The NPF Board of Directors is composed of individuals with unique sets of skills and talents. They are committed to addressing the challenges and concerns of individuals whose lives are compromised by pain.
 

Scott Drees	Albert Ray, M.D.
David B. Hall	Mark B. Rasmussen
Elliot Krames, M.D.	Richard Stieg, M.D.,M.H.S.
Mindy Marantz, MSPT, GCFP	Carla Woods
David Pass, PharmD

 

Scott Drees, NPF Co-Chair, Program Development and Secretary, has been a supporter and an active Board member of the National Pain Foundation since its inception. Mr. Drees is President and CEO of two private companies. The first company, Decaf Consulting, Inc. provides wide array of consulting services for medical device companies and start-ups. The second enterprise is Decaf Inc., which is in the business of invention, intellectual property development and licensing of medical devices. Mr. Drees has worked in the implantable medical device business for 28 years. He was instrumental in the development of the fast growing neurostimulation market for pain while serving at Advanced Neuromodulation Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: ANSI, Plano, TX) from 1996 to 2007. While at Advanced Neuromodulation Systems, Mr. Drees served as a corporate officer and as the Executive VP, Worldwide Sales and Marketing. Prior to joining ANSI, Mr. Drees enjoyed a wide variety of medical device business experiences with St. Jude Medical, Boston Scientific, and Johnson & Johnson. Mr. Drees holds a Bachelor of Science degree from St. Joseph's University, Philadelphia, PA. Mr. Drees and his family reside in Texas and Colorado.

David B. Hall, NPF Treasurer, is chairman of Titan Health and has had has a long career as a health care innovator. He was president and chief executive officer of ASC Network, an ambulatory surgery center company that was acquired in 1997 by Healthsouth. Prior to this he was an executive vice president at Medical Care America, then the largest operator of outpatient surgery centers in the country. The past president and CEO of two acute care hospital companies, David is currently a director of Cogent Healthcare, a hospitalist staffing company.

Elliot Krames, M.D.,NPF Co-Founder and Co-Chair of Operations, medical director of the Pacific Pain Treatment Centers, San Francisco, Calif., an organization of pain clinics dedicated to interdisciplinary pain medicine. He also serves as editor-in-chief of Neuromodulation, the journal of the International Neuromodulation Society and the International Functional Electrical Stimulation Society. A pioneer in the field of intraspinal analgesia and a leader and educator in the field of neuromodulation for pain control, Dr. Krames has written extensively on implantable technologies for pain management and has conducted national and international symposia related to this topic. He is a founding member of the American Neuromodulation Society (ANS) and has participated on the boards of the ANS and the International Neuromodulation Society (INS), the World Institute of Pain, and the American Academy of Pain Medicine. Dr. Krames has published a book called Chronic Pain Management; Use of the Tools of the Trade.

Mindy S. Marantz, MSPT, GCFP, is the founder/director of Healthwell Physical Therapy Group with two clinics in San Francisco. Mindy received her master's degree in physical therapy at Columbia University, and augmented her education with four additional years to complete her training in Feldenkrais neuromuscular movement re-education. Mindy's practice focuses on chronic pain and neurological disorders as well as orthopedic and sports injuries. In the past, Mindy was the director of rehabilitation at the French Hospital in San Francisco, started-up and served as director of business development for a nationally based acute rehab hospital, and was consultant to Resonex Corporation for research and development of sine MRI. She was also co-founder and on the executive board for the Bay Area Orthopedic Physical Therapy Society for 10 years, and was appointed to serve on the Insurance Commission for the California chapter of the American Physical Therapy Society, an organization of which she's been an active member in since 1986. Mindy most recently was on the board of directors of the French Foundation for Medical Research and Education in San Francisco.

David Pass, PharmD, is vice president, marketing, for the pain franchise at PriCara/Ortho McNeil Inc., a Johnson & Johnson company located in Raritan, NJ. In this role, David leads the marketing organization for the U.S. pain franchise and serves as a member of the PriCara Management Board reporting to the president of the company. David has a wealth of domestic, European and global industry experience acquired during more than 14 years in the pharmaceutical industry. Before assuming his current role in 2005, David was executive director, global marketing leader for IONSYS (fentanyl iontophoretic transdermal system), the first and only drug device combination for the treatment of acute postoperative pain. Prior to his leadership roles in pain management, David spearheaded a special initiative where he established a partnership with McNeil Consumer & Specialty Pharmaceuticals to create novel consumer approaches to identify and treat patients with mild cognitive impairment. He previously worked at Bristol-Myers Squibb with increasing levels of field and marketing responsibilities. In addition to spending two years as a field-based medical liaison in the U.S., David led U.S. marketing teams with responsibility for both the in-line CNS business as well as the dermatology franchise. Earlier in his career at BMS, David was both a product manager in the United Kingdom and director of marketing for the U.K. primary care business. He received his bachelor's degree in science and doctor of pharmacy degree from the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia.

Mark B. Rasmussen, is president and chief executive officer of the National Pain Foundation. Before joining the NPF, Mark spent several years as a consultant working with clients who were primarily in the nonprofit arena. Mark's prior nonprofit experience also includes working for MOPS International (Mothers of Preschoolers) and a decade on the board of the Lupus Foundation of Minnesota. He is a past president of the Denver & Northern Colorado Chapter of the Christian Management Association. Before his full time commitment to working in the nonprofit world, Mark spent more than 25 years in leadership positions in the private sector. His diverse background includes a wide range of new products start-ups, including the first mini-muffin, the first “pre-fab” Gingerbread House Kit, Betty Crocker Fruit Roll-Ups, and the Tennant ATLV (All Terrain Litter Vehicle). Mark has previously held senior management positions in marketing, sales management, product management, and strategic planning with a number of market leaders including General Mills and GE Capital. He holds an MBA from Harvard Business School, where he graduated with distinction as a Baker Scholar.

Albert Ray, M.D., NPF Chairman of the Board, is the medical director of Pain Medicine Solutions in Miami and a clinical associate professor of psychiatry at the University of Miami Medical School. In addition, he is the president of the Foundation for Pain Medicine and has been on the board of directors of the southeastern branch of the National Arthritis Foundation. Dr. Ray has been involved with the study and treatment of painful disorders for more than 30 years and has served as the medical director of two hospital-based pain programs. He is a past president of both the American Academy of Pain Medicine (AAPM) and the Southern Pain Society, and a past director of the American Board of Pain Medicine, and conceived and started the Public Information and Education Committee for the American Academy of Pain Medicine. He also has lectured nationally and internationally, co-edited the proceedings of a pain meeting in Austria, has coauthored a textbook chapter and has other pain related publications. He is the recipient of the Nancy Reske Award for excellence in teaching medical students from the American Psychiatric Association. Dr. Ray has been in Who's Who in 1995/96/2007, America's Top Doctors in 1996/97, and was listed in the Top 200 Doctors in South Florida in 2000. A graduate of the New Jersey College of Medicine and Dentistry, Dr. Ray also completed a residency in psychiatry and served two years in the United States Air Force. He is board certified in pain medicine and in psychiatry and neurology. Dr. Ray has done additional training in hypnosis, biofeedback, and neuroemotional technique.

Richard Stieg, M.D., M.H.S., Editor-in-Chief of the National Pain Foundation's web site, is the medical director of the Pain Medicine Center Clinic, Centennial Group in Denver, Colo. He is an associate clinical professor of neurology at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center in Denver. Dr. Stieg created the first comprehensive multidisciplinary chronic pain treatment center in Colorado at Boulder Memorial Hospital and served as its first medical director. He also was the executive medical director for the Pain Rehabilitation Program, Center for Spine Rehabilitation and the Colorado Rehabilitation Institute. Dr. Stieg served as the medical director of the Pain Evaluation and Treatment Institute at the University of Pittsburgh from 1987 through 1989. He has served on numerous committees and boards, most notably the AMA President's Council in 1994, treasurer of the American Pain Society in 1992, and president of the American Academy of Pain Medicine in 1994. He was editor-in-chief of the Journal of Disability and has served on the editorial staff of the Clinical Journal of Pain and Pain Medicine. Dr. Stieg received the Phillip M. Lippe Award from the American Academy of Pain Medicine in 1997. Among his numerous publications, his most recent Roadblocks to Effective Pain Treatment, explores the issues of accessibility of treatment options for the chronic pain patient. He graduated from the University of Rochester in 1963.