhousie, U. of Ottawa, and elsewhere, including as co-PI of the CIHR SPOR Chronic Pain Network and SKIP (Solutions for Kids in Pain – kidsinpain.ca) Hub Lead for Atlantic Canada.

SCIENTIFIC PROGRAM COMMITTEE CHAIR (2020-2022)*

Loren Martin, PhD.

Dr. Loren Martin is a neuroscientist and Canada Research Chair in Translational Pain Research at the University of Toronto Mississauga. He received his Ph.D. from the Institute of Medical Science at the University of Toronto in 2009. He continued his training as a postdoctoral fellow at McGill University where his was the inaugural recipient of the Canadian Pain Society postdoctoral fellowship. He joined the faculty at the University of Toronto in 2015, where his research explores how chronic pain changes brain circuitry and aims to identify the circuits that encode pain relief.

Loren has received early career grants from the Canadian Pain Society, American Pain Society and the Ontario Ministry of Innovation. His lab is currently funded by NSERC, American Pain Society, Connaught Institute, CRC and is furnished by a CFI and NSERC RTI award. His work has appeared in top-tier academic journals with over 2500 citations and he currently has an h-index of 22.

*Board Appointed Director

AWARDS & GRANTS COMMITTEE CHAIR (2019-2021)*

Jeffrey S. Mogil, Ph.D

Dr. Jeffrey S. Mogil is currently the E.P. Taylor Professor of Pain Studies and the Canada Research Chair in the Genetics of Pain at McGill University, and the Director of the Alan Edwards Centre for the Study of Pain. Dr. Mogil has made seminal contributions to the field of pain genetics and is the author of many major reviews of the subject, including an edited book, The Genetics of Pain (IASP Press, 2004). He is also a recognized authority in the fields of sex differences in pain and analgesia, and pain testing methods in the laboratory mouse. Dr. Mogil is the author of over 250 journal articles and book chapters since 1992 and has given over 350 invited lectures in that same period. He is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Neal E. Miller New Investigator Award from the Academy of Behavioral Medicine Research, the John C. Liebeskind Early Career Scholar Award from the American Pain Society, the Patrick D. Wall Young Investigator Award from the International Association for the Study of Pain, the Early Career Award from the Canadian Pain Society, the SGV Award from the Swiss Laboratory Animal Science Association, the Frederick W.L. Kerr Basic Science Research Award from the American Pain Society, and the Donald O. Hebb Award from the Canadian Psychological Association. He currently serves as a Councilor at IASP, and was the chair of the Scientific Program Committee of the 13th World Congress on Pain.

*Board Appointed Director

2020-2021 Leadership Team

VICE CHAIR AWARDS & GRANTS PROGRAM COMMITTEE (2019-2021)

Lynn Gauthier, PhD

Dr. Lynn Gauthier is Assistant Professor of Palliative Care in the Department of Family Medicine and Emergency Medicine of the Faculty of Medicine at Laval University. She is also a regular researcher in the oncology axis of the CHU of Quebec-Laval University Research Centre, as well as in the Michel-Sarrazin Research Team in Psychosocial Oncology and Palliative Care (ERMOS). She is also co-director of the Axis 1 of the Quebec Research Network in Palliative and End-of-Life Care (RQSPAL) and a regular member of the Quebec Pain Research Network. She completed her PhD at the School of Kinesiology and Health Sciences at York University in Toronto in 2013 and her postdoctoral at the Princess Margaret Cancer Center in 2016. Her research goals are at the intersection of pain and aging. Her main objective is to improve the assessment and management of pain during adulthood, particularly in the elderly population. Lynn aims to deepen our understanding of pain, its management, as well as to identify ways to improve it in order to reduce patients’ suffering.

VICE CHAIR SCIENTIFIC PROGRAM COMMITTEE  (2020-2022)

Mike Hildebrand, PhD.

Dr. Mike Hildebrand completed his PhD in cellular neuroscience in Terry Snutch’s lab at UBC. Following this, Dr. Hildebrand pursued an industrial R&D fellowship at Zalicus Pharmaceuticals in Vancouver, where he developed a rodent spinal cord recording assay for Zalicus’ preclinical pain research program. To further expand his expertise in spinal pain processing, Dr. Hildebrand then completed a postdoctoral fellowship in Mike Salter’s lab at Sick Kids Hospital in Toronto. Dr. Hildebrand is now leading a translational pain research program as an Associate Professor at Carleton University, where his team is studying both acute and chronic pain processing using animal and human tissue pain models.

Chair, Neuropathic Pain Management Special Interest Group

Anuj Bhatia, MBBS DNB MD PhD Candidate FRCA MNAMS FFPMRCA FIPP FRCPC EDRA CIPS ASRA-PMUC

Dr. Bhatia is an Associate Professor at University of Toronto and Clinical Director, Acute and Chronic Pain Services at Toronto Western Hospital (TWH). He is also the Chair of the Neuropathic Pain SIG of the CPS, Treasurer of the Canadian Neuromodulation Society, and one of five voting members of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons’ Pain Medicine Specialty committee. His clinical and research interests include use of wearable technology and epidemiological tools for assessing outcomes of treatments for pain, fluoroscopy and ultrasound-guided procedures for chronic neuropathic, musculoskeletal, and cancer pain, and neuromodulation. He has published over 50 papers, six book chapters, and co-authored two books on ultrasound-guided interventional pain procedures. Dr. Bhatia a member of the Editorial Board of Anesthesia & Analgesia, the European Journal of Pain, and Pain Medicine. He is also an Examiner for certification examinations of the World Institute of Pain and the American Society of Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine.

Editor-in-Chief, Canadian Journal of Pain 

Joel Katz, PhD

Chair, Interventional Pain Management Special Interest Group

Harsha Shanthanna, MBBS, MD, MSc, PhD, FRCPC (Anesthesiology and Pain), DNB, FIPP, EDRA

Dr. Harsha Shanthanna is an anesthesiologist and chronic pain physician working at St. Joseph’s hospital, Hamilton and an Associate Professor in Anesthesia, at McMaster University. He is also the Associate Chair, Research, Department of Anesthesia, and Research Director for the Pain Residency program at McMaster University. He is the present Chair, Interventional SIG, for the CPS, and has served in this role for the last five years. Harsha’s pain practice includes both interventional and non-interventional approaches, including neurostimulation. His research areas include optimizing perioperative pain, chronic pain management, persisting post-surgical pain, and the use of cannabis for pain. Harsha has been the recipient of many research awards including the Trainee Research Award, Canadian Pain Society (CPS-2011), Carl Koller Memorial Research Grant by American Society of Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine (ASRA- 2016), and the Canadian Anesthesiologists’ Society (CAS) Career Scientist Award-2018. Harsha has published more than 70 peer reviewed publications, one i-book and seven book chapters.

NEWSLETTER EDITOR
(2019-2021)

Sarasa Tohyama

Sarasa completed her Bachelor of Science (Honours) in Psychology at McGill University under the supervision of Dr. Jeffrey Mogil. She is currently a PhD student in Medical Science under the supervision of Dr. Mojgan Hodaie at the University of Toronto. Her research focuses on the utility of brain imaging techniques to advance clinical decision making for chronic pain patients.

Sarasa is a recipient of numerous doctoral scholarships, including the Frederick Banting and Charles Best Canada Graduate Scholarship (CGS-D) from CIHR, Queen Elizabeth II/Purdue Pharma Graduate Scholarship in Science and Technology, University of Toronto Centre for the Study of Pain (UTCSP) Pain Scientist Scholarship, and Ontario Graduate Scholarship.

Co-Chair, Interprofessional Special Interest Group

Timothy Wideman, PhD

Assistant Professor, School of Physical and Occupational Therapy, McGill University

TRAINEE REPRESENTATIVE
(2019-2021)

Co-Chair, Interprofessional Special Interest Group

Kyle Vader, PT, MScPT,
PhD Candidate, Rehabilitation Science

Kyle is a physiotherapist in an interprofessional chronic pain clinic at Kingston Health Sciences Centre, graduate of the Transdisciplinary Understanding and Training on Research-Primary Health Care (TUTOR-PHC) Program through Western University, and PhD student in Rehabilitation Science under the supervision of Dr. Jordan Miller at Queen’s University.

Kyle’s clinical and research interests include musculoskeletal pain, rehabilitation, interprofessional collaboration, primary healthcare, and knowledge translation. Kyle is a current recipient of a Frederick Banting and Charles Best Canada Graduate Scholarship (CGS-D) from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.

Kyle is also actively involved in his community, currently serving on the Communications Executive for the Pain Science Division of the Canadian Physiotherapy Association as well as District President of the Quinte-St. Lawrence District of the Ontario Physiotherapy Association.