Emerging Leaders

Project: Telemedicine

Emerging Leaders evaluated the pros/cons of AHS developing a position paper to advocate for broad telemedicine coverage for headache care. They assessed evidence supporting telemedicine in Headache Medicine, identified obstacles to national use, and proposed steps to overcome these obstacles and reinstate national telemedicine availability.

Participants

Karissa Arca, MD – Mayo Clinic Arizona
Allyson Bazarsky, DO, MS – University of Vermont Medical Center
Derek Yuan, MD, MS – UHS Wilson Medical Center –SUNY Upstate Medical University Binghamton Clinical Campus

Mentors

Deborah Friedman and Rissa Villanueva (Resource: Amaal Starling)

Project: AHS Special Interest Sections

The group systematically assessed the AHS Special Interest Sections and their activities for successes as well as challenges, examining the roles of SIS chairs and subsequent leadership activities for those who serve as a SIS Chair, creating a list of modifications AHS should consider.

Participants

Crystal Jicha – UC Irvine
Claire Sandoe, MD, MS – University of Toronto, Women’s College Hospital
Liza Smirnoff, MD – University of Miami Health

Mentors

Catherine Chong

Project: Leadership Tool Kit

A series of digestible learning content trained members on leadership skills. The first part reviewed suggested topics and surveyed key AHS members to fill content gaps. The second part involved suggestions on content format (videos, audio, written pieces, number of speakers, inclusion of PowerPoint).

Participants

Abigail Chua, DO – Geisinger Health Systems
Michelle Clementi, PhD – Children’s Hospital Colorado
Daniel Noam Lax, MD – Montefiore Medical Center

Mentors

Carrie Dougherty, Roderick Spears, Lauren Doyle Strauss, and Nada Hindiyeh

Project: Cluster Headache

Cluster headache is extremely painful, but educational tools are limited. The American Migraine Foundation and American Headache Society aimed to understand the needs of cluster headache patients and their clinicians, identifying tools and resources to increase awareness and improve treatment.

Participants

Vimala Bharadwaj, PhD – Stanford University
Annika Ehrlich, MS, NP – UCSF Headache Center
Lindsay Frerichs, MD – Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis

Mentors

Shivang Joshi, Lawrence Newman, and Amy Wickstrom

Project: AHS Educational Program Assessment

The American Headache Society pivoted to virtual education during the pandemic. As hybrid education continues, the project evaluated optimal delivery methods, considered benchmarking data, tracked outcomes, and measured in-person vs. virtual education impacts. It assessed how virtual initiatives changed clinical approaches and patient care.

Participants

Ashhar Ali, DO – Henry Ford Health System
Chia-Chun Chiang, MD – Mayo Clinic
Abby Metzler, MD – University of Minnesota
Jennifer Hranilovich, MD – Children’s Hospital Colorado

Mentors

Shivang Joshi, MD, Stephanie Nahas, MD

Project: Payer Policy Evaluation

The project evaluated how often payer policies deviated from headache medicine standards and AHS/AAN guidelines. It assessed AHS’s role in engaging with payers, identified best practices from specialty societies, and recommended strategies for AHS to ensure evidence-based policies for optimal patient care.

Participants

Naveen George, DO – University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center
Emily Lane Schlitz Fortenberry, MD – University of Alabama at Birmingham, Department of Neurology
Kaitlin Greene, MD – Oregon Health & Science University

Mentors

Jessica Alaini, MD, FAHS, Susan Hutchinson, MD, FAHS

Project: Headache Journal Reviewer Project

This project aimed to answer: What makes a “good review”? How do we define a “good” review? Once we knew what a good review was, how did we help more reviewers do good reviews more often?

Participants

Olivia Begasse de Dhaem, MD – Stamford Hospital
Lauren Natbony, MD – Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
Jennifer Robblee, MD, MS – Barrow Neurological Institute

Mentors

Amy Gelfand, MD, FAHS, Jason Roberts, PhD and Rashmi Halker Singh, MD, FAHS

Project: Increasing the Reach of the AMF’s MAM Campaign to the Rest of the 40 MIllion with Migraine

The project explored what the American Migraine Foundation could implement as part of its Move Against Migraine campaign to reach those not yet diagnosed and help them navigate the migraine treatment landscape.

Participants

Rashmi Rao, MD – Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center / Children’s Hospital New Orleans
Jaclyn Duvall, MD – Utica Park Clinic Headache Center
Kevin Weber, MD – The Ohio State University Department of Neurolog

Mentors

Thomas Berk, MD and Nim Lalvani

Project: American Migraine Foundation Outreach to Patients with Limited Access or Resources to Health Care

This project aimed to broaden AMF and AHS’s reach and improve the lives of those with this disabling disease. The group identified hard-to-reach populations and evaluated existing AHS or AMF tools to address their needs. If lacking, they developed new tools, programs, and strategies to reach these populations and measure impact.

Participants

Franchesca Fiorito, MD – University of Puerto Rico
Jessica Kiarashi, MD – University of Texas Southwestern
Deena Kuruvilla, MD – Yale School of Medicine
Barbara L. Nye, MD – Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center

Mentors

Cynthia Armand, MD, Shivang Joshi MD, Nim Lalvani

Project: Medical Student Headache Medicine Curriculum

This project provided Emerging Leaders with insights into the structure and barriers of medical education and helped develop a standard of education beyond what had been previously achieved in the field.

Participants

Serena L. Orr, MD – Alberta Children’s Hospital
Anna Pace, MD – Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
Adam S. Sprouse Blum, MD – University of Vermont

Mentors

Noah Rosen, MD and Joseph Safdieh, MD

Project: AMF/ARMR Pediatric Awareness

Leaders worked with mentors to develop a strategic plan targeting pediatric migraine. Children and adolescents shared their stories, forming the backbone of AMF’s Pediatric Public Awareness Campaign, which aimed to raise awareness, promote education, reduce stigma, and increase financial support.

Participants

Meghan Candee, MD, MS – University of Utah
Carrie Dougherty, MD, FAHS – MedStar Georgetown University Hospital
Jessica Gautreaux, MD – Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center – New Orleans

Mentors

Amy Gelfand

Project: Headache Medicine Fellowship Match

Leaders conducted anonymous surveys of past fellows, recent applicants, Fellowship Program Directors, and other neurology subspecialties to identify issues like match violations, dropouts, and applicant frustration. They developed survey tools, distributed surveys, collated results, and presented recommendations at the 2019 AHS Board meeting.

Participants

Cynthia Armand, MD – Montefiore Headache Center
Niushen Zhang, MD – Stanford University
Thomas Berk, MD – NYU School of Medicine

Mentors

Deborah Friedman

Project: Headache Education Curriculum in Neurology Departments

Developed a systematic assessment of headache education in neurology grand rounds. Data served as a marker for its prioritization. Regions lacking representation were targeted for AHS programs and engagement. Created a needs assessment and program decks to raise awareness among residents and other specialties.

Participants

Mark Burish, MD, PhD – Vivian L. Smith Department of Neurosurgery, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, Texas
Zubair Ahmed, MD – Center for Neurological Restoration, Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Cleveland, Ohio

Mentors

Rashmi Halker and Noah Rosen

Project: Pressing Patient Issues

Surveyed patients with migraine/headache disease to identify pressing issues and unanswered questions. Analyzed existing data from over 25,000 patients from the American Migraine Foundation’s Move Against Migraine campaign and other sources. Compiled data to recommend action steps for AHS to develop patient programs and services.

Participants

Sarah K. Gibbons, DO – Baylor Comprehensive Headache Center, Dallas, Texas
Juliana VanderPluym, MD – Department of Neurology, Mayo Clinic Arizona, Phoenix, Arizona

Mentors

Amaal Starling

Project: Online Patient Professional Content

Educated professionals and patients by developing online content about migraine and headache disease. Analyzed available and trending content for the AHS and AMF websites or partnerships. Made recommendations to the AHS Electronic Media Committee and developed needed content.

Participants

Katherine Hamilton, MD – Department of Neurology, Montefiore Headache Center, Bronx, New York
Nada Hindiyeh, MD – Department of Neurology, Division of Headache and Facial Pain, Stanford University, Stanford, California
Angeliki Vgontzas, MD – Brigham and Women’s Faulkner Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts

Mentors

Bert Vargas and Matthew Robbins

Project: Migraine and Media

Conducted a study to analyze how migraine and headache are portrayed in electronic media and social media, including how they are characterized by terminology, expert opinion, stigma, causes, etc.

Participants

A. Laine Green, MD – Dalhousie University, New Halifax Infirmary, Division of Neurology, Halifax, Nova Scotia
Umer Najib, MD – West Virginia University, School of Medicine, Morgantown, West Virginia

Mentors

Matthew Robbins

Project: Membership

Formulated a list of initiatives aimed at enhancing member engagement and retention. These initiatives were reviewed by the board and included outreach to residents and fellows, basic scientists, primary care healthcare professionals (HCPs), and general neurologists.

Participants

Larry Charleston, MD, FAHS – University of Michigan, Department of Neurology, Ann Arbor, Michigan
Rashmi Halker, MD, FAHS – Mayo Clinic, Scottsdale, Arizona

Mentors

Bert Vargas

Project: Journal

Created podcasts, initiated fellow peer review committee activities, reviewed samples of manuscript decisions to identify common problems, and developed a research project analyzing citation data for the journal to identify trends in subject matter.

Participants

Christina Szperka, MD, FAHS – Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Chelsea Hesterman, MD – David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, California

Mentors

Thomas Ward and Jason Roberts