Tonya Hershman, PharmD
Clinical Pharmacist
Dr. Tonya (Smith) Hershman is a clinical pharmacist in the Supportive and Palliative Care Clinic at Emory Healthcare. She graduated from the Medical University of South Carolina College of Pharmacy and completed residency training at the University of Utah Health. She worked on the inpatient oncology service and outpatient Supportive Oncology and Survivorship Clinic at the Huntsman Cancer Hospital before moving to Emory.
Christopher Spevak, MD, MPH, JD
Christopher Spevak, MD, MPH, JD, is a Medical Officer at Walter Reed National Military Center where he serves as the Pain Management Fellowship Program Director, the Director of the National Capital Region’s Opioid Safety Program, NCR Pain Initiative and Wounded Warrior Pain Care Initiative. He is a Professor of Clinical Anesthesiology at Georgetown University School of Medicine where he directs courses on Physician Professional Identity, Pain and Opioids. Dr. Spevak is the DoD chair of the VA/DoD Opioid Clinical Practice Guideline, Headache Clinical Practice Guideline, Sleep Disorder Clinical Practice Guideline. He advises and assists with the development of policies for clinical practice guideline implementation, safe opioid prescribing, prevention of opioid abuse and diversion, treatment of substance use disorder, and other related programs for Military Health System beneficiaries. He received his medical degree from the Northeast Ohio Medical University and trained at the Cleveland Clinic and University of Pittsburgh Hospitals. Dr. Spevak received a Master of Public Health degree in Health Management and Policy from the University of Michigan School of Public Health, and Law degree from Catholic University of America. He is a member of numerous medical and legal associations having served as the 143rd President of the Medical Society of the District of Columbia.
Nicole Cornish, PharmD
Nicole Cornish, PharmD, is a Clinical Pharmacist at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center (WRNMMC) and provides Medication Therapy Management within the National Capital Region Pain Initiative’s Tele-Pain Program. She also serves as the WRNMMC’s Sole Provider Program Coordinator, improving patient safety by monitoring, identifying, and preventing overuse and abuse of controlled substances. She received her Doctor of Pharmacy degree from Duquesne University. She has 7 years of experience specializing in compounded pain medications. She has published abstracts and scientific posters for the Academy for Professionalism in Healthcare, the Annual Regional Anesthesiology and Acute Pain Medicine Meeting, the Annual American Academy of Pain Medicine Meeting, and the Eastern States Residency Conference. She also has published work in the Allegany Counter Medical Society Bulletin and the Journal of Pharmacy Technology.
Amanda McFee Winans, PharmD, BCPS, CACP
Clinical Pharmacy Specialist
Bassett Medical Center, Cooperstown, NY
Dr. Winans earned her PharmD from Albany College of Pharmacy in Albany, NY, and completed postgraduate residency training with an emphasis in Pain and Palliative Care at Bassett Medical Center in Cooperstown, New York. She holds Board Certification as a Pharmacotherapy Specialist. Post-residency, Dr. Winans became a credentialed member of the Senior Medical Staff at Bassett Medical Center, where she currently serves as the senior Clinical Pharmacy Specialist and Clinical Pharmacy Supervisor. She continues to lead and support pain management initiatives for the Bassett Network. She is the resident subject matter expert in opioid safety and stewardship, as well as medications for opioid use disorder. Dr. Winans holds adjunct faculty appointments with multiple Colleges of Pharmacy. She has authored and contributed to numerous peer-reviewed manuscripts on perioperative buprenorphine management and pain and symptom management. Dr. Winans had previously served as Chair and Secretary/Treasurer of the Pain and Palliative Care Practice and Research Network of the American College of Clinical Pharmacy and President of the New York State Chapter of the American College of Clinical Pharmacy. Research and practice interests include perioperative management of medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD) and opioid safety/risk mitigation.
Marcin Chwistek, MD, FAAHPM
Marcin Chwistek, MD, FAAHPM, is a Professor of Hematology and Oncology at Fox Chase Cancer Center/Temple University Health System, directing the Supportive Oncology and Palliative Medicine Program. He’s an Associate Editor for the Journal of Pain and Symptom Management. He completed his fellowship at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in pain and palliative medicine. Board-certified in internal medicine, pain medicine, and hospice/palliative medicine, Dr. Chwistek joined Fox Chase in 2006. He’s been named a Castle Connolly “Top Doctor” in Pain Medicine since 2012 and received the American Cancer Society’s Cancer Control Award in 2019. He is a member of the International Association for the Study of Pain and American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine. His interests include cancer pain management (particularly the role of buprenorphine), goal-concordant care, patient-physician communication, and supportive cancer care.
Tanya Uritsky, PharmD, BCPP
Dr. Uritsky is the Opioid Stewardship Coordinator at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (HUP). She completed post-graduate training in pain management and palliative care and was a founding member of the HUP Palliative Care Service. She is Co-Chair of Penn Medicine’s Opioid Task Force and Past-President of the Society of Pain and Palliative Care Pharmacists. Dr. Uritsky also consults with care teams on patients with complex pain and speaks nationally and internationally. She was awarded 2015 PAINWeek Palliative Care Practitioner of the Year, the 2020 PSHP Joe E. Smith Award and the 2023 PSHP Innovative and Collaborative Practice Award.
Emily Casey, PharmD, Clinical Pharmacy Specialist in Pain Management and Substance Use Disorders at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania
Emily Casey, PharmD, is a Clinical Pharmacy Specialist in Pain Management and Substance Use Disorders at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. She completed her PGY-2 pharmacy residency in Pain Management and Palliative care at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania in 2023 and her PGY-1 general pharmacy residency at Penn Presbyterian Medical Center in 2022. She graduated from the Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy at Rutgers University in 2021. Professionally, she is interested in opioid stewardship, managing opioid withdrawal, and caring for patients with substance use disorders.
Francine R Vega, MS, CCC-SLP, Center for Behavioral Emergency & Addiction Research, UTHealth Houston
Francine Vega, MS, CCC-SLP, is a Speech-Language Pathologist in Sugar Land, TX.
Christine Bakos-Block, PhD, LCSW-S, Center for Behavioral Emergency & Addiction Research, UTHealth Houston
Christine Bakos-Block is an assistant professor at the UTHealth Science Center at Houston, McWilliams School of Biomedical Informatics, specializing in interventional research in addiction science. With a background in social work and keen interests in treatment disparities, her current work focuses on stigma among mothers and pregnant women with substance use disorder.
Dr. Bakos-Block is also a clinical social work supervisor with over 10 years of experience in private and community mental health. She has extensive training in cognitive behavior therapy and acceptance and commitment therapy and holds certifications in eye movement desensitization and reprocessing therapy, as well as exposure and response prevention therapy. With her research and clinical background, she is experienced in training and analyzing the application of behavioral interventions in real-world settings.
Environmental portrait photo with Stephanie Abel on the first floor of the Pav A Lobby.
Stephanie Abel, PharmD, BCPS
Dr. Abel is the Opioid Stewardship Program Coordinator at University of Kentucky HealthCare. Prior to that she practiced as a Pain Management and Palliative Medicine Clinical Pharmacy Specialist at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center – James Cancer Hospital. She received her PharmD from Creighton University in Omaha, NE after which she completed a PGY-1 in Pharmacy Practice at The Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, SC and a PGY-2 in Pain Management and Palliative Care at The Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, MD. She is a past Chair of the American College of Clinical Pharmacy Pain and Palliative Care Practice and Research Network, chair of the Advocacy Committee and previous Chair of the Nominations Committee for the Society of Pain and Palliative Care Pharmacists (SPPCP), and a member of the Opioid Stewardship Task Force for SPPCP. Stephanie has authored primary literature and book chapters on topics such as acute pain management in opioid tolerant patients. She has also been an invited speaker for many regional and national talks as well as developed national and international education modules on topics such as opioid stewardship, pain management, palliative care, opioid use disorder, and medical marijuana to multidisciplinary audiences.