Alumni

The alumni of the University of Minnesota pain research program represent the breadth and depth of expertise that a well-rounded pain curriculum can seed.
 

  • Cheryl Stucky: Ph.D. 1995 Neuroscience
    • Current Position: Professor, Neuroscience Doctoral Program, Department of Cell Biology, Neurobiology and Anatomy, Medical College of Wisconsin
    • Major Advisor: Virginia Seybold
  • Lucy Vulchanova: Ph.D. 1998 Neuroscience
    • Current Position: Associate Professor, Department of Neuroscience, University of Minnesota
    • Major Advisor: Robert Elde
  • Carolyn Fairbanks: Ph.D. 1998 Pharmacology
    • Current Position: Associate Dean for Research, College of Pharmacy, and Professor, Department of Pharmaceutics, University of Minnesota
    • Major Advisor: George Wilcox
  • Laura Stone: Ph.D. 1999 Neuroscience
    • Current Position: Professor, Department of Anesthesiology, University of Minnesota
    • Major Advisors: Robert Elde, George Wilcox
  • David Linden: Ph.D. 1999 Neuroscience
    • Current Position: Associate Professor, Department of Physiology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota
    • Major Advisor: Virginia Seybold
  • Tinna M. (Laughlin) Ross: Ph.D. 1999 Pharmacology
    • Current Position: Faculty, Biology Department, North Hennepin Community College, Brooklyn Park, Minnesota
    • Major Advisor: George Wilcox
  • Shannon Wright: Ph.D. 2002 Neuroscience
    • Current Position: MD, Senior Lecturer, Integrative Biology/Physiology, University of Minnesota
    • Major Advisor: Robert Elde
  • Heather Wenk Cushman: Ph.D. 2002 Neuroscience
    • Current Position: Professor, Biology Department, Tacoma Community College, Tacoma, Washington
    • Major Advisor: Christopher Honda
  • Paul Wacnik: Ph.D. 2003 Pharmacology
    • Current Position: Medical Science Liaison, The Medical Affairs Company (TMAC)
    • Major Advisor: George Wilcox
  • Joseph Fullmer: Ph.D. 2004 Neuroscience, M.D. 2006
    • Current Position: Pathologist, Department of Anatomic Pathology, Beaumont University Hospital, Royal Oak, Michigan
    • Major Advisor: Robert Elde
  • Kristin Schreiber: Ph.D. 2004 Neuroscience, M.D. 2007
    • Current Position: Clinical Regional Anesthesiologist, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts
    • Major Advisors: George Wilcox, David Brown
  • Lisa Johanek: Ph.D. 2004 Neuroscience
    • Current Position: Medical Affairs Advisor, Medtronic, Inc.
    • Major Advisor: Donald Simone
  • Laura (Eikmeier) Janke: DVM/Ph.D. 2004 Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences
    • Current Position: Faculty Member, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, Tennessee
    • Major Advisor: Al Beitz
  • Jill-Desiree Brederson: Ph.D. 2005 Pharmacology
    • Current Position: Senior Director and Chief of Staff, Clinical Development, AbbVie
    • Major Advisors: George Wilcox, Christopher Honda
  • Therissa Libby: Ph.D. 2005 Neuroscience
    • Current Position: Professor Emerita, Human Services Department, Metropolitan State University, St. Paul, Minnesota
    • Major Advisor: Robert Elde
  • Rachel Groth: Ph.D. 2006 Neuroscience
    • Current Position: Vice President of Translational Research, Neuren Pharmaceuticals Limited
    • Major Advisors: Paul Mermelstein, Virginia Seybold
  • John C. Roberts: Ph.D. 2007 Pharmaceutics
    • Current Position: Executive Director, Clinical Pharmacology, Biogen
    • Major Advisor: Carolyn Fairbanks
  • Cory Goracke-Postle: Ph.D. 2007 Neuroscience
    • Current Position: Director, Center for Pain Research, Office of the Vice President for Research, University of Minnesota
    • Major Advisors: George Wilcox, Carolyn Fairbanks
  • Carl Potenzieri: Ph.D. 2009 Neuroscience
    • Current Position: Health Program Specialist, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), National Institutes of Health (NIH)
    • Major Advisor: Donald Simone
  • Steve Davidson: Ph.D. 2009 Neuroscience
    • Current Position: Associate Professor, Molecular Pathobiology, College of Dentistry, and Associate Director, Pain Research Center, New York University
    • Major Advisor: Glenn Giesler
  • Cicely Schramm: Ph.D. 2010 Neuroscience
    • Current Position: Head of Cell Biology, LPS Applications, Sartorius
    • Major Advisor: Christopher Honda
  • Aaron Overland: Ph.D. 2010 Neuroscience
    • Current Position: Senior Application Scientist, Essen BioScience
    • Major Advisors: George Wilcox, Carolyn Fairbanks
  • Carrie Wade: Ph.D. 2010 Pharmacology
    • Current Position: Global Regulatory Science Liaison, BAT
    • Advisor: George Wilcox
  • Tate N. Winter: Ph.D. 2011 Pharmaceutics
    • Current Position: Principal Medical Science Liaison, Johnson & Johnson MedTech
    • Major Advisor: Carolyn Fairbanks
  • Heather Leong Hulstein: Ph.D. 2011 Neuroscience, D.O. 216
    • Current Position: Family Medicine Physician, Allina Health, Savage, Minnesota
    • Major Advisor: Martin Wessendorf
  • Dan Schuster: Ph.D. 2013 Neuroscience
    • Current Position: Senior Clinical Research Specialist, Medtronic
    • Major Advisor: George Wilcox & Carolyn Fairbanks
  • Caroline Churchill: Ph.D. 2015 Experimental and Clinical Pharmacology
    • Current Position: Manager, Clinical Writing, Johnson & Johnson
    • Major Advisor: Carolyn Fairbanks
  • Cristina Peterson: Ph.D. 2017 Experimental and Clinical Pharmacology
    • Current Position: Research Support Specialist, Department of Pharmaceutics, and Adjunct Assistant Professor, Department of Experimental and Clinical Pharmacology, University of Minnesota
    • Major Advisor: Carolyn Fairbanks
  • Jen Cook: Ph.D. 2019 Neuroscience
    • Current Position: Associate Teaching Professor of Neuroscience, Department of Biology, Syracuse University
    • Major Advisor: Lucy Vulchanova
  • Kelsey Pflepsen: Ph.D. 2019 Pharmaceutics
    • Current Position: Senior Scientist, InSitu Biologics, Inc.
    • Major Advisor: Carolyn Fairbanks
  • Rebecca Speltz-Paiz: Ph.D. 2020 Neuroscience
    • Current Position: Resident Physician, Department of Anesthesiology, Washington University School of Medicine
    • Major Advisor: Don Simone
  • Daniel Bruce: Ph.D. 2020 Pharmacology
    • Current Position: Scientific Director, NAMSA
    • Major Advisors: George Wilcox, Carolyn Fairbanks
  • Reshma Gore: Ph.D. 2021 Neuroscience
    • Current Position: Technical Writer, Medtronic
    • Major Advisor: Lucy Vulchanova
  • Christina Larson, DVM: Ph.D. 2021 Comparative and Molecular Biosciences
    • Current Position: Assistant Professor, Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences Department, South Dakota State University
    • Major Advisor: Carolyn Fairbanks
  • Ben Clements: Ph.D. 2022 Pharmaceutics
    • Current Position: Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Michigan Neuroscience Institute, University of Michigan Medical School
    • Major Advisor: Carolyn Fairbanks
  • Tongzhen Xie: Ph.D. 2024 Pharmaceutics
    • Current Position: Postdoctoral Associate, Boston University
    • Major Advisor: Carolyn Fairbanks