Meet
Our Team

We are a group of community leaders, educators, health practitioners, researchers and people with pain, who are committed to learning together to innovate new solutions for accessible and equitable pain management.

Project Leads

Roni EvansRoni Evans

Roni Evans

University of Minnesota
Researcher, Health Practitioner, Person with Pain

I’m Excited About... learning from our communities and working together to remove the barriers to effective pain care.

More info coming soon!

Brent LeiningerBrent Leininger

Brent Leininger

University of Minnesota
Researcher, Health Practitioner, Person with Pain

I Hope... that this project produces valued and impactful pain self-management programs that are accessible and easily adopted by community organizations.

More info coming soon!

Community Advisory Team

Clarence JonesClarence Jones

Clarence Jones

HUE-MAN Partnership
Community Leader

I'm Excited About... being in a space where we can address issues that matter, which makes me feel like I am making a difference. I had no idea of the impact back and neck pain had on the community.

More info coming soon!

Ronda ChakolisRonda Chakolis

Ronda Chakolis

Independent
Community Leader, Educator, Health Practitioner, Researcher, Person with Pain

I'm Excited About... connecting with my community to discuss pain. I believe our work will serve as a model of respectfully engaging the community in developing mutually beneficial research projects.

More info coming soon!

Merrie BenasuttiMerrie Benasutti

Merrie Benasutti

University of Minnesota
Community Liaison

I'm Excited About... the community-university collaboration and the potential for bringing community leaders together with researchers and educators to co-create solutions for the pain and opioid crisis.

More info coming soon!

Makeda ZuluMakeda Zulu

Makeda Zulu

University of Minnesota Robert J. Jones Urban Research and Outreach-Engagement Center
Community Leader, Person with Pain, Advisor

I Hope... the project will find ways to address pain individually and illuminate ways to give people permission to acknowledge pain.

More info coming soon!

Bruce YangBruce Yang

Bruce Yang

YMCA of the North
Community Leader

I'm Excited About... co-creating community-centered solutions to address pain.

More info coming soon!

Nawal HirsiNawal Hirsi

Nawal Hirsi

M Health Fairview
Community Leader

I’m Excited About... involving communities often underrepresented in research throughout the stages of the study to discover multifaceted approaches that include integrative medicine and cultural practices to healing pain.

More info coming soon!

Carmen RoblesCarmen Robles

Carmen Robles

Conversaciones de Salud
Community Leader

This Project Matters Because... it brings together historically underserved ethnic groups to address health, disparities, equity and inclusion.

More info coming soon!

Jamiela TaylorJamiela Taylor

Jamiela Taylor

NorthPoint Health & Wellness Center
Community Leader

More info coming soon!

More info coming soon!

Leadership Team

Hedy WallsHedy Walls

Hedy Walls

YMCA of the North
Community Leader

I'm Excited About... how important this work is for our communities of color we serve, providing direct access to health and wellness for those that have been living with a life of pain.

More info coming soon!

Diana BurgessDiana Burgess

Diana Burgess

University of Minnesota and Veterans Administration
Researcher

I Hope... this wonderful collaboration of patients, community members, researchers and other stakeholders will break new ground in developing better and more equitable solutions to help people with pain.

More info coming soon!

Gert BronfortGert Bronfort

Gert Bronfort

University of Minnesota
Researcher, Health Practitioner

I'm Excited About... this project's focus on pain care in the community. It represents a positive paradigm shift for managing pain for people who experience health disparity within the often inaccessible and inadequate healthcare system.

More info coming soon!

Linda HansonLinda Hanson

Linda Hanson

University of Minnesota
Educator, Health Practitioner, Researcher, Person with Pain

I Hope... to learn with our community effective ways to reduce barriers and health disparities to increase access to whole person care for all people.

More info coming soon!

Douglas KennedyDouglas Kennedy

Douglas Kennedy

University of Minnesota
Educator, Researcher, Person with Pain

I'm Excited About... working with our community partners to co-create community-based interventions that address pain and can be offered outside of the healthcare system.

More info coming soon!

Craig SchulzCraig Schulz

Craig Schulz

University of Minnesota
Researcher, Health Practitioner

I’m Excited About... partnering with community members not only to translate what’s known about managing chronic pain, but importantly to identify more of what’s not known that may improve support to individuals.

More info coming soon!

Alex HaleyAlex Haley

Alex Haley

University of Minnesota
Educator, Researcher, Person with Pain

I Hope... this project co-creates opportunities for addressing pain in community through a strong community-university partnership that provides long-term benefit for everyone.

More info coming soon!

Robin AustinRobin Austin

Robin Austin

University of Minnesota
Researcher, Health Practitioner

I'm Excited About... working with the community to identify and co-create self-management tools to help ease the burden of chronic pain.

More info coming soon!

Julian WolfsonJulian Wolfson

Julian Wolfson

University of Minnesota
Researcher

I'm Excited About... helping the team make sense of the important data being collected in this study and using data to better understand and improve the lived experience of individuals with back pain.

More info coming soon!

Consultants

Ivette Izea-MartinezIvette Izea-Martinez

Ivette Izea-Martinez

YWCA St. Paul
Community Liaison

This Project Matters Because...the lessons we will learn from this project will have a positive impact and provide options for managing pain where traditional methods of dealing with pain have often not been enough and that's crucial to navigate life and truly flourish.

More info coming soon!

Sam SimmonsSam Simmons

Sam Simmons

Samuel Simmons Consulting
Community Leader, Health Practitioner, Behavioral Consultant, Person with Pain

I Hope... to increase awareness of the harm traditional culturally insensitive approaches to pain management, and research has had on Black, Indigenous, or People of Color. And to identify culturally sensitive trauma-informed strategies to address barriers.

More info coming soon!

Heidi MendenhallHeidi Mendenhall

Heidi Mendenhall

Northwestern Health Sciences University

I'm Excited About... getting to know people in our community and better understanding their pain and wellbeing needs which can then inform healthcare education.

More info coming soon!

Robin HedrickRobin Hedrick

Robin Hedrick

YMCA of the North
Health and Wellbeing Coach

I Hope... this project will help those dealing with chronic pain.   I'm excited for individuals to experience the power of mindfulness and other tools to help them heal.

More info coming soon!

Eric RoseenEric Roseen

Eric Roseen

Boston University and Boston Medical Center
Health Practitioner, Researcher

I Hope... this project will provide insight to improve pain outcomes and care in undeserved communities.

More info coming soon!

Project Staff

Dola GreeneDola Greene

Dola Greene

University of Minnesota
Researcher

I'm excited about... serving my community through the powerful intersection this project provides for community, research, health disparities, and integrative practices that I believe it will foster healing on many different levels.

More info coming soon!

Amy McGarnessAmy McGarness

Amy McGarness

University of Minnesota
Researcher, Person with Pain

I’m Excited About... working in collaboration with community members and organizations to help reduce barriers to accessible and effective pain self-management education in our community.

More info coming soon!

Oliver AngOliver Ang

Oliver Ang

University of Minnesota
Researcher, Educator, Health Practitioner

I'm Excited About... partnering with the community to tackle pain head-on and respond to the needs of those who need it the most.

More info coming soon!

Don Thorpe IIIDon Thorpe III

Don Thorpe III

University of Minnesota
Researcher, Health Practitioner

I'm Excited About... working with community members to create effective, accessible, and sustainable interventions that can be individualized to the unique needs of all people.

More info coming soon!

Blong VangBlong Vang

Blong Vang

University of Minnesota
Researcher, Health Practitioner

I'm Excited About...working with individuals and community organizations to learn about community needs and help spread the word about this work to show people how they can benefit from and participate more in research.

More info coming soon!

Shraddha BikaShraddha Bika

Shraddha Bika

University of Minnesota
Researcher, Health Practitioner

I Hope... this project will increase awareness about techniques that can be used to manage pain and I look forward to the opportunity to serve our community.

More info coming soon!

Lynn WinkelLynn Winkel

Lynn Winkel

University of Minnesota
Researcher, Health Practitioner

I Hope... this project finds more ways to make pain care accessible to all.

More info coming soon!

Erika Rivera-KennedyErika Rivera-Kennedy

Erika Rivera-Kennedy

University of Minnesota
Community Leader

I'm Excited About... this intentional work with diverse groups and am honored to represent the community working with this team; it's fantastic to see how projects like this unify our community.

More info coming soon!

Jake KremerJake Kremer

Jake Kremer

University of Minnesota
Researcher, Health Practitioner

This Project Matters Because... it addresses accessibility to help people who have been underserved for far too long and will help many people in need as we learn and grow from this project.

More info coming soon!

Emma WardEmma Ward

Emma Ward

YMCA of the North, University of Minnesota
Community Leader, Person with Pain

I hope... this project will increase awareness of manage pain approaches and provide direct access to health and wellness for individuals that have been underserved.

More info coming soon!

Former Team Members

Kari DavisKari Davis

Kari Davis

Community Advisor Team
Community Leader

More info coming soon!

Gaye Adams MasseyGaye Adams Massey

Gaye Adams Massey

Leadership Team
Community Leader

More info coming soon!

Aditi Das Aditi Das

Aditi Das

Project Staff
Community Leader

More info coming soon!

Mallory MahaffeyMallory Mahaffey

Mallory Mahaffey

Veterans Administration
Health Practitioner

This Project Matters Because... it recognizes the importance of health care being driven first and foremost by those in the community actually experiencing pain. This is an opportunity to provide interventions that will target those needs and I am very excited to be involved.

More info coming soon!