We envision a world in which pain is treated equitably and effectively, so that all people in pain can lead full and productive lives.

Kate Nicholson

FOUNDER + EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

kate@nationalpain.org

Kate Nicholson, JD, is a civil rights attorney and a nationally-recognized expert on the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). She served in the U.S. Department of Justice for 18 years, where she litigated and managed cases, coordinated federal disability policy, and drafted the current ADA regulations. Kate developed intractable pain after a surgical injury left her unable to sit or stand and severely limited in walking for nearly two decades. 

Juan M Hincapie-Castillo

PRESIDENT

juan@nationalpain.org

Juan M. Hincapie-Castillo, PharmD, MS, PhD is an assistant professor of Epidemiology at the Gillings School of Global Public Health at the University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill. He is also a faculty member at the UNC Center of Pharmacoepidemiology and the UNC Injury Prevention Research Center. Recently, he received the 2020 New Investigator Award from the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy and the 2020 Emerging Leader Award from the International Society for Pharmacoepidemiology.

Dawn Gibson

SECRETARY

dawnmgibson@gmail.com

Dawn Gibson entered health advocacy in 2011 and founded the acclaimed twitter chat group, Spoonie Chat, in 2013, growing it into a thriving community of mutual support, friendship, solidarity for patients, and a place for medical students and clinicians curious to hear directly from patients. Dawn lives with Ankylosing Spondylitis.

Julie Reiskin

TREASURER

jreiskin@ccdconline.org

Julie Reiskin, LSCW has been Executive Director of the Colorado Cross-Disability Coalition (CCDC) since 1996. CCDC is the premiere organization in Colorado advocating for disability rights. Its mission is to advocate for social justice for people with all types of disabilities. As a wheelchair user with Multiple Sclerosis, Julie is deeply concerned about the laws limiting access to pain treatment and medication and their disparate impact on members of the disability community.

Lindsay Baran

lindsaybaran@gmail.com

Lindsay Baran, MS is a Research Director at NORC at the University of Chicago in the Health Care Evaluation Department. Her work focuses on health equity, stakeholder engagement, disability accessibility, and program evaluation. Prior to NORC, Lindsay worked for over 15 years in disability policy, advocacy, research, and service provision, most recently as the Policy Director at the National Council on Independent Living (NCIL), a national grassroots disability rights organization. At NCIL, Lindsay worked with policymakers, partner organizations, and stakeholders across the country to coordinate and implement NCIL's legislative and advocacy activities, and she started and co-chaired NCIL’s Chronic Pain/ Opioids Task Force along with NPAC’s Kate Nicholson.

Laura Mills

lauraphylmills@gmail.com

Laura Mills is a human rights researcher and advocate. She previously worked at Human Rights Watch, where she conducted research on the right to health, disability rights, and older person’s rights in the US, Russia, Ukraine, and Central Asia.

In 2018, for Human Rights Watch, she authored a 99-page report, Not Allowed to Be Compassionate: Chronic Pain, the Overdose Crisis, and Unintended Harms in the US, which highlighted the impact of restrictive policies and practices on chronic pain patients.

Ola Ojewumi

oojewumi@gmail.com

Ola Ojewumi is an activist, writer, speaker, and non-profit founder. She is also a double organ transplant (heart and kidney) and cancer survivor. As a result of her health issues, Ola became a wheelchair user who suffers from chronic pain. As an advocate, she has advised the Obama Administration on policies to advance the lives of people living with disabilities, and she has held internships in the White House, with Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic National Committee, and Congressmen Albert R. Wynn’s Congressional Office.