|
 Expertise |
Education |
Work History |
Career Accomplishments | Consulting Services |
Expert Witness |
Market Research |
 |
|
| Summary of Expertise: |  |
| Expert has expert knowledge of the different classes of abused drugs (including alcohol), both their unique clinical pharmacology and their shared effects on neural reward and memory systems. Specifically, she can speak on the neurochemistry and neurophysiology of brain responses to abused drugs, and has excellent understanding of the relationship between abused drugs and the disease of addiction. She also has good working knowledge of the epidemiological and trend data on the use of abused drugs in this country, and is able to provide in-depth description on which drugs of abuse which Americans are using. She is quite familiar with the federal scheduling of abused illicit drugs, as well as the legal responses to their use. She has been principal investigator on multiple federal and intramural grants evaluating the effects of abused drugs on pain responses in patients opiate and/or cocaine addiction, as well as has studied samples of chronic pain patients abusing prescribed opiate analgesic medications. Her extensive expertise on abused drugs is evident in the fact that she gives the all the lectures on drugs of abuse in the Expert's Firm graduate nursing program, across the pharmacology, pathophysiology, neuropsychiatry and addictive disease courses. | |
| Expert is expert in the clinical pharmacology of all classes of analgesics used for the treatment of pain, including non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), opiates (including all morphine derivatives), and the adjuvant analgesics including antidepressants, anticonvulsants and steroidal formulations. She has a clear understanding of the types of pain (inflammatory; neuropathic; chronic) for which these medications are indicated, as well as the mechanism and quality of analgesia, and the side effects associated with each. Her specific expertise is in the prescription of opiate analgesics, and she has in-depth understanding of the mechanism of action, side effects and adverse events (including overdose and withdrawal) associated with opioid analgesic use. She is quite familiar with the federal scheduling of narcotic analgesics and legal system controls over their use. Her specific expertise is in the responsible and appropriate prescription of opiate analgesics within the context of addiction. | |
| Expert has extensive knowledge of clinical neuroscience, with expertise in the nursing care of stroke, head injury, spinal cord injury, pain, seizure, brain tumor and the neuropsychiatric disorders, including addiction, depression and anxiety disorders. Her understanding of the neuroscience of pain and addiction is unparalleled. Her PhD is in neuroscience nursing, and her knowledge of neuroanatomy, neurochemistry, and neuropharmacology is outstanding. She has practiced neuroscience nursing in ICU, surgical ward and outpatient settings. She teaches neuroscience nursing at a graduate-level in the nursing program at Expert's Firm, in pathophysiology, pharmacology and neuropsychiatry contexts. She is a member of the American Association of Neuroscience Nurses and the Expert's Firm Brain Research Institute, and reviews neuroscience manuscripts for the American Journal of Critical Care, Critical Care Nurse, Research in Nursing and Health, Issues in Mental Health Nursing, Biological Research for Nursing, and Nursing Research. Due to her clear understanding of clinical neuroscience, she is able to distill complex neuropathology concepts into language understandable to all levels of audience. | |
| Expert has been actively engaged in clinical trials of addiction and pain pharmacotherapies for almost 20 years. She has served in various roles on these studies, including research nurse, project director, and principal investigator. She as participated in every aspect of the research process, including grant writing, research design, protocol development, data collection, measurement, data analysis, and manuscript preparation. She has taught nursing research at the undergraduate level, and currently teaches clinical research content in the PhD program at the Expert's Firm School of Nursing. Her understanding of the unique challenges associated with studying in patients in clinical settings, as well as the related issues of informed consent and ethical treatment of human subjects, is quite sophisticated. Most specifically, Expert studies opiate and pain responses in addicts, pain patients and normal controls, and is expert in measuring pain perception and the effects of opiate analgesia (including overdose and withdrawal). She has received independent funding from both intramural and extramural sources, most notably federal grants from the Department of Health and Services, the National Institute on Drug Abuse, and the National Institute of Nursing Research. She reviews clinical trial manuscripts for Biological Research for Nursing and Nursing Research, and the significance of her research has earned her membership in the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the American Academy of Nursing. | |
| Expert is an expert in the field of pain and the clinical use of analgesics for the relief of both acute and chronic pain. Her understanding of the prescription and pharmacology of analgesics is extensive, with specific expertise in the clinical therapeutics of the opiate analgesics. She is an expert in the neuroscience of pain (both physiological and pathological), and in-depth understanding of the mechanism of action, side effects and adverse events associated with opioid analgesic use. She also is familiar the federal scheduling of narcotic analgesics and legal system controls over their use. In her nursing practice, Expert has worked with patients receiving analgesics for the management of pain in both inpatient and outpatient settings since the early ‘80's. She reviews manuscripts for the prestigious Journal of Pain, the Journal of Pain and Symptom Management and PAIN, and is a member of the American Pain Society, the International Association for the Study of Pain, and the American Society of Pain Management Nurses. She also works in addiction settings where patients abusing opiate analgesics seek treatment. Expert gives all lectures on the clinical use of analgesics in the graduate nursing program at Expert's Firm, and to advanced nursing audiences with prescriptive authority. She has unique and unparalleled knowledge of the components of appropriate opiate therapy in the treatment chronic pain so as to monitor for and minimize the emergence of addiction, and is considered a thought leader on the phenomenology of addiction in pain patients on opiate analgesic therapy for chronic pain patients. | |
| Show Secondary and Basic Areas of Expertise | |
| Localities: Expert may consult nationally and internationally, and is also local to the following cities: Los Angeles, California; San Diego, California; Long Beach, California; Santa Ana, California; Anaheim, California; Riverside, California; Bakersfield, California; Glendale, California; Huntington Beach, California; and San Bernardino, California. | |
| Education: |  |
| 1982 | R.N., BSN | Nursing | University of Rochester | Cum Laude, Sigma Theta Tau | ||||
| 1986 | MS | Advanced Practice Nursing | Syracuse University | Magna Cum Laude | ||||
| 1993 | PhD | Neuroscience Nursing | New York University | Magna Cum Laude, Kappa Delta Pi | ||||
| 1994 | Post-doctoral fellow | Addiction Science | University of California, Los Angeles (Expert's Firm) |
| Work History: | |
|
|
(Undisclosed) | Norman Cousins Center of Psychoneuroimmunology | Affiliate Faculty |
|
||||
|
|
Expert's Firm Drug Abuse Research Center | Neuropsychiatric Institute | Faculty Coordinator- Training Program |
|
||||
|
|
Los Angeles Addiction Treatment | Research Center | Research Scientist |
|
||||
|
|
New York University | Division of Nursing | Assistant Research Scientist |
She served as project director on several National Institute on Drug abuse research grants, and provided direct patient care to individuals with opioid addiction
|
||||
|
|
Yale University | School of Nursing | Assistant Clinical Professor |
She oversaw the clinical instruction of nurse practitioner students in the neuroscience specialty, and consulted with the Yale-New Haven Hospital pain team on the analgesic needs of methadone patients. She also served as principal investigator for a research grant from the US Department of Health and Services, Agency for Health Care Policy and Research. |
||||
|
|
Yale University | Department of Psychiatry | Research Nurse Practitioner* |
She served as project director on several National Institute on Drug abuse research grants, and provided direct patient care to individuals with opioid addiction
|
||||
|
|
The Hospital of St. Raphael | Neurosurgery Unit | Staff Nurse |
|
||||
|
|
Upstate Medical Center | Neurosurgical Intensive Care Unit | Staff and Charge Nurse |
|
| Career Accomplishments: | |
|
Associations/Societies American Nurses Association; California Nurses Association; International Nurses Society on Addictions; College on Problems of Drug Dependence (CPDD); American Pain Society; International Association for the Study of Pain; American Society of Pain Management Nurses; American Association for the Advancement of Science; International Association for Pain and Chemical Dependency; American Academy of Nursing |
|
Licenses/Certifications RN California, Connecticut, New York |
|
Professional Appointments Reviewer for 13 scholarly scientific journals; Taskforce Member: Diversion Program Pain Management Task Force, California Board of Registered Nursing; IRB Member: Southern California Research Institute; Member: CPDD Taskforce on Prescription Opioid Abuse; Technical Advisor: First Draft, The Entertainment Industries Council, Inc., in partnership with The National Institute of Drug Abuse and The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Expert Consultant: International Nurses Society on Addictions Taskforce on Treatment of Pain in the Addicted Patient; Advisory Board Member: Last Acts: A National Coalition to Improve Care and Caring Near the End of Life, National Program Office Partnership for Caring, Inc. Consultant: NIDA 1R43DA015617-01A1, “Screening for Addiction Risk in Chronic Opioid Therapy,” Inflexxion Advisory Board Member: Sixth International Conference on Pain and Chemical Dependency Review Committee: Prescription Pain Medication, US Department of Justice Advisory Board: 7th International Conference on Pain and Chemical Dependency Review Committee: Pain Relief in Substance Abusers, Core Curriculum, International Association for the Study of Pain Awards Committee Member: International Nurses Society on Addictions |
|
Awards/Recognition Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing; Young investigator award American Society of Addiction Medicine |
|
Medical/Professional Internships Postdoctoral Fellowship, Expert's Firm Drug Abuse Research Center |
|
Publications and Patents She has 40 publications in refereed scholarly journals, has written 13 book chapters on the clinical interface of addiction and pain |
| Consulting Services: | |
|
Patient started on opioid therapy for treatment of chronic pain; family concerned that he is addicted and blames clinician |
|
Clinician is accused of prescribing opioid analgesics to a patient with addiction |
|
Patient demonstrates "drug-seeking" behaviors in chronic pain treatment; is he addicted? |
|
Patient has chronic pain and addictive disease; what is the appropriate use of opioid analgesics in this situation |
|
Addicted patient on opioid (methadone, buprenorphine, naltrexone) treatment; how is clinical pain best managed? |
|
|
| Expert Witness: | |
|
She has consulted of 4 cases, and provided expert witness deposition on two of these. |
| Market Research: | |
|
|
| Additional Skills and Services: | |
|
Training/Seminars Expert's Firm Neuropsychiatric Nursing Subspecialty Prescriptive Authority for nurse practitioners to furnish Schedule II medications |
|
Other Skills and Services Expert is widely regarded as a scientific expert and thought leader in the field of addiction and pain. |