Keynote

Frederick Barrett, PhD
Johns Hopkins Medicine

Frederick Barrett is a cognitive neuroscientist with training in behavioral pharmacology. He uses music and pharmacological interventions, along with behavioral measures, computerized testing, and brain imaging techniques, to explore the neural basis of cognition and emotion. His research focuses on the acute and long-term effects of psychedelics on cognition, emotion, and brain function. He received an NIH "R03" grant as Principal Investigator to investigate biological mechanisms underlying the enduring therapeutic effects of psilocybin, the first federally funded research since the 1970s administering a classic psychedelic to people with psychedelic effects as the primary focus. He has also collaborated on studies of the affective components of pain, positive affect analgesia, and cognitive impacts of pain.

Greg Carter, MD, MS
St. Luke's Rehabilitation Institute
Washington State University

Gregory T Carter, MD, MS is the Chief Medical Officer at St Luke's Rehabilitation Institute in Spokane, WA. He is a clinical professor in the Washington State University Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine. His clinical and research interests include the use of cannabis to treat neuromuscular disorders. He co-authored the first paper on the use of cannabis to treat amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. He is a past recipient of the Distinguished Researcher Award from the American Association of Neuromuscular and Electrodiagnostic Medicine, the Best Research Paper Award from the American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, the Excellence in Research Writing Award from the Association of Academic Physiatrists, the Excellence in Clinical Care award from the Muscular Dystrophy Association and the Outstanding Preceptor Award from the University of Washington School of Medicine, MEDEX Northwest program. He has co-authored over 200 peer-reviewed journal articles along with multiple books and book chapters.

Carilyn Ellis, PsyD, MSCP
Salem Health

Carilyn Ellis, PsyD, MSCP, is a clinical psychologist with a postdoctoral masters in clinical psychopharmacology. She currently works in Pain Medicine and Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation for Salem Health, in Salem, OR. Dr. Ellis graduated from George Fox University and completed her internship and residency training with the Department of Veteran's Affairs in pain medicine, oncology, neuropsychological assessment, integrated primary care, and trauma. She has extensive experience working in hospital-based care in rural health settings, as well as outpatient and inpatient psychiatric services.

Dr. Ellis thrives on interdisciplinary collaboration and currently works with physical therapists, social workers, psychiatrists, physicians and pharmacists in the management of chronic pain. She has developed and co-led multiple pain education series and has a passion for working with people with chronic pain and supporting physicians and other professionals who work with chronic pain.

Jeffrey Fudin, PharmD, DAIPM, FCCP, FASHP, FFSMB
Founder, Remitigate LLC and Pharmacist Consulting Services PLLC

Dr. Fudin graduated from Albany College of Pharmacy & Health Sciences with his Bachelors Degree and Pharm.D. He completed an Oncology/Hematology fellowship at SUNY/Upstate Medical Center. He is a Diplomate to the Academy of Integrative Pain Management and a Fellow of both the American College of Clinical Pharmacy and the American Society of Health-system Pharmacists and a Fellow to the Federation of State Medical Boards. He is a founding member and Trustee to The Society of Pain and Palliative Care Pharmacists.

Dr. Fudin is owner and manager of PainDr.com Blog and website, is also Co-Editor-At-Large for Practical Pain Management, Senior Editor for Pain Medicine, and peer reviewer for several professional journals. He has participated in developing practice guidelines for use of opioids in chronic noncancer pain (APS, AAPM collaborative) and participated in national and international guideline development for opioid-induced constipation, urine drug monitoring, arthritis, fibromyalgia, and palliative care.

Dr. Fudin has over 30 years of direct patent care experience in acute and chronic pain management, and as a supervisor within an advanced outpatient interdisciplinary pain clinic where he continues to treat a variety of chronic pain syndromes. He is considered a national expert in pharmacogenetics, forensic pharmacy and toxicology, and advanced pain therapeutics.

He has over 300 publications in peer-reviewed journals and textbooks, and many more publications in the form of blogs, interviews, and other mainstream media. He has participated in several educational films and community outreach forums. He is a Clinical Pharmacy Specialist and Director, PGY-2 Pharmacy Pain Residency Programs, Stratton Veterans Administration Medical Center (WOC) in Albany NY and Chief Executive and Chief Medical Officer for Remitigate of Delmar NY. He also serves on the New York State Board of Medicine Office of Professional Conduct. He is adjunct faculty at Western New England University College of Pharmacy and Albany College of Pharmacy & Health Sciences. He has been an invited speaker on various pain management foci including but not limited to opioids (opioid-induced constipation, rational tapers, pharmacogenetics, morphine equivalents, urine and serum monitoring, legal and ethical issues, opioid safety), and several non-opioid therapeutics topics nationally.

Elaine Huang, MSW, MA
Embodiment of Freedom

Elaine Huang is the spiritual teacher and owner of Embodiment of Freedom (EOF). She has been a meditator for 31 years and holds two Master's Degrees, in social work and clinical psychology from the University of Illinois, Chicago, and the Illinois School of Professional Psychology. She has led nearly 100 meditation intensives in various settings over the last 28 years. Her career in the helping profession began as a psychotherapist in Chicago, IL. While there, Elaine provided counseling for individuals and couples. She also offered short term counseling and meditation classes in several corporate settings such as Harris Trust & Savings, AT&T, and Bank of America.

In 1999, Elaine moved to Bozeman, MT and began a private practice as a spiritual teacher. Since then, she has specialized in guiding people through all phases of spiritual development and has assisted over 1,250 individuals in embodying greater personal and spiritual freedom. Her illuminating meditation retreats and online intensives enhance personal wellness through meditation practice and the enrichment of spiritual awareness. The sincere hope of EOF is that increasing numbers of people experience greater peace in their lives. Elaine is available for private or corporate retreats and on-site training for any size organization. For more information about EOF, please visit www.mayyouawaken.com.

Charles Smith, PhD
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)

Dr. Smith is the Regional Administrator for the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services - Region VIII. Dr. Smith is the former Director of the Colorado Division of Behavioral Health and Deputy Commissioner of Mental Health and Substance Abuse for the State of Colorado. Dr. Smith is a Licensed Psychologist with over 25 years of experience in fields of forensic psychology, addictions, suicide prevention, crisis intervention, behavioral health policy, and administration.

Etienne Vachon-Presseau, PhD
McGill University

Etienne Vachon-Presseau completed his PhD in Psychology at the University of Montreal and a post-doctoral fellowship in physiology at Northwestern University. Now working as an assistant professor in the Faculty of Dentistry and Department of Anesthesiology at McGill University, Vachon-Presseau's research aims at better understanding the brain mechanisms regulating chronic pain. He uses prospective brain imaging to determine which brain mechanisms make individuals vulnerable to transition from subacute to chronic pain or respond to a specific treatment. Vachon-Presseau is trying to understand how factors ranging from stress, inflammation, sex, age, or personality and lifestyle can modify the neural networks that determine how chronic pain and comorbid psychiatric conditions (i.e. anxiety and depression) are experienced by patients.

Breakout Sessions

Levi Bessette
Recovery Advocate, Recovering Addict

Levi is an advocate for people who don’t have a voice. He believes those suffering from addiction deserve to be acknowledged. His goal is to bring awareness about addiction to his community, from ‘the bottom to the top’, from the addicts to the providers.

Levi grew up in Missoula. His early life was full of trauma and disadvantages. After losing his dad, Levi turned to drugs and alcohol. His use quickly escalated to daily abuse. In 2005, he checked himself into treatment. Now his life passion is helping others understand addiction. He speaks locally and nationally, all while working and being a single parent.

Bonnie Bishop, MPH, CHES
University of Montana

Bonnie graduated from the University of Montana’s Public & Community Health Science Program and is a Certified Health Educational Specialist. Her passion for suicide prevention and health equity led her to partner with the Missoula City-County Public Health Department to complete a graduate capstone project where she utilized a community-based participatory research tool called Photovoice. Based on the premise that people are the experts in their own lives, the capstone project empowered participants to take pictures and provide descriptions that document some of the gaps and barriers in our current behavioral health systems. She now works at Western Montana Area Health Education Center and UM's Health & Medicine division as a program manager focusing on interprofessional training and practice.

Chris Caldwell, DO
Montana Spine and Pain Center

Christopher T Caldwell, D.O. has been part of the Montana Spine and Pain Center in Missoula for over a decade. He has long been an advocate for the biopsychosocial model, having studied psychology and pre-med at Wheaton College. This early exposure to the role of the mind, body, and spirit in health informed his medical studies at the founding school of Osteopathic Medicine in Kirksville, MO where he also served as a teaching fellow in clinical anatomy. He completed a surgical internship before his residency training and board certification in Neuromusculoskeletal Medicine & Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine and was awarded Outstanding Resident by the American Osteopathic Association. He left the faculty in the manual medicine department at his alma mater to complete his Anesthesia Pain Medicine fellowship at the University of Iowa under Richard Rosenquist, MD, current Chair of Pain Medicine at the Cleveland Clinic.

He served as President of the Utah Academy of Pain Medicine during his tenure practicing in Park City and was selected for the Montana Medical Association's Physician Leadership Program. He has served as the Pain representative to the Neuroscience Leadership Council for Providence St Joseph Health. He is active as a continuing education lecturer to his peers and serves regularly as a preceptor to health professions students (medical, PA, pharmacy and PT) and family medicine resident physicians.

As a physician who has treated persistent pain for 15 years, Dr. Caldwell has a passion for the patient narrative (and named a daughter Storey because "nothing changes people like the power of narrative"). He is thrilled to have good news in pain treatment (describes himself as "captivated by neuroscience optimism"), but also knows from the trenches how difficult it can be to reach those you are trying to help. He struggles daily with how best to teach into each patient's story. Dr. Caldwell also has a lifetime goal of one country per birthday, born from his exchange student experience in Belgium. These last two traits are what compelled him to join Lorimer Moseley and David Butler on the inaugural Pain Revolution ride from Melbourne to Adelaide in April 2017.

Dean Chrestenson
Providence Health

Dean is a Missoula, Montana native. Dean left Missoula for the U.S. Navy after his high school graduation. Dean was honorably discharged in 1990 and began his law enforcement career in Cheyenne, Wyoming where he worked in several areas of the department.

Dean came back to Montana in 1996 and was hired as the Chief of Police in St. Ignatius, Montana where he worked until 1999 when he was hired by the Missoula Police Department.

Dean retired from the Missoula Police Department after 20 years of service in 2019. His final assignment in the department was 9 years with the High-Intensity Drug Task Force. Dean was also a Task Force Officer with the Drug Enforcement Administration for 5 years.

Dean is now working as the Security Manager for St. Patrick/Providence Hospital in Missoula, Montana, and St. Joseph Medical Center in Polson, Montana. Dean is responsible for a 24/7 security officer team that includes 32 security officers and 10 dispatchers that covers two medical campuses with over 2.2 million square feet of property.

Dean has been in collaboration with a number of community members to promote enforcement of prescription drug-related crimes and the education of community members in the Missoula and surrounding areas for several years concerning prescription drug proper use, proper disposal and proper storage.

Kathy Mangan, MS
Learning Center at Red Willow

Kathy Mangan began her career in holistic healthcare over 25 years ago. Always fascinated by the integrated nature of the body/mind, Kathy has pursued education and training which led to the founding of the Red Willow Center in Missoula. As the founder of this integrated health services center, Kathy has brought together a variety of health care opportunities for those who are interested in this holistic approach. She also serves as the Executive Director for the associated Learning Center at Red Willow which focuses on the use of mind/body modalities in the recovery from traumatic events.

Marina Zaleski
Montana Yoga Therapy

Returning to the Montana Pain Conference, Marina Zaleski is a trusted yoga-based practitioner in Western Montana. She offers effective therapy for chronic pain, anxiety, depression and autoimmune conditions. She founded Montana Yoga Therapy on a bedrock of 28 years of yoga practice, advanced professional training, and clinical work since 2007. Through highly individualized breath-supported practices, her clients experience significant relief with meaningful solutions for symptom management and improving their quality of life.

Ms. Zaleski has created and taught courses for the National Association of Multiple Sclerosis (MT), University of Montana’s Human Health & Performance department, UM’s Mind Body Lab, UM's Men's Basketball Team, Red Willow Learning Center, and The Missoula Veterans Center. She serves as a co-director of The Yoga Fitness Center, where she has taught since 2002. First certified to teach yoga in 2002 (CYT-700) her professional studies continue through the American Viniyoga Institute.

Ms. Zaleski consistently receives collaborative referrals from professionals (PTs, doctors, nurse practitioners, massage therapists, psychologists) and can be contacted through her website, yogamz.com.

MT Pain Conference Medical Director

Marc Mentel, DO
Western Montana Mental Health Center