Advancing Practice Across the Military and VA Health Systems

Wednesday, November 12, 2025

1-6 pm CT

The first-ever preconference symposium focusing on our colleagues in military service features U.S. Army, Navy, and Air Force pain management consultants to the surgeons general, the Department of Veterans Affairs’ Anesthesia and Pain Management specialty leaders, speakers from Ukraine, and the rollout of “Neuromodulation Guidelines in Active-Duty Service Members.”

Program Highlights

1-3:15 pm: Pain Syndromes and Treatments

• Sacroiliac Joint Pain Guidelines
• Radiofrequency Ablation for Spinal Pain Syndromes
• Neuromodulation in Active-Duty Service Members
• Updates on Post-Amputee Care
• Preventing the Transition from Acute to Chronic Pain
• Unique Considerations and Their Management in Service Members

3:15-6 pm: Overlap of Pain with Physical and Mental Health

• Intersectionality of Pain and Psychiatric Conditions in War-Related Trauma
• New and Novel Applications of Pain Medications and Procedures
• Integrative Therapies in Veterans
• Opioid Use in Service Members and Veterans
• Transitional Pain Program and Telehealth for Remote Areas
• Postamputation Pain: Observations from the Ukraine-Russian War

6-7 pm: Military and VA Health Systems Reception
     Generously supported by SPR

Faculty

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Timothy Dawson, MD
Mercer Island, WA

Dr. Timothy Dawson is the deputy executive director for the Veterans Health Administration Pain Management Opioid Safety and Prescription Drug Monitoring Program. He is field-based at VA Puget Sound Health Care System in Seattle, WA, where he is the chief of the anesthesia and pain medicine service line. He is also a clinical professor in the anesthesia and pain management division at the University of Washington School of Medicine. He is board certified in anesthesiology, pain medicine, and addiction medicine.

Capt. Diana C. Fu, MD
Yokosuka, Japan

Capt. Diana C. Fu, U.S. Navy, is a staff neurologist and pain medicine physician serving active-duty members in Japan, South Korea, and Diego Garcia. She earned her MD from Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in 2000 and completed a neurology residency at the National Capital Consortium. After a pain management fellowship in San Diego, she became the Navy’s only pain-trained neurologist. She has served in Afghanistan and at multiple military treatment facilities, including as director of the Intrepid Spirit Center at Camp Lejeune, NC. In 2020, she was named the Navy Pain Medicine specialty leader.

Capt. Harold Gelfand, MD, FASA, FASRA
Rockville, MD

Capt. Harold J. Gelfand, MD, FASA, FASRA, U.S. Navy, is the executive director of the Defense and Veterans Center for Integrative Pain Management and associate professor of anesthesiology at the Uniformed Services University in Bethesda, MD. He earned his MD from Eastern Virginia Medical School in Norfolk, trained in anesthesiology at the National Capital Consortium, and completed dual fellowships in regional anesthesia and acute pain medicine and obstetrical anesthesia at Johns Hopkins Medicine in Baltimore, MD. He has served as regimental surgeon with the 12th Marines, deployed with 2nd Medical Battalion in Afghanistan, and held multiple leadership roles in military and academic pain medicine.

Jennifer Lee, MD
Kenmore, WA

Dr. Jennifer Lee has been practicing as a board-certified pain management specialist for the past 13 years in the Pacific Northwest. She has worked in a variety of settings, including community hospital systems, and currently serves as pain section chief for the Puget Sound Veterans Affairs Health Care System in Seattle, WA. Her clinical expertise includes comprehensive pain treatment and advanced interventional pain procedures. Dr. Lee is active in pain medicine societies as an educator and patient advocate and has contributed to research in the field.

Col. Brian McLean, MD
Coronado, CA

Col. Brian McLean, MD, U.S. Army, is an active-duty pain management physician who received his undergraduate training at the United States Military Academy at West Point, NY, and went on to earn his MD at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, MD. After completing an internship at Tripler Army Medical Center in Honolulu, HI, Col. McLean trained in anesthesiology and completed a fellowship in pain management at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, DC. During this time, he also completed the Helms Medical Acupuncture Course.

Col. Jason D. Merrell, MD
Landstuhl, Germany

Col. Jason D. Merrell, MD, U.S. Air Force, is an anesthesiologist and pain medicine specialist with the 86th Medical Squadron at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, Germany. He entered Air Force active duty in 2007 after earning his MD from the Uniformed Services University. Col. Merrell completed an anesthesiology residency at San Antonio Uniformed Services Health Education Consortium and a pain medicine fellowship in 2018. He has served as a Critical Care Air Transport Team physician, deployed multiple times, and currently advises the Air Force Surgeon General as consultant for pain medicine.

Paul Pasquina, MD
Bethesda, MD

Dr. Paul Pasquina is a professor and chair of the department of physical medicine and rehabilitation at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences and the department chief of rehabilitation at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, MD. He is board certified in physical medicine and rehabilitation, electrodiagnostic medicine, and pain medicine.

Capt. Ryan Phillips, MD
San Diego, CA

Capt. Ryan Phillips, MD, U.S. Navy, is a graduate of the University of Kentucky College of Medicine in Lexington. He completed an anesthesiology residency at Naval Medical Center Portsmouth and a pain medicine fellowship at Naval Medical Center San Diego (NMCSD). Capt. Phillips served as the NMCSD pain medicine fellowship program director for four years and currently serves as the Navy pain medicine specialty leader and chief medical officer for Naval Medical Forces Pacific.

Stephen Rodriguez, MD
Bethesda, MD 

Dr. Stephen Rodriguez is a pain medicine physician at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, MD. He is a graduate of the University of California, San Diego, and is board certified in addiction medicine, pain medicine, and psychiatry.

Friedhelm Sandbrink, MD
Bethesda, MD

Dr. Friedhelm Sandbrink is the executive director for the National Pain Management, Opioid Safety, and Prescription Drug Monitoring Program in the Veterans Health Administration in Washington, DC. He also leads the comprehensive interdisciplinary pain management program at the Washington VA Medical Center. Dr. Sandbrink is clinical associate professor of neurology at the Uniformed Services University and clinical associate professor of neurology and rehabilitation medicine at George Washington University.

Nadiya Segin, MD
Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine

Roman Smolynets, MD
Lviv, Ukraine

Dr. Roman Smolynets is an anesthesiologist and intensive care specialist, currently leading the Pain Management Centre at the Municipal Non-Profit Enterprise “Lviv Territorial Medical Union Multidisciplinary Clinical Hospital of Emergency and Intensive Care” since December 2023. His medical career is marked by significant contributions to the field of trauma care, particularly through his work on an observational research study funded by the U.S. Department of Defense, focusing on the Ukraine Trauma Registry Event to enhance comprehensive trauma care.

Thank you to our generous sponsors: