James Bass, Esq. Related Seminars and Products

James Bass was born in Belfast and raised in Portland. He graduated magna cum laude from Bowdoin College in 2002 and earned his law degree from the University of Maine School of Law in 2006.

James joined the U.S. Army upon graduation from law school and practiced law as a Judge Advocate in the JAG Corps for nearly six years. He was stationed at Fort Sill, OK and Washington, DC. In 2011, he deployed to Afghanistan as a legal advisor with a joint special operations task force. He is a recipient of both the Bronze Star Medal and the Meritorious Service Medal.

After leaving active duty, James joined the Maine Army National Guard where he currently holds the rank of Lieutenant Colonel.

James engages in an active government relations practice, working with state and local decision makers to create solutions on his clients’ behalf. He has a broad array of Legislative and Executive branch lobbying experience as well as representing clients before Maine’s administrative agencies. James is currently one of MOA’s contracted lobbyists.

In 2017, James co-founded Cushnoc Brewing Co. in Augusta, Maine with three friends. Cushnoc is a craft brewery and wood-fired pizza restaurant serving great beer and pizza and is helping reinvigorate downtown Augusta.

Active in the community, James serves on the boards of the Kennebec Valley YMCA, the Augusta Board of Zoning Appeals and the Augusta Board of Trade. He is also a member of the Capitol Planning Commission.

James is married and his wife, Ami, is a social worker in the Augusta area. They have two sons.

Mr. Bass has no actual or potential conflict of interest, financial relationship/arrangement or affiliation with any entity producing, marketing, re-selling or distributing health care goods or services consumed by, or used on, patients.

Erin Belfort, MD Related Seminars and Products

Dr. Belfort is a “Mainer” and returned to the state after her residency in general psychiatry at the Harvard Longwood Psychiatry Residency Training Program and Child & Adolescent Psychiatry fellowship training at Cambridge Hospital/Harvard Medical School. She is currently the Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Fellowship Training Director at Maine Medical Center and an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at Tufts University School of Medicine. She is a staff psychiatrist for the Gender Clinic at Barbara Bush Children’s Hospital. Her academic interests include the risks and benefits of social media use for adolescents and she is currently the co-chair of the Media Committee and a member of the Consumer Issues Committee at the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP). Other professional interests include working with gender expansive youth and their families and Family Therapy teaching and training.

Dr. Belfort has no actual or potential conflict of interest, financial relationship/arrangement or affiliation with any entity producing, marketing, re-selling or distributing health care goods or services consumed by, or used on, patients.

Elissa Charbonneau, DO, MS Related Seminars and Products

Elissa (Lisa) Charbonneau, D.O., M.S., was appointed to chief medical officer of Encompass Health in June 2015. As chief medical officer, Dr. Charbonneau oversees medical operations, quality and patient care for the Company’s 144 hospitals across the country, which have a combined annual discharge of more than 181,000 patients. Prior to her current role, she served as the company’s vice president of medical services. From 2001 to early 2015, she served as medical director at New England Rehabilitation Hospital of Portland, a joint venture of Maine Medical Center and Encompass Health, where she was a staff physician since 1992. Driven by a commitment to mentorship and helping patients receive the best care possible, Dr. Charbonneau has presented on timely topics including clinical leadership, post-acute care, patient-centered data models, opioid reduction and post-COVID care. In 2020 and 2021, she was recognized as one of Modern Healthcare’s 50 Most Influential Clinical Executives. Dr. Charbonneau received her doctor of osteopathic medicine from New York Institute of Technology College of Osteopathic Medicine, a master’s degree in natural sciences/epidemiology from the State University of New York at Buffalo and a bachelor’s degree from Cornell University. She is a diplomate of the American Board of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation and of the American Osteopathic Board of Rehabilitation Medicine. She holds an academic appointment as an Associate Professor of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at Tufts Medical School.

Dr. Charbonneau lives in Maine with her husband and two rescue dogs. In her spare time, she enjoys vegetarian cooking, long walks, bicycling along the ocean and skiing the mountains of western Maine.

Dr. Charbonneau has no actual or potential conflict of interest, financial relationship/arrangement or affiliation with any entity producing, marketing, re-selling or distributing health care goods or services consumed by, or used on, patients.

Carl DeMars, MD Related Seminars and Products

Carl DeMars is an internal medicine physician who is board certified in both internal medicine and palliative care.  He practices at Mid Coast Hospital and sees patients in all settings including home visits.  He is also the VP of Ambulatory Providers for Mid Coast.  Dr DeMars has been consulting on patients who are requesting Medical Aid in Dying here in Maine.

Dr. DeMars has no actual or potential conflict of interest, financial relationship/arrangement or affiliation with any entity producing, marketing, re-selling or distributing health care goods or services consumed by, or used on, patients.

John Dolan, DO Related Seminars and Products

Dr. Dolan is a Neurologist at Southern Maine Healthcare. He is a graduate of UNE COM, and completed his training at Wilford Hall USAF Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas on Lackland Air Force Base. After 4 years practicing there, he returned to Maine in 2004 and has lived and practiced here ever since.

Dr. Dolan has disclosed that he is on the speaker’s bureau for Biohaven, Abbvie, Teva and Amgen/Novartis. MOA has reviewed content to ensure that it is fair, balanced and not influenced by these relationships.

Shawn Marie Higgins, DO Related Seminars and Products

Shawn Marie Higgins, DO is a graduate of the University of New England College of Osteopathic Medicine. She is Board Certified in Neuromusculoskeletal Medicine, a Diplomat of the American Board of Integrative Holistic Medicine and a faculty member of the Osteopathic Cranial Academy. She completed Family Medicine Residency at Maine Dartmouth. She is also a volunteer physician at the Portland Osteopathic Children's Clinic in Portland Maine.

She has been a faculty member and lecturer for the Osteopathic Cranial Academy since 2013 and is currently on the OCA Board of Directors. She currently has a private practice in Yarmouth Maine where she practices osteopathy, energy and sound healing. She currently teaches CME courses on sound healing in osteopathy and has a chapter titled "The Human Body - A Biological Sound Healing Instrument" in Nutrition and Integrative Medicine: A Primer for Clinicians, currently in press and due to come out in 2022. Stay tuned for her 2022 series of sound healing series of introductory and intermediate CME courses on sound healing in osteopathy.

Dr. Higgins has no actual or potential conflict of interest, financial relationship/arrangement or affiliation with any entity producing, marketing, re-selling or distributing health care goods or services consumed by, or used on, patients.

Contact Info:

Osteopathic Wellness, LLC

253 Main St.

Yarmouth Maine 04096

tel: 207-615-6956

fax: 207-850-2228

www.osteopathicwell.com

Courtney Hooks, CNM/WHNP Related Seminars and Products

Courtney Hooks (she/her/they) is an Atlanta based black, queer CNM/WHNP dedicated to the care of underserved and historically looted communities. Prior to becoming a midwife, Courtney served as a full spectrum doula, reproductive justice advocate, and community organizer and led Justice Now’s Let Our Families Have a Future campaign in collaboration with people inside of California women's prisons, which focused on ending prison expansion, sterilization abuse and reproductive oppression against imprisoned individuals. Courtney has supported folks in the sex trade, helped start a syringe exchange program, and co-organized holistic community health clinics. She loves Steven Universe, squealing at plants, and memes, generally.

Courtney Hooks has no actual or potential conflict of interest, financial relationship/arrangement or affiliation with any entity producing, marketing, re-selling or distributing health care goods or services consumed by, or used on, patients.

Persis Hope, NP Related Seminars and Products

Persis Hope is a Family Nurse Practitioner who is on the faculty of the Maine Dartmouth Family Medicine Residency. Persis left the residency after working at the Family Medicine Institute, which is one of the out patient clinics of the residency, for 16 years, to work in a Functional Medicine private practice in Boise Idaho. While she was there she became certified in Functional Medicine from the Institute of Functional Medicine.

In the winter of 2016 she returned to the residency to start a consultative practice in Functional and Integrative Medicine in the Maine Dartmouth Collaborative Care Clinic which is part of the Neuromuscular Medicine Fellowship of the Residency. Persis completed the fellowship in Integrative Medicine from the University of Arizona in 2011. She became a laughter yoga instructor in 2012 from the Institute of Laughter Yoga in Portland Maine. She holds an M.S in Nursing from Northeastern University, Boston.

Persis Hope, NP has no actual or potential conflict of interest, financial relationship/arrangement or affiliation with any entity producing, marketing, re-selling or distributing health care goods or services consumed by, or used on, patients.

Jims Jean-Jacques, DO, FACC, FHFSA Related Seminars and Products

Highly personable, tri-lingual, and team-spirited cardiologist working at St. Joseph Hospital in Bangor, ME. He started and is the Director of Heart Failure Clinic at St. Joseph Hospital where he also serves as Chief of Medicine, Vice-President of the Medical Executive Committee, Chairman of the Ethics Committee, and Chairman of the Credentials Committee. He previously served as the Chairman of the Bylaw Committee and past Secretary/Treasurer of the Medical Executive Committee at the same institution. He received specialized training in advanced heart failure, cardio-oncology, cardiomyopathy, pulmonary hypertension, mechanical circulatory assist device, and transplant cardiology at the University of Rochester Medical Center in New York. He is board-certified in internal medicine, non-invasive cardiology, and advanced heart failure/transplant cardiology.   In the community, he serves as State Department Medical Advisory Board Bureau of Motor Vehicles, President Maine Medical Society (an affiliate of National Medical Association), Founder of The Haitian Network of Maine and Maine Medical Association Board of Directors, and Ad Hoc Committee Member on Race, Ethnicity and Healthcare Disparity. 

Dr. Jean-Jacques, DO, FACC, FHFSA has no actual or potential conflict of interest, financial relationship/arrangement or affiliation with any entity producing, marketing, re-selling or distributing health care goods or services consumed by, or used on, patients.

Andrew Jersey, DO Related Seminars and Products

My name is Andrew Jersey, and I am a board certified Emergency Physician currently employed at Backus Hospital in Norwich, Connecticut. I have a degree in Osteopathic Medicine from the New York Institute of Technology College of Osteopathic Medicine. After which, I completed a residency in Emergency Medicine at Hofstra Northwell School of Medicine. I later went on to complete a dedicated fellowship in Emergency Ultrasound at North Shore University Hospital. I currently work full time in the Emergency Department at Backus Hospital as an Emergency Physician and am responsible for the establishment and advancement of the Emergency Ultrasound program. I am heavily involved in the education of point of care ultrasound to various healthcare professionals, of different backgrounds, including emergency medicine, surgery, critical care and internal medicine. I am currently responsible for the quality, assurance, and improvement of all point of care ultrasounds performed within the Emergency Department. I want to thank the Maine Osteopathic Association for this wonderful opportunity and I look forward to presenting for all of you on a topic that I love.

Dr. Jersey has no actual or potential conflict of interest, financial relationship/arrangement or affiliation with any entity producing, marketing, re-selling or distributing health care goods or services consumed by, or used on, patients.

Kara Kaikini, IBCLC Related Seminars and Products

Kara Kaikini, MS, IBCLC has been an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC) since 2009. She has worked as a home visitor, postpartum doula, childbirth educator, and a childbirth education and lactation services program manager. She currently teaches prenatal classes and facilitates the weekly breastfeeding group for Maine Medical Center, is the Breastfeeding Consultant for Maine's Perinatal Outreach and Education Consultation program, and is the Board President of the Maine State Breastfeeding Coalition. She lives in Freeport with her husband, two boys (ages 10 and 7) and their dog, Luna.

Ms. Kaikini has no actual or potential conflict of interest, financial relationship/arrangement or affiliation with any entity producing, marketing, re-selling or distributing health care goods or services consumed by, or used on, patients.

Joel Kase, DO Related Seminars and Products

Dr. Joel Kase is an osteopathic physician who throughout his career has beenactive in clinical practice, administrative operations, advocacy and policydevelopment, and medical education.

Dr. Kase has worked clinically in rural emergency medicine for 15 years, and prior to that, practiced the entire spectrum of osteopathic family medicine, including inpatient hospital and skilled nursing care, home health visits, obstetrics, and osteopathic manipulation. He is double boarded in Family Medicine and Neuromusculoskeletal Medicine.

Dr. Kase currently practices clinical medicine full time. He previously served as the Emergency Department Director for the VA Maine Healthcare System, and prior to that as the Director of Medical Education for the University of New England College of Osteopathic Medicine.

Dr. Kase is a member of the AOA’s Bureau on Federal Health Programs, and currently serves as Chair of the AOA’s Council on State Health Affairs. He is also a Past-President of the Maine Osteopathic Association, and serves as the Chair of the Maine delegation to the AOA House of Delegates. A graduate of the New York College of Osteopathic Medicine, Dr. Kase completed a family medicine residency as well as an academic fellowship in obstetrics through the teaching hospitals of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. Additionally, Dr. Kase attended the Harvard School of Public Health, where he completed a Master’s Degree in Public Health with a concentration in Health Care Management and Policy.

Dr. Joel Kase, DO has no actual or potential conflict of interest, financial relationship/arrangement or affiliation with any entity producing, marketing, re-selling or distributing health care goods or services consumed by, or used on, patients.

Brian Kaufman, DO, FACP, FASAM Related Seminars and Products

Brian Kaufman, DO FACP FASAM is the President of the Maine Osteopathic Association. He holds board certification in: Internal medicine, pain medicine, Neuro-musculoskeletal medicine, and addiction medicine.  He currently practices pain management and addiction medicine in New Hampshire but resides in Kennebunk and practiced in Maine for 13 years.

Dr. Kaufman has no actual or potential conflict of interest, financial relationship/arrangement or affiliation with any entity producing, marketing, re-selling, or distributing health care goods or services consumed by, or used on, patients.

Jason Libby, HSM Related Seminars and Products

Jason Libby is an Advanced Certified Hospice and Palliative Care Nurse practitioner with over 20 years of practice.  Currently the lead provider at Hospice of Southern Maine, having joined the organization in 2010.

Mr. Libby has no actual or potential conflict of interest, financial relationship/arrangement or affiliation with any entity producing, marketing, re-selling or distributing health care goods or services consumed by, or used on, patients.

Romeo Lucas, DO Related Seminars and Products

Dr. Romeo Augusto Lucas is a board certified OB/GYN practicing at Maine General Medical Center in Augusta, Maine. He completed his B.S. in Biology at University of Dayton in Dayton, Ohio. He has a Doctor of Chiropractic degree from National University of Health Sciences in Lombard, Illinois. After 2 years of private chiropractic practice in New Jersey, he attended University of New England College of Osteopathic Medicine where he earned his Doctor of Osteopathy in 2008. He completed a rotating internship at UMDNJ-School of Osteopathic Medicine in Stratford, NJ in 2009 and his OB/GYN Residency at Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune, NJ in 2013. He is an Assistant Professor of Clinical OB/GYN for the Northeast Osteopathic Medical Education Network and Affiliate Clinical Faculty at University of New England College of Osteopathic Medicine.

Dr. Lucas practices general OB/GYN with specific interest and focus on pelvic pain syndromes. He uses a multi-faceted approach to diagnose and treat complicated pelvic pain presentations. This patient-specific approach incorporates a combination of hormonal, analgesic, neurologic, minimally invasive surgical and/or Osteopathic manual therapies to address pelvic pain. He is a member of the American Academy of Gynecologic Laparoscopists, International Pelvic Pain Society, American Osteopathic Association, America Congress of OB/GYN, and Maine Osteopathic Association. He is married with 2 dogs, 3 children and 4 drumsets.  He speaks fluent Portuguese and Spanish but knows well it’s time he figured out French too.

Dr. Lucas has no actual or potential conflict of interest, financial relationship/arrangement or affiliation with any entity producing, marketing, re-selling or distributing health care goods or services consumed by, or used on, patients.

Meghan May, PhD Related Seminars and Products

Associate Professor of Biomedical Sciences (Microbiology and Infectious Disease)

University of New England, College of Osteopathic Medicine

Dr. May was appointed in the Department of Biomedical Sciences at the University of New England College of Medicine in 2013.  She was previously appointed in the Department of Biological Sciences at Towson University from 2010-2013 (holding the Fisher Endowed Chair of Biological Sciences from 2012-2013) and was appointed as a postdoctoral fellow and then a research assistant professor in the Department of Infectious Diseases and Pathology at the University of Florida 's Emerging Pathogens Institute. Dr. May earned her B.S. degree in Microbiology from the University of New Hampshire, and her M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Pathobiology and Bacteriology (respectively) from the University of Connecticut.  Her research focus is on pathogen evolution and emerging diseases, and involves bacteria, parasites, and viruses.  She also studies the role in the microbiome in protecting against infection, pharmaceutically-induced immune dysregulation and infection susceptibility, infection-mediated pain, and works up unusual clinical ID cases involving novel infectious agents.  Dr. May contributes pieces to local and national print, radio, and television media on infectious diseases, and has authored 54 peer-reviewed publications, 16 invited book chapters, and has given several platform presentations at national and international meetings.

Dr. May has no actual or potential conflict of interest, financial relationship/arrangement or affiliation with any entity producing, marketing, re-selling or distributing health care goods or services consumed by, or used on, patients.

Amy Mayhew, MD Related Seminars and Products

Dr. Mayhew completed her master’s degree in Public Health from Tulane University in New Orleans, and was a Peace Corps volunteer in Nepal as part of her master’s program. She earned her medical degree from the University of Rochester School of Medicine & Dentistry in Rochester, NY. She completed a residency in Psychiatry at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, TX, followed by a fellowship in Child & Adolescent Psychiatry from Cambridge Health Alliance in Cambridge, MA. She is Board certified in both Psychiatry and Child & Adolescent Psychiatry. Dr. Mayhew is now the Clinical Director for the Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Outpatient Clinic at Maine Medical Center, as well as for the PIER Program for early psychosis.

Dr. Mayhew has no actual or potential conflict of interest, financial relationship/arrangement or affiliation with any entity producing, marketing, re-selling or distributing health care goods or services consumed by, or used on, patients.

Lewis Madrona, MD Related Seminars and Products

Lewis Mehl-Madrona, MD, graduated from Stanford University School of Medicine and trained in family medicine, psychiatry, and clinical psychology. He completed his residencies in family medicine and in psychiatry at the University of Vermont College of Medicine. He has been on the faculties of several medical schools, most recently as associate professor of family medicine at the University of New England. He continues to work with aboriginal communities to develop uniquely aboriginal styles of healing and health care for use in those communities. He is interested in the relation of healing through dialogue in community and psychosis. He is the author of Coyote Medicine, Coyote Healing, and Coyote Wisdom, a trilogy of books on what Native culture has to offer the modern world. He has also written Narrative Medicine, Healing the Mind through the Power of Story: the Promise of Narrative Psychiatry, and, his most recent book with Barbara Mainguy, Remapping Your Mind: the Neuroscience of Self-Transformation through Story. Lewis currently works with Wabanaki Public Health and Wellness, which serves the five tribes of Maine. He also works part-time at Acadia Hospital and with the Family Medicine Residency at Eastern Maine Medical Center. He serves on the Board of Directors of the Coyote Institute for Studies of Change and Transformation. Lewis has been studying traditional healing and healers since his early days and has written about their work and the process of healing. His primary focus has been upon Cherokee and Lakota traditions, though he has also explored other Plains Cultures and those of Northeastern North America. His goal is to bring the wisdom of indigenous peoples about healing back into mainstream medicine and to transform medicine and psychology through this wisdom coupled with more European-derived narrative traditions. He has written scientific papers in these areas and continues to do research. He writes a weekly (almost) blog on health and mental health for www.futurehealth.org. His current interests center around psychosis and its treatment within community and with non-pharmacological means, narrative approaches to chronic pain and its use in primary care, and further developing healing paradigms within a narrative/indigenous framework.

Lewis Mehl-Madrona, MD has no actual or potential conflict of interest, financial relationship/arrangement or affiliation with any entity producing, marketing, re-selling or distributing health care goods or services consumed by, or used on, patients.

Sean Neal Related Seminars and Products

Vice President of Advocacy and Political Affairs with the American Osteopathic Association

American Osteopathic Association

Sean Neal is the Director of Grassroots and OPAC with the American Osteopathic Association and has more than ten years of political and advocacy experience with a focus on fundraising, government relations, and grassroots initiatives. Sean currently heads the AOA’s grassroots programs on both the state and federal, including DO Day on Capitol Hill.

In addition to his role with AOA, Sean also runs the Osteopathic Political Action Committee (OPAC) where he serves as the point person for all political campaigns. Sean was one of the original founders and board members of a physician-industry first Super PAC where he raised over $800,000 in less than 4 months. In addition, Sean developed a physician-industry first charity PAC match which netted $30,000 for charity.    

Sean is the co-chair of both the physician PAC Forum and Candidate Workshop where physicians are trained how to run for Congress. In addition, Sean is the chair of Innovate to Motivate, a program that fulfills the professional development requirements to earn or maintain the certified association executive credential.

Before joining the AOA, Sean began his political career as a field organizer and strategist for the U.S. House of Representatives, Senate and Presidential campaigns.

Mr. Neal has no actual or potential conflict of interest, financial relationship/arrangement or affiliation with any entity producing, marketing, re-selling or distributing health care goods or services consumed by, or used on, patients.

Merideth Norris, DO Related Seminars and Products

Dr. Merideth Norris has been working in Maine for over 15 years. Her practice scope includes Osteopathic Family Medicine and treating substance use disorder, obesity, and pain management. She has worked in emergency departments all over Maine, as well as detox facilities, inpatient treatment environments, methadone clinics, and outpatient recovery centers. Dr. Norris is the Medical Director of Enso Recovery and has a private practice. Dr. Norris is board certified in Osteopathic Family Medicine by the American Board of Osteopathic Family Medicine, in Addiction Medicine by the American Board of Addiction Medicine, and in Obesity Medicine by the American Board of Obesity Medicine.

She is frequently seen in the press advocating for available resources for people with substance use disorder and drafts large amounts of testimony to the state legislation on opioid policy and treatment access. She has been interviewed as an addiction expert on both local public radio and the national Reelz network. Recently, Dr. Norris became certified as a Ringside Physician by USA Boxing and became the medical consultant for Susan Elia MacNeal, author of the Maggie Hope detective series. Dr. Norris has three children.

Dr. Norris discloses that she has no relevant financial relationships with any organization producing, marketing, reselling, or distributing health care goods or services consumed by, or used on, patients relative to the content of her presentation.

Elizabeth Olivier, Esq. Related Seminars and Products

Betty Olivier is an attorney with Preti, Flaherty, Beliveau & Pachios, LLP. She works out of its Portland, Maine office. Betty specializes in employment law, with a focus on employment-related issues of particular relevance to the healthcare industry. She provides advice on healthcare provider contracting issues, state and federal employment compliance issues, risk management and various issues that arise in the healthcare workplace.

Ms. Olivier has no actual or potential conflict of interest, financial relationship/arrangement or affiliation with any entity producing, marketing, re-selling or distributing health care goods or services consumed by, or used on, patients.

Paige Picard, DO Related Seminars and Products

Paige Picard is board certified in both Family Medicine
and Lifestyle Medicine; and currently works in the role as
Clinical Faculty Member at Central Maine Medical Center
Family Medicine Residency Program.

From 2018 to 2019 she personally adopted a plant-based
lifestyle, met the requirements for, and sat for the Lifestyle
Medicine Boards.

She has helped many families, friends, and patients
adopt plant-focused diets and uses social media to
share, inspire, and educate as many people as she can.
She currently lives in Winthrop with her husband and 3
small children, and together they are building a plantbased
homestead.

Paige Picard, DO, and the MOA Planning Committee disclose that they have no relevant financial relationships with any organization producing, marketing, reselling, or distributing health care goods or services consumed by, or used on, patients relative to the content of this presentation.

Amy Pruszenski, O.D., F.C.O.V.D. Related Seminars and Products

Amy Pruszenski, OD, FCOVD graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1989 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Cognitive Science.  She graduated from the New England College of Optometry in 1993.  She has been providing Neuro-Developmental vision care for the past 23 years, collaborating with other health care providers to ensure a coordinated approach.  

Dr. Pruszenski has been a featured speaker for the Society for Brain Mapping & Therapeutics, Vermont Brain Injury Association, the New Hampshire Brain Injury Association and the Wentworth-Douglass Hospital Concussion Symposium.  In addition, she has provided in-services to Special Education faculty members at schools in her community regarding vision problems that impact learning.

Dr. Pruszenski has also presented to the New Hampshire Optometric Association and the Maine Optometric Associations regarding binocular vision disorders, orthokeratology and post-concussion visual disorders.

Society for Brain Mapping and Therapeutics – Optometric Extension Program Foundation

Possible Conflicts: ◼ Society for Brain Mapping and Therapeutics copy of textbook will be given to me, when published, collaborative author of portions of a chapter in a neuromodulation textbook ◼ Optometric Extension Program Foundation, no financial compensation (volunteer), Secretary/Treasurer on the Board of Directors.

Stated disclosures have been mitigated in advance of this presentation.

Amanda Mahan (Richards) Related Seminars and Products

Amanda is the Executive Director of the Maine Osteopathic Association. She has served the organization in several roles since joining the team in 2016. Nationally, she serves on the board of the Association of Osteopathic State Executive Directors (AOSED) and is Co-Chair of its CME Committee. She also has been honored to serve as AOSED’s representative to the AOA’s Bureau of Membership for the past two years. Prior to her nonprofit work, Amanda gained experience planning corporate and private events at several Maine events companies and resorts. She attended the University of Maine where she earned a BA in Communication and continued her studies to earn a Master’s in Communication while teaching
introductory courses as a Teaching Assistant.

Amanda is a life-long Mainer who grew up in the mountains of Western Maine, but currently resides in Topsham with her new husband and their Black Lab Dill.

Amanda Mahan (Richards) has no actual or potential conflict of interest, financial relationship/arrangement or affiliation with any entity producing, marketing, re-selling or distributing health care goods or services consumed by, or used on, patients.

Nirav Shah, MD Related Seminars and Products

Nirav D. Shah, M.D., J.D., Director, Maine CDC In June 2019, Nirav Shah, MD, JD, was appointed as the Director of the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention (Maine CDC). Dr. Shah comes to Maine CDC with broad experience in public health, most recently as Director of the Illinois Department of Public Health, where he implemented key initiatives to address the State's opioid crisis, reduce maternal and infant mortality, and reduce childhood lead poisoning. As an attorney and public health economist, Shah previously advised professionals and governments around the nation and globe on improving the delivery of health care. Earlier in his career, he worked for the Ministry of Health in Cambodia, where his work included investigating and managing disease outbreaks as an epidemiologist. Shah received both medical and law degrees from the University of Chicago. He also studied economics at Oxford University.

Dr. Shah has no actual or potential conflict of interest, financial relationship/arrangement or affiliation with any entity producing, marketing, re-selling or distributing health care goods or services consumed by, or used on, patients.

Greg Stevens, DO Related Seminars and Products

Dr. Gregory Stevens is a 2012 graduate of the University of New England College of Osteopathic Medicine and a previous pre-doctoral teaching fellow. He completed his Family Medicine residency at Maine-Dartmouth Family Medicine, and his NMM +1 at UNECOM. He is currently Assistant Clinical Faculty in the OMM department at UNECOM and in his own NMM practice in Portland.

Dr. Stevens  has no actual or potential conflict of interest, financial relationship/arrangement or affiliation with any entity producing, marketing, re-selling or distributing health care goods or services consumed by, or used on, patients.

Amy Trelease Bell, MD Related Seminars and Products

Amy grew up in Cheyenne, Wyoming and attended the University of Wyoming for a bachelor’s degree in Molecular Biology. Medical school took her to Omaha, Nebraska where she graduated from Creighton University School of Medicine in 1996. Always passionate about primary care, Amy trained for rural practice at Eastern Maine Medical Center (now Northern Light). Practice opportunities took her to Monticello, Minnesota for two years, then back to Cheyenne, where she was in private practice for several years before being wooed to the University of Wyoming Family Medicine Residency Program.

She joined our faculty in 2012 and has served as the facilitator for faculty development activities, coordinator for gynecology training, and coordinator for procedures training. Amy has practiced full-spectrum family medicine, including obstetrics, throughout her career. As her interests in integrative medicine has grown, Amy has taken on larger roles in this arena. She has completed the UNE Manual Medicine course series and participates on the Osteopathic Education Committee as the MD representative. More recently, Amy completed certification in functional medicine and is working to incorporate these principles and practices in to her clinical work and precepting.

Dr. Trelease Bell has no actual or potential conflict of interest, financial relationship/arrangement or affiliation with any entity producing, marketing, re-selling or distributing health care goods or services consumed by, or used on, patients.

Cait Vaughan Related Seminars and Products

Cait Vaughan (she/her) is a white queer & genderqueer femme survivor who grew up as a working poor New Englander. She is an organizer, childbirth educator & full spectrum repro support worker. Through the abolitionist, feminist & rights-based practice of Birthing Solidarity, Cait accompanies poor folks, the formerly incarcerated & people who use/d drugs through reproductive decision-making, pregnancy, birth, abortion & postpartum journeys. Additionally, she works with collectives locally & nationally to establish & sustain networks of mutual aid, peer support & grassroots power for all parents & people capable of pregnancy.

Cait Vaughan has no actual or potential conflict of interest, financial relationship/arrangement or affiliation with any entity producing, marketing, re-selling or distributing health care goods or services consumed by, or used on, patients.

Suzan White, DO Related Seminars and Products

Dr. White has been focused on the treatment of addiction in rural Vermont since 2015. She is double Board Certified in Psychiatry and Addiction Medicine. She founded the Hope and Recovery Clinic at Northwestern Medical Center where she was awarded the hospital leadership award in 2019.  In 2020, at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, she transitioned to a position as Medical Director of Health and Recovery Solutions providing Telehealth Addiction Treatment Services through Phoenix House New England. Dr. White has recently launched Tamarack Psychiatry, a direct care Integrative Psychiatry practice in Shelburne, Vermont and she is also Medical Director treating Addiction at the Howard Center’s Northwest Spoke.  Dr. White has a special interest in indigenous approaches to healing. Since 2019 she has apprenticed with Grandfather Lench Archuleta, a Yaqui elder, and over the last year she has been honored to sit in circle with Grandmother Mulara, an Australian Aboriginal Senior Law Woman.

Dr. White has no actual or potential conflict of interest, financial relationship/arrangement or affiliation with any entity producing, marketing, re-selling or distributing health care goods or services consumed by, or used on, patients.

Mark Wrona, MD Related Seminars and Products

Dr. Wrona was born in Florida, but moved during his first year of life to upstate New York, where he was raised and developed an appreciation for the four seasons. He travelled across the country pursuing his higher education in Wisconsin, North Carolina, Maryland and finally Maine for medical residency training. His areas of medical interest are pain management, palliative care and advanced care planning. He feels privileged to care for the patients of New England Cancer Specialists when they need to be hospitalized.

Dr. Wrona lives with his wife and daughter in Falmouth. He enjoys being outdoors with his family, particularly to go hiking, camping and skiing.

Dr. Wrona has no actual or potential conflict of interest, financial relationship/arrangement or affiliation with any entity producing, marketing, re-selling or distributing health care goods or services consumed by, or used on, patients.