Utah Pain Summit

Christopher has been part of the Montana Spine and Pain Center in Missoula for over 15 years.  He has long been an advocate for the biopsychosocial model, having studied psychology and pre-med at Wheaton College prior to his medical studies at the founding school of Osteopathic Medicine in Kirksville, MO where he also served as teaching fellow in clinical anatomy.  He completed a surgical internship prior to his residency training and board certification in Neuromusculoskeletal Medicine & Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine, and was awarded Outstanding Resident by the American Osteopathic Association. He left the faculty in the manual medicine department at his alma mater to complete his Anesthesia Pain Medicine fellowship at the University of Iowa under Richard Rosenquist, MD, current Chair of Pain Medicine at the Cleveland Clinic.

 

He served as President of the Utah Academy of Pain Medicine during his tenure practicing in Park City, and was selected for the Montana Medical Association's Physician Leadership Program.  He has served as the Pain representative to the Neuroscience Leadership Council for Providence St Joseph Health.  He is active as a continuing education lecturer to his peers and is on the faculty of the University of Washington and the University of Montana, serving as clinical preceptor to health professions students (medical, PA, pharmacy and PT) and family medicine resident physicians.

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As a physician who has treated persistent pain for 20 years, Dr Caldwell has a passion for the patient narrative (and named a daughter Storey because "nothing changes people like the power of narrative").  He is thrilled to have good news in pain treatment (describes himself as "captivated by neuroscience optimism"), but also knows from the trenches how difficult it can be to reach those you are trying to help.  He struggles daily with how best to teach "into" each patient's story.  Dr Caldwell also has a lifetime goal of one country per birthday, born from his exchange student experience in Belgium.  These last two traits are what compelled him to join Lorimer Moseley and David Butler on the inaugural Pain Revolution ride from Melbourne to Adelaide in April 2017.
 

Linda is a passionate advocate for holistic, client-centered care in pain rehabilitation and the role of occupational therapy in pain care. Linda serves as the current president of the Occupational Therapy Association of Colorado (OTAC) where she has co-designed with OTD capstone students a 6 session pain self-management curriculum for use with clients. In partnership with OTAC, Linda launched a 10-week pain self-management training certification course for OT practitioners and students as a free benefit for OTAC members. This innovative, accessible program is the first of its kind for a state association, with 50 members receiving training in the first cohort this spring.

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Linda has been an occupational therapist for 35 years, has been teaching courses for OT practitioners and multidisciplinary groups locally, nationally, and internationally on best practices in pain rehabilitation for the last 10 years. Linda loves creating experiential learning workshops that challenge participants to “learn by living it” through “REAL” activities that are relational, experiential, applicable, and learner-based.

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Linda is also a Brené Brown Daring Way™ certified facilitator, with specialized training and education in the development of shame resilience, self-compassion, and courageous leadership skills. Prior to specializing in pain care, Linda spent over ten years of her career specializing in brain injury and stroke rehabilitation. She has also been a complex seating and positioning specialist, and has worked in acute hospital, burn unit, acute and sub-acute rehabilitation, outpatient clinic, and home health settings. Linda also administrates the PAIN OT Facebook study group with over 1500 OT practitioners from around the world and is a contributing author to the 2022 updated AOTA position paper, The Role of Occupational Therapy in Pain Management.
 

Born and raised in Tehran, Iran until immigrating to the US in adolescence, Dr. Noshene Ranjbar developed a passion for a holistic view of medicine and healing from early on in her life. Throughout her studies and life experiences, including her own illness as well as caring for her mom who suffered from several autoimmune illnesses and cancer, to fostering refugee children with PTSD, to working with American Indian communities across the U.S., she developed a keen interest in approaches to healing trauma and advocating for holistic mental health in empowering, culturally appropriate ways.

 

Dr. Ranjbar completed undergraduate and medical school at the University of Virginia, followed by Family Medicine Internship at Middlesex Hospital/Hartford Hospital, Psychiatry Residency at the University of Arizona-Tucson, and Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Fellowship at Boston Children’s Hospital/Harvard Medical School. Board Certified in General Psychiatry, Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, and Integrative Medicine, Dr. Ranjbar currently serves as Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Director of the Integrative Psychiatry Program at the University of Arizona. She also serves on Faculty with The Center for Mind-Body Medicine, the Andrew Weil Center for Integrative Medicine, and the Integrative Psychiatry Institute.

 

Her research focuses on training the next generation of psychiatrists to offer a holistic approach to mental health, while serving children and families most in need. As a Robert Wood Johnson Culture of Health Leader, she is expanding her work in integrative mental health and indigenous mental health nationally and internationally.