Symposium Presenter Bios

Yvette Colón, PhD, ACSW, LMSW – Clinical & Macro, is Associate Professor at Eastern Michigan University School of Social Work. For 30 years, she has provided bilingual (English/Spanish) social work services in a variety of nonprofit settings focused on pain management, oncology, and end-of-life care. She has served on a number of nonprofit boards, including the National Association of Social Workers. She currently serves on the board of The Pain Community, where she also is volunteer Director of Education & Research. As part of a multicultural group private practice, she provides individual psychotherapy to adults, including EMDR for chronic pain.

Dr. Colón holds a master’s degree in clinical social work from Smith College School for Social Work and a Ph.D. in clinical social work from New York University. 

Denise Giambalvo joined the Midwest Business Group on Health in 2018 as Vice President and manages the coordination and marketing of monthly educational programs, social media, newsletters and employer benchmarking surveys. In addition, Denise leads various sponsor and grant-funded projects including the National Employer Initiative on Specialty Drugs and oversees financial related activities and annual audits. Prior to joining MBGH, Denise served as executive director for the Employers’ Health Coalition in Fort Smith, AR, a sister coalition to MBGH. In this role, she was directly involved in contract negotiations for the PBM, Employers’ Choice Rx. Committed to carrying out the Coalition’s mission to “…enhance the general health of the community”, Denise oversaw EHC’s launch of the National Diabetes Prevention Program and negotiated a discounted group rate for employer-sponsored financial well-being programs. Denise has team-collaborated with stakeholders on research and pilot programs including limited-fill, site-of-service, mental and behavioral health, and data analysis. Educational activities have focused on population health management, value-based benefit design, pain management, and analytics. She currently serves on the Management and Implementation Committee for the Institute of Medicine of Chicago. Denise received her master’s degree in human resource management in 2012.

Stephen Gillaspy, PhD, is a licensed pediatric psychologist, clinical scientist, and senior administrator with extensive experience integrating psychological services into larger healthcare systems. Over the course of his career, he has worked at the national and state levels to advance behavioral health services. For example, over the last several years Dr. Gillaspy has served as an APA advisor to the American Medical Association’s Relative Value Update Committee (RUC), which is instrumental in setting reimbursement rates for psychological services. He has also worked with Oklahoma’s Medicaid agency to implement Health & Behavior codes for psychologists and develop policies on the reimbursement of clinical services provided by psychology interns and fellows. Dr. Gillaspy’ s clinical work has primarily focused on the treatment of pediatric obesity, working with children and families to improve both their physical and behavioral health outcomes.

Dr. Gillaspy was a Professor and Director of Pediatric Psychology in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Oklahoma, College of Medicine, and he also worked as the Director of the Oklahoma Tobacco Helpline. Dr. Gillaspy served as President of the Oklahoma Psychological Association (OPA) in 2013 and chaired OPA’s Division for Research, Academics, and Training from 2009 to 2011. He has contributed to five book chapters and authored/co-authored 40 articles published in scientific journals.

Amy Goldstein, MSW, serves as AACIPM’s Director. She founded Healthcare Collaboratives, LLC in 2019 to continue her passion for promoting access to quality, person-centered health care through alliance building and strategic collaboration. Amy was previously the Alliance Development Director for the Academy of Integrative Pain Management (AIPM). In that role, she was responsible for the creation, growth and sustainability of a national state-based and federal network to improve person-centered pain policy. Amy has been in the healthcare field for 25 years, advocating for people living with kidney failure, cancer, chronic pain, substance use disorder, mental health issues, and multiple sclerosis.

Robin Kahn is a Director in Willis Towers Watson’s Chicago office, with over 20 years
of consulting and health care experience across a wide range of roles. Specifically,
Robin has experience in overall strategy development, benefit design, wellbeing
programs and data analyses. She has led complex, comprehensive initiatives across
areas of operations, technology, sales and marketing and employee health.
Before joining Willis Towers Watson, Robin worked in the pharmaceutical industry in
both sales and marketing areas, most recently focused on pharmacy benefit design,
highlighting the linkage among employer sponsored healthcare and employee and
company performance. She has spoken at a number of employer coalition
conferences on this topic. She also has held a leadership position with a corporate
wellness solution provider, working with employers in both the design and
implementation of their comprehensive wellbeing programs. Prior to these roles, Robin
was a management consultant, working in the aerospace, aviation and automotive
industries, with government entities, as well as with consumer and health care
companies.

Her diverse background includes not only partnering with employers to determine the
optimal strategies across several functional areas, but also leading and partnering with
both internal and external teams to thoughtfully plan and execute these strategies and
measure their impact on employer organizations.

Robin holds a B.A. degree in Japanese Language and Culture from the University of
Michigan and has completed MBA coursework at the University of Illinois-Chicago.
She has held a Board of Directors position with the Integrated Benefits Institute and
worked closely with the University of Michigan Center for Value-Based Insurance
Design.

Natalie Middaugh, MPH, CHES, is the Community Health Program Manager at the Kentuckiana Health Collaborative (KHC), a nonprofit multi-stakeholder organization that works to improve the health status and healthcare delivery system in Greater Louisville, Kentucky, and Southern Indiana. In her current role, she is responsible for managing the KHC’s community health initiatives, particularly around mental health, substance use, and health equity. Her responsibilities include the planning and implementation of employer-focused educational programs and the facilitation of stakeholders to plan and problem-solve for the organization’s identified priorities.

Natalie earned her Bachelor of Arts in Public Health from the University of Louisville in 2016. In 2018, she completed her Master in Public Health with a concentration in health promotion and behavioral sciences, also from the University of Louisville. Natalie is a Certified Health Education Specialist (CHES).

Lt. Col. Joseph (Tom) Norris medically retired from the United States Air Force with twenty-three years of management experience in aircraft maintenance, having lived with chronic back, abdominal, and left leg pain for 31 years. He has dedicated his retirement to advocating for people with chronic pain.

Tom is currently participating as a Consultant/Patient Partner in a PCORI study at Cedars-Sinai (communication and chronic pain), as well with a National Institute of Health (NIH) study on the use of Virtual Reality for lower back pain management. He currently serves on the American Psychological Association’s (APA) Guideline Development Panel for the Treatment of Chronic Musculoskeletal Pain in Adults.  Tom has participated multiple times in the evaluation of research applications submitted to the Peer Reviewed Medical Research Program (PRMRP), sponsored by the Department of Defense.

Tom has been facilitating a support group for people with chronic pain for the American Chronic Pain Association (ACPA) for the last 26 years, and also facilitates a telephonic support group for people who are elderly and home bound living with chronic pain under the auspices of WellConnected/Covia Community (formerly Senior Center Without Walls).

His personal experience of living with chronic pain has been featured in various articles and publications, including the National Geographic magazine (January 2020 issue) on chronic pain and SpectrumNews1 articles on “Why Pain Hurts: Understanding Pain and the Brain” and was featured in an interview by National Public Radio (NPR) on life with chronic pain. He is happily married since 1988 and lives in Los Angeles.

Ravi Prasad, PhD, is a psychologist by training and recently joined the University of California, Davis School of Medicine as the director of behavioral health services and clinical professor in the department of anesthesiology and pain medicine. Prior to joining the UC system, Dr. Prasad was an associate chief in the division of pain medicine at Stanford University. During his time at Stanford, he played a critical role in significantly expanding their clinical pain psychology services and served as the program director for the Stanford Comprehensive Interdisciplinary Pain Program, one of only a handful of academic inpatient pain programs in the nation. He established a pain psychology fellowship training program that is now fully accredited by the American Psychological Association and also played an active role in the pain medicine fellowship program. Beyond the realm of pain, Dr. Prasad has a strong interest in clinician wellness: he was the co-director for the Stanford anesthesia resident wellness program and created the pain medicine division’s first wellness program specifically for fellows.

Adam Seidner, MD, MPH, is the Chief Medical Officer for The Hartford insurance, leading strategy and policy across all lines of business with a particular focus on workers’ compensation and disability management. Prior to his current role, Dr. Seidner was Global Medical Director for Travelers Insurance.

He earned a Doctor of Medicine degree from SUNY Health Science Center, a Master’s degree in public health from the University of Connecticut, and an A.B. in Anthropology from Hamilton College. He is also board-certified by the American Board of Preventative Medicine: Occupational and Environmental Medicine and American Board of Family Medicine.

Ruth Q. Wolever, PhD, NBC-HWC, is a Professor of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation at Vanderbilt University Medical Center who serves as the Director of Vanderbilt Health Coaching. Ruth also serves as the Interim Director of the Osher Center for Integrative Medicine at Vanderbilt, which specializes in the integrative treatment of chronic pain. She has a secondary appointment at Vanderbilt University School of Nursing, and an Adjunct Associate Professorship at Meharry Medical College. Ruth is also the Chief Science Officer for eMindful, Inc., is a founding member and was the inaugural President of the National Board for Health and Wellness Coaching. A clinical health psychologist and nationally-board certified health and wellness coach (NBC-HWC), Ruth has over 25 years of experience training and mentoring medical and allied health professionals in behavioral medicine, emotional health and coaching. She also has over 25 years of experience designing, implementing, and evaluating behavior change programs for medical patients and those at risk for chronic disease. Internationally recognized for her expertise on health coaching and mindfulness, Ruth studies health coaching, mindfulness-based approaches to self-regulation and lifestyle change. Her research has been funded by the National Institutes of Health (NCCIH, Office of Women’s Health, NHLBI, NIDCD, and NIDDK), the United States Air Force, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, industry, and philanthropy. Ruth is particularly interested in the intersection of mindfulness, patient empowerment, and inter-professional training in serving patients with chronic conditions.