Who we are

Dr. Hance Clarke is the Director of Pain Services, the GoodHope Ehlers Danlos Clinic and the Pain Research Unit at the Toronto General Hospital. He is the Knowledge Translation Chair for the University of Toronto Centre for the Study of Pain and an Associate Professor in the Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine at the University of Toronto and holds the GoodHope Ehlers Danlos Chair in Translational Medicine. He has authored over 190 peer reviewed publications and has been invited to speak on pain control, cannabis and the opioid crisis to the House of Commons in Ottawa, Canada and elsewhere around the world. He is currently the president of the Canadian Pain Society and the president of the Canadian Consortium for the Investigation of Cannabinoids.

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Dr. Elena Lopatina is a health services and policy researcher, whose embedded research program focuses on the design, implementation, and evaluation of the Alberta Virtual Pain Program and shaping the learning health system for chronic pain management in Alberta. She is a Senior Scientist with the Alberta Virtual Pain Program and Alberta Pain Strategy at Alberta Health Services and an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Department of Community Health Sciences, Cumming School of Medicine at the University of Calgary. She is also a Co-Chair of the Alberta Pain Strategy’s Steering Committee and is involved in various initiatives advocating for evidence-based improvements in pain management in Alberta and across Canada.

Annette Guillemette is a Senior Program Consultant with the Contract Management Unit, Physician Relations and Contact Oversight Branch, Physician and Provider Services Division, Ministry of Health, Ontario. Her responsibilities include contract management and development for several publicly funded programs including the Chronic Pain program. In previous positions she has worked as a manager or director in community organizations and with federal government, in volunteer support, mental health, public health, and military family support. She completed an undergrad degree at Queens University in Psychology and then returned to Queen’s as an adult to complete a Master’s of Public Administration mid-career.

In her spare time, she is a busy grandma who goes on adventures with four grandchildren and four grand puppies. She is an artist by hobby, and enjoys reading, walking and doing yoga.

Lucie Beauregard is an advisor for the Chronic Pain Continuum at the Ministry of Health and Social Services. In the past, she has also worked as an advisor in Performance Improvement at the CIUSSS, and as a coordinator in Security and Confidentiality at the CUSM after many having spent a decade working as a clinical nurse specialist in the Chronic Pain field. Lucie has a Master's Degree in biomedical sciences from Université de Montréal and a DESS in process performance improvement for health and social services from HEC in Montreal.

Teara Freake is the vice president and chief operating officer for Western zone. Over 25 years, she has held various progressive leadership positions at the Western Regional Health Authority. Since 2018, she has held executive positions including vice president clinical – patient services and, more recently, vice president – corporate services. She has also held various director positions including senior director of new facility planning, director of patient services – medicine, and regional director of rehabilitation.

Teara began her career as a registered dietitian with the former Central West Health Care Institutions Board and has worked with the former Avalon Health Care Institutions Board before relocating to the West Coast to continue her clinical experience. She moved into management as regional manager of nutrition services, a position she held for eight years.

Teara holds a Bachelor of Science and Master of Business Administration in Health Care Management and has completed her Certified Health Executive (CHE) designation through the Canadian College of Health Leaders. Teara has led many initiatives to improve health care delivery within the western region and has a strong commitment to patient and family-centred care.

Kris Juck is currently serving as the Executive Director for Pain Care BC and Cystic Fibrosis Care BC in PHSA.  She started this role in April 2023.  Before coming to this role, she was with the Fraser Health Authority where she served as the Director, Clinical Operations at Royal Columbian Hospital (emergency, trauma and neurosciences). Within her 10 years at Fraser Health, she led multiple programs at multiple tertiary and community sites in the areas of emergency, surgery, critical care and regional rehabilitation programs.  Prior to Fraser Health, Kris worked in progressively senior leadership roles at BC Children’s and BC Women’s Hospitals and has set up grassroots programs in pediatric, surgical and complex pain care spaces. Kris has a clinical doctorate in Audiology and a Masters of Clinical Science degree.  In addition to her past clinical and operational roles, she understands the importance of research and academia.  She is a strong collaborator and strongly believes in the importance of enhancing existing services and growing them to meet the needs of the patients they serve. Kris has leveraged her background as a clinician and her track record as a strong operational leader to move very large projects forward and is using these skills to foster better pain care in BC.  She is passionate about supporting patients to get they care they need, when they need it and by the right people.  Right patient, right place, right time! Outside of work, Kris can be found supporting her 3 kids in their aspirations with hockey, rowing and volleyball.

Dr. Chawla is a physiatrist and pain medicine specialist. He is the co-founder of Canadian Pain & Regenerative Institute and holds cross appointments in the Division of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation and Department of Anesthesia for the Pain Clinic at the Jim Pattison Outpatient Care and Surgery Centre, Surrey Memorial Hospital, and the Transitional Pain Clinic at Vancouver General Hospital. He teaches as faculty at the University of British Columbia as Clinical Assistant Professor and is a member of the Pain Medicine Subspecialty Committee at the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada. He joined the Board of Directors at Pain BC to advocate for people living with chronic pain and facilitate systems level change for pain services.

Desmond Williams is a community healer and TRE practitioner, stand-up comedian and writer whose work is grounded in the culture, music, dancing, laughter and storytelling of his upbringing with the traditions of the Nlaka’Pamux First Nations and St. Vincent & the Grenadines. Desmond’s work explores healing practices for People of the Global Majority, and how to foster the care and support needed to explore the depth of living this existence safely and effectively with others.

Keith has lived with persistent neuropathic pain for over 35 years following a near-fatal car accident. After years of health care system dismissiveness and stigmatization, Keith began to focus on pain advocacy. Over the last ten years, his advocacy work involved being a founding member of the International Association for the Study of Pain’s Global Alliance of Partners for Pain Advocacy, past Vice-Chair for Pain BC, international pain education conference presenter, university guest lecturer, and is an active and published researcher. Keith maintains a Facebook blog, A Path Forward, where he writes about his experiences.

Dr. Kathryn (Katie) Birnie, PhD RPsych is a Clinical Psychologist and Assistant Professor in the Departments of Anesthesiology, Perioperative, and Pain Medicine, and Community Health Sciences at the University of Calgary where she leads the Partnering For Pain program. She is the Associate Scientific Director of Solutions for Kids in Pain (SKIP), a Canadian knowledge mobilization network working to improve evidence-based children’s pain management through coordination and collaboration. Dr. Birnie has trained and worked as a psychologist at the IWK Health Centre, SickKids, and the Alberta Children’s Hospital, where she continues to provide clinical care.

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Dr. Susan Tupper is the Manager of Professional Practice for Pain Strategy and Research with the Saskatchewan Health Authority. She is a licensed physical therapist with a PhD in Community Health and Epidemiology and a post-doctoral fellowship in Pediatrics. Susan’s role with the health authority includes applied research, clinical standard writing, pathway development, and education for healthcare providers, trainees, and the public. Her research involves patient oriented and community-based participatory action approaches to improve pain management in the province. Susan is chair of the Board of Directors of the Saskatchewan Pain Society, SaskPain, a non-profit organization that aims to improve the lives of those living with pain in Saskatchewan.  

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Dr. Jaris Swidrovich (he/him) is an Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream, in the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy at the University of Toronto. He is a queer, Two Spirit, Saulteaux First Nations and Ukrainian man and pharmacist from Yellow Quill First Nation. Dr. Swidrovich is the first and only self-identified Indigenous faculty member in pharmacy in Canada. Within the pain space, he was a member of the Canadian Pain Task Force, is a member of the Board of Directors for SKiP (Solutions for Kids in Pain), and has served as an instructor and an Indigenous and equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) advisor for the University of Toronto Interfaculty Pain Curriculum. His areas of research and practice include pain, HIV/AIDS, substance use disorders, 2SLGBTQ+ health, Indigenous Peoples' health, and more.

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Natasha Trehan is a student at the University of Ottawa in Biomedical Science in the French Immersion Stream. She is interested in pursuing a career in the healthcare field. Natasha is the founder and host of the podcast and non-profit Take a Pain Check, a platform aimed to empower youth and young adults impacted by rheumatic diseases to advocate for themselves and to create a supportive, safe, and inclusive community where individuals feel understood. Natasha is also a trained patient researcher through the PaCER Training Program at the University of Calgary Continuing Education and a Co-investigator for Youth Engagement at CanChild Centre for Childhood Disability Research. She is excited to be on the Advisory Committee at Pain Canada and is looking forward to making an impact nationally.

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Dr. Abhimanyu Sud is an Assistant Professor at the Temerty Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto and Research Chair, Primary Care and Population Health Systems at Humber River Hospital. His research, education, and implementation projects focus primarily on the intersection of chronic pain, mental health and opioid use. He is a national leader in pain and opioid prescribing education focused on designing, delivering, and evaluating education to achieve population health improvement for people living with pain and for people who use opioids.

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Dr. Deepa Kattail is a pediatric anesthesiologist and pain physician at The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) as well as an associate professor at the Temerty Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto.  She is  involved in various organizations advocating for improvement in pediatric pain management.  She is currently co-chair (pediatric) of the Ontario Chronic Pain Network, inaugural founding board member of newly launched non-profit organization Pain Ontario, and board director and chair of communications for The Society for Pediatric Pain Medicine.

Dr. Norm Buckley is a Professor Emeritus in the Department of Anesthesia at McMaster University. Dr. Buckley’s interests are pain, both acute and chronic. He led the development of the acute post-operative pain service for adult and pediatric patients, the pediatric sedation services, and was the Director of the Pain Management Centre at the Hamilton General Hospital from its opening in 2000 until 2014. He founded the Michael G DeGroote National Pain Centre dedicated to best practice pain care. He is the Nominated Principal Investigator for the CIHR-SPOR Chronic Pain Network and is also the Scientific Director of the Centre of Excellence for Chronic Pain in Veterans.

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A researcher in the pain field since 2006, Dr. Hélène Beaudry is currently the Executive Director of the Quebec Pain Research Network. Dr. Beaudry received her training as a postdoctoral fellow at Columbia University and McGill University where she developed an expertise on opioid pharmacology and optogenetics and was appointed in 2019 as an Adjunct Professor at Université de Montréal. As the QPRN Executive Director, she is involved in putting together teams of Quebec researchers to increase the cohesion and complementarity of actions.

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Alice is a member of the Association Québécoise de Douleur Chronique (AQDC) since 2018. She served as a facilitator for peer support groups starting in 2019, and joined the board of members in 2020. In June 2023, Alice was appointed as one of the Vice-President of AQDC.

In addition to her advocacy work within AQDC, Alice is currently a Ph.D. candidate in Biomedical Sciences. Her research focuses on pain neurophysiology, and she is a lecturer of neurophysiology at Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières since 2018.

Alice is driven by a deep-seated commitment to making scientific knowledge accessible to the broader public.

Dr. Joshua Rash is an Assistant Professor in the Dept. of Psychology at Memorial University of Newfoundland, Director of the Memorial University of Newfoundland – Behavioural Medicine Centre (MUN-BMC), and Senior Research Fellow at the Duke University Center for Health Policy and Inequalities Research (CHPIR). He is a clinical, health and rehabilitation psychologist with expertise in behavioural medicine, health behaviour change, chronic disease management, and cardiovascular psychophysiology. He has had the privilege of working with provincial governments and not for profit organizations (e.g., Salvation Army) and mentorship networks (e.g., Atlantic Mentorship Network – Pain & Addictions; AMN-P&A) to transform healthcare delivery.

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Virginia McIntyre is the President and Executive Director of People in Pain Network (PIPN). She developed persistent pain in 2009 after a shoulder surgery. She holds a BA in community studies, a diploma in Radiological and Magnetic Resonance Imaging, and completed multiple courses in leadership development. She works extensively as pain advocate and lived experience partner on research projects, committees, and other pain related initiatives. She is an internationally known public presenter focusing on pain-related topics with a committed diligence to increase awareness on chronic pain and the value of peer support.

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