Faculty

* = Research Symposium faculty

† = Conference faculty

Joel Baumgartner, MD†

Dr. Baumgartner is board certified in family medicine and sports medicine. He specializes in non-surgical orthopedics, sports medicine, and regenerative orthopedics. As the founder of Rejuv Medical in Waite Park, MN, he utilizes the latest in diagnostic and treatment technology to better treat musculoskeletal injury and pain. Dr. Baumgartner has also authored Regenerative Injections: The Art of Healing, a book on prolotherapy palpation guided technique.   He recently authored a book for the general public entitled Regenerate:  Body Heal Thyself without Drugs or Surgery.  It explains how lifestyle changes can augment the body’s ability to heal and regenerate.

Gary Bruce Clark, MD†

Dr. Clark is board certified in anatomical/clinical pathology and neuropathology. As a “recovering pathologist” he has morphed, specializing in orthopedic medicine over the last 25 years with special interest in regenerative medicine, including prolotherapy and PRP.  He has participated in 10 HHPF Honduran trips, four Mexico trips, and several Madison conferences, serving as faculty on many occasions.  He has contributed to the HHPF Procedure Standardization Program. He has a busy practice in Boulder, Colorado, where he runs a solo musculoskeletal clinic.  He is currently writing a book on orthopedic medicine with special focus on clinical biotensegrity as illustrated by sacroiliac joint displacement.       

David de la Mora, MD†

Dr. De La Mora is the director of the HHPF Guadalajara chapter and organizes the annual HHPF Prolotherapy and Vein Medical Brigade trip to Mexico. He has attended the Madison conference for 15 years, both as a participant and faculty member, and has also served as a clinic director on the HHPF Honduras trips. Dr. De La Mora has a full time prolotherapy practice in Mexico.

Brad Fullerton, MD*

Dr. Fullerton is board certified in physical medicine and rehabilitation. His private practice, ProloAustin, is focused on musculoskeletal diagnosis and treatment using ultrasonography and prolotherapy. He is a past president of AAOM and serves as clinical assistant professor, Department of Internal Medicine, Texas A & M College of Medicine. His research interest is in the use of ultrasonography and biotensegrity concepts to explain the clinical efficacy of prolotherapy. He has presented regularly at HHPF research day and the clinical conference since 2005.

Adrian Gretton, MD†

Dr. Gretton trained as a family physician in Calgary, AB, Canada and has developed an active interest in pain and injury management. He has more than a decade of experience in prolotherapy at the Advanced Spinal Care Center in Calgary. Dr. Gretton leads a multidisciplinary team at the Calgary Chronic Pain Centre. He has served with the HHPF in Mexico and Honduras and has taught at the Madison conference for over 10 years.

Jay Harms, MD†

Dr. Harms is in practice in Peoria, IL, and is board certified in family medicine. In his medical practice, he cares for the entire range of family medicine patients, including chronic pain patients. Dr. Harms has been an active member of the HHPF since 2003, serving in the capacity of volunteer and faculty in Honduras and at the Madison conference.

Theodore Harrison, MD, MBA*

Dr. Harrison is board certified in emergency medicine and anti-aging and regenerative medicine. He practiced emergency and critical care medicine in the Baltimore area for 20+ years before focusing on regenerative medicine. Dr. Harrison trained in prolotherapy at the University of Wisconsin/HHPF and also trained at the Ageless Regenerative Institute in Florida in the techniques of stem cell extraction and fat transfer graft. He has written a book for the lay public on regenerative medicine and is currently in practice at Rejuvacare PC in Port Angeles, WA.

Lisa Hodge, PhD*

Dr. Hodge is an associate professor in the Institute for Cardiovascular and Metabolic Disease and the basic science chair for the Osteopathic Research Center at the University of North Texas Health Science Center.  Her laboratory studies the mechanisms by which osteopathic medicine enhances the lymphatic and immune systems. She is a member of several professional societies and serves as a peer reviewer for research journals and funding agencies. Her research has been funded by AOA, AAO, OHF and the NIH.

Mark Johnson, MD, FACS*

Dr. Johnson is board certified by the Prolotherapy College.  A board-certified urologist for 17 years, he has practiced prolotherapy/regenerative medicine full time since 2006. His special interests include correct diagnosis of the sources of connective-tissue-related symptoms and understanding the mechanisms that create both symptoms and associated tissue damage (e.g. cartilage, meniscus, labrum, and disc), and correctly understanding the role of healing system abnormalities in creating widespread musculoskeletal pain and joint destruction—integrating these understandings to produce better long-term clinical results.  Dr. Johnson has studied several large groups of patients treated with this integrated approach and has lectured nationally on these topics and results for the last seven years.

Paul Johnson, DO†

Dr. Johnson is a specialist in the non-surgical management of acute and over-use musculoskeletal injuries, osteopathic manual medicine, concussion management, and ultrasound guided regenerative injections. He completed an internal medicine residency at Rush University/Cook County Hospital and primary care sports medicine fellowship at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. Dr. Johnson is in practice at Pursuit Sports Medicine in Portland, OR. He has served with the HHPF as a volunteer and faculty in Honduras.

Elisha Johnston*

Elisha Johnston researches the molecular mechanisms by which prolotherapy stimulates cartilage regeneration. One of the people with whom he most closely collaborates is Dr. Andrew Kochan. A number of organizations have prized Elisha's research, including the American Association of Clinical Chemistry, SCAL Section (Certificate of Excellence in Biochemistry/Molecular Biology); the Youth Science Center (Excellence in Science Award); and the California State Science Fair (2017 Project of the Year). As a second year high school student (Palos Verdes Peninsula High School), Elisha feels tremendously honored for the opportunity to co-present with Dr. Andrew Kochan.

Young Uck Kim, MD†

Dr. Kim is an orthopedic surgeon in Seoul, South Korea. His clinic, Rapha Medience Orthopaedic Clinic, is a busy orthopedic surgery and prolotherapy practice. Over the past 19 years, he has observed the benefits of prolotherapy for his patients, and his practice performs more non-surgical procedures than orthopedic surgery. Dr. Kim utilizes ultrasound, mainly for academic purposes and research.

William Knight, DO†

Dr. Knight is in practice in Metairie, LA, caring for patients with chronic pain and with other rehabilitation needs. He is board certified in physical medicine and rehabilitation. Dr. Knight has served with the HHPF as an instructor in Honduras and Mexico and at the Madison conference.

Andrew Kochan, MD†

Dr. Kochan is the director of Institute for Healing Arts Research and is in private practice in Los Angeles, CA. He is board certified in physical medicine and rehabilitation and is an international authority in apitherapy, particularly bee venom. Dr. Kochan has been treating patients with prolotherapy for over 30 years. He annually travels with the HHPF to Honduras and teaches at the Madison conference.

Susan Lanza, MD†

Dr. Lanza graduated from the University of Palermo, Italy, in 2003 and earned her medicine and surgery degrees from the University of Caracas, Venezuela, in 2008. She is board certified in Italy with a specialization in sports medicine, has a master’s in aesthetic medicine, and is an instructor in neural prolotherapy. Dr. Lanza has served as a prolotherapy instructor with the HHPF in Honduras and Mexico for many years and has also instructed for SIPRO (Italian Prolotherapy Association) and the European Mission of Prolotherapy in Greece. She has a private practice in various cities in Italy specializing in sports medicine, prolotherapy, ultrasound management and aesthetic medicine.

Liza Maniquis-Smigel, MD*†

Dr. Maniquis-Smigel is a board-certified physiatrist and is in private practice in Hawaii. Her special interests include treatment of musculoskeletal injuries with regenerative approach including prolotherapy, perineural injection treatment, prolozone, PRP and stem cell therapy.  Dr. Maniquis-Smigel published three research articles on dextrose caudal epidural. She has served with the HHPF in Honduras and Mexico since 2003 and has often lectured at the Madison conference.

William Mora, MD†

Dr. Mora is board certified in family medicine, and he received a CAQ in sports medicine. He also received certification by the American Board of Integrative Holistic Medicine and the American Board of Medical Acupuncture. Dr. Mora trained in prolotherapy with Dr. Jeff Patterson at the UW School of Medicine and Public Health. He currently works in an integrative holistic functional medical practice in Sacramento, CA, with a focus on prolotherapy and regenerative injection therapy.

Jim Nosal, MD†

Dr. Nosal practices family medicine in Crandon, WI.  He has been involved with prolotherapy at the HHPF conferences for many years.

Bobby Nourani, DO*†

Dr. Nourani is an assistant clinical professor at the UW School of Medicine and Public Health, Department of Family Medicine and Community Health. He is dually board certified in neuromusculoskeletal medicine and family medicine.  He has a certificate of added qualification in pain medicine. Dr. Nourani's research and specialties include prolotherapy and osteopathic manipulative therapy (OMT). He has served with the HHPF in Honduras and Mexico since 2010 and has taught at the Madison conference since 2014.

Richard Owens, MD† (HHPF BOD)

Dr. Owens operates VeinCarePlus, a private office practice in Madison, offering a variety of vein care and minor surgical procedures since 1995. He has served the HHPF as director of vein clinic teams since 2003 in Honduras and Mexico, and as an instructor in prolotherapy.   His office procedures for chronic pain have included prolotherapy since 2005, and perineural injection therapy and platelet rich plasma injections since 2011.  He added vibrational liposuction in 2018.  He is seeking a successor practitioner to continue some or all of these offerings in his Madison office when he retires in 2019.  He is a 2008 diplomate of the American Board of Venous and Lymphatic Medicine.

Ripal Parikh, DO†

Dr. Parikh is board certified in physical medicine and rehabilitation and pain management. He works in private practice, Regen Medical, focusing on regenerative medicine techniques including prolotherapy and PRP. He has been involved with HHPF since 2010 and has served in Honduras and Mexico.

David Rabago, MD*† (HHPF BOD)

Dr. Rabago is a board-certified family medicine physician and associate professor at the UW School of Medicine and Public Health, and president of the HHPF. His continuity clinical practice is in Madison, WI; his research endeavors include assessment of prolotherapy for chronic musculoskeletal conditions including knee osteoarthritis. Dr. Rabago also mentors others in the design, conduct and publication of research devoted to prolotherapy and other injection therapies.  He lectures nationally and internationally on these topics.

Deborah Raehl, DO†

Dr. Raehl is a board-certified family physician who has been teaching and practicing full-scope family practice for over 20 years at the Prevea Eau Claire Family Medicine Residency. Her special interests include treatment of the citizen athlete, prolotherapy, and osteopathic manipulative medicine. Dr. Raehl has served and taught with the HHPF in Honduras and Mexico and at the Madison conference. She also serves as adjunct clinical faculty for University of Wisconsin Department of Family Medicine and Community Health and as associate clinical professor for the Medical College of Wisconsin.

Brian Ralston, MD†

Dr. Ralston is a board-certified family medicine physician with a certificate of added qualifications in sports medicine, practicing in the Chicago area. Dr. Ralston is a faculty member of the MacNeal Family Medicine Residency Program, and clinical associate professor of medicine at the University of Chicago.  Dr. Ralston has worked with the HHPF as a prolotherapy provider and instructor since 1995.

K. Dean Reeves, MD*

Dr. Reeves has served as either primary investigator or research designer and facilitator for studies of the clinical effects and basic science of dextrose prolotherapy and perineural injection in osteoarthritis, tendinosis and chronic widespread pain since 1994.  In recent years, he has enjoyed participation in a team approach to research in cooperation with Dr. David Rabago and in support of the goals of the UW Prolotherapy Education and Research Lab. 

Ali Safayan, MD†

Dr. Safayan has been in practice at Restorative Health Center for Integrative Medicine in Washington, DC, since 1990. Board certified in internal medicine (2000-2010), he has taught prolotherapy during our Madison conference as well as on HHPF trips to Honduras and Mexico. He is also a senior faculty member and the preceptor in charge of the Helms Medical Institute (HMI) which provides medical acupuncture training for both civilian and military physicians. In his practice, Dr. Safayan utilizes conventional and complementary therapies including prolotherapy, PRP, medical acupuncture, and functional and nutritional medicine. 

Jeni Saunders, MBBS, FACSP*

Dr. Saunders is an Australian specialist sport and exercise physician with extensive experience in team sports at local, national and international levels.  An early introduction as the team physician to a national football team (Rugby League) paved the way for more extensive care for Summer Olympians and now Australian Winter Olympians—accompanying both teams to several Olympic Games. Her research interests include the use if regenerative medicine technologies and the diagnosis and treatment of sacroiliac joint incompetence. Dr. Saunders is completing her doctoral thesis on sacroiliac joint injury.  She is on the Board of Censors and Court of Examiners for the Australian College of Sports Physicians, as well as the Research Committee and is a past secretary of this college—teaching and mentoring trainee sports physicians.

Robert Schulman, MD†

Dr. Schulman graduated medical school from the Medical College of Wisconsin, and completed his residency at Weill Cornell/New York Hospital in Manhattan, NY. Dr. Schulman is Board Certified in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Pain Medicine, Medical Acupuncture, Integrative Medicine, and a Diplomate of the Academy of Integrative Pain Management. He holds Interventional and Regenerative Orthopedic Medicine Certification (IROM – C) from the American Association of Orthopedic Medicine, and he is a Registered Herbalist with the American Herbalist Guild. He previously held a dual faculty appointment at Weill Cornell Medical College in PMR and Integrative Medicine. He has taught with the Helms Medical Institute since 1997, and with HHFP in Honduras and Guadalajara. At present, he has a practice in Integrative Pain medicine in Santa Rosa, California.

Jaehyun Shim, MD†

Dr. Shim is a neurosurgeon in Seoul, South Korea.  After learning prolotherapy from the HHPF, his medical practice in Seoul now includes prolotherapy for chronic pain.  Dr. Shim is active in the HHPF, instructing physicians in Honduras, Mexico and at the annual HHPF Madison conference.  Dr. Shim is also a member and faculty of the Seoul MKS Ultrasound Society.

John Tanner, MBBS, BSc, FFSEM, DM-SMed, DSMSA*

Dr. Tanner specializes in orthopedic and sports medicine.  He ran a sports injury clinic in Milton Keynes for 7 years, a medical osteopathic practice in Bermuda for 4 years and later developed the Oving Clinic as a multidisciplinary practice in West Sussex, UK.  For 10 years, he was as an associate specialist at Odstock Rehabilitation on the pain management team, worked for 2 years in orthopedics at Worthing, and is currently at the Guildford Blackberry Clinic.  He has also worked with the team at BUPA Health Centre, Basinghall, for the last 15 years. He has authored several books including Your Guide to Back Pain by the BMA. He pioneered the use of extracorporeal shockwave therapy in tendinopathy in the UK and has a special interest in chronic musculoskeletal and spinal pain, interventional pain relief techniques and psychological management. He is an instructor and faculty member for the Spinal Intervention Society and set up a new course for post graduate modular training for doctors in MSK medicine offered by the British Institute of Musculoskeletal Medicine. Currently, he is setting up a research study on prolotherapy in the sacroiliac region with Southampton and Warwick University Research Advisory Services.

Andrea Trescot, MD*

Dr. Trescot is past president of the American Society of Interventional Pain Physicians (ASIPP), a former professor at the University of Washington in Seattle, Washington, and the previous director of the pain fellowship programs at the University of Washington and the University of Florida. She was a pain clinic director in private practice for 15 years before she moved to academics. She has returned to private practice, where she splits her time between Alaska and Florida. She is also the chief medical officer of Stimwave, a wireless stimulation company. Dr. Trescot is the senior author of a new 900-page pain textbook, Peripheral Nerve Entrapments – Clinical Diagnosis and Management. She is also co-author of PainWise – A Patient’s Guide to Pain Management, as well as co-editor of the three-volume pain review textbook Pain Medicine & Interventional Pain Management – A Comprehensive Review.

Jon Trister, MD†

Dr. Trister is board certified in internal medicine. In his private practice in Massachusetts, he specializes in internal medicine, skin cancer outpatient surgery, orthopedic medicine, spinal cord injury medicine, osteopathy, and functional medicine. After completing his residencies in general and orthopedic surgery in the USSR and internal medicine in the US, Dr. Trister completed a fellowship in spinal cord injury medicine at Harvard Medical School. Prior to coming to the US, Dr. Trister was a general and orthopedic surgeon in Ukraine from 1975-1989.

Linh Vuong, MD†

Dr. Vuong is board certified in family medicine with a CAQ in sports medicine and extensive training in complementary and alternative practices. She has an integrative practice with her sister, Dr. Tinh Vuong, in the Los Angeles area that offers prolotherapy, PRP, PIT, MSK ultrasound, osteopathy and acupuncture. She enjoys teaching and is an attending physician at Harbor UCLA Family Medicine & Sports Medicine Department.  Dr. Vuong has been with HHPF since 2009 and has served in Honduras and Mexico.

Tinh Vuong, DO†

Dr. Vuong is board certified in family medicine, a licensed acupuncturist and herbalist, and a prolotherapist. She received her Doctor of Osteopathy (DO) degree from Touro University College of Osteopathic Medicine in Vallejo, CA, and completed her family medicine internship and residency at Harbor UCLA Medical Center.

David Wang, DO*†

Dr. Wang is board certified in physical medicine and rehabilitation. He specializes in musculoskeletal ultrasound, osteopathic manipulation, spine, and regenerative medicine including prolotherapy and PRP. He is a founding partner and director of education and training of Regenerative Orthopedics and Sports Medicine, with offices throughout the Metropolitan DC area. Dr. Wang has been active in the HHPF for over 10 years, teaching at the Madison conference and in Honduras and Mexico.

Michael Weber, MD†

Dr. Weber received his medical degree from the University of Virginia School of Medicine, completed a residency in family medicine at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and a fellowship in integrative medicine through the UW Academic Integrative Medicine Fellowship/ Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine Fellowship. A member of the UW faculty, he provides integrative primary care including acupuncture and prolotherapy.

John Wilson, MD*

Dr. Wilson is an associate professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and is a team physician for the UW football, wrestling, and men's and women's swimming and diving teams, as well as the Madison Capitols hockey team. He is board certified in family medicine and sports medicine. Dr. Wilson’s current research involves PRP injections for MSK conditions. In addition to research, he has a busy clinical practice with UW sports medicine, and is the medical director for the UW OrthoCare Now clinic.

Annette Zaharoff, MD† (HHPF BOD)

Dr. Zaharoff is a sports medicine physician in private practice in San Antonio, TX. Her practice, The Non-Surgical Center of Texas, is a comprehensive center for the evaluation and non-surgical treatment of MSK injuries. She is board certified in physical medicine and rehabilitation and specializes in sports medicine. A former professional tennis player, she serves as a tournament physician for national and international events.  Her practice includes prolotherapy, PRP, and stem cell injections. She serves on the board of directors for HHPF.

Planning Committee

David Rabago, MD, Associate Professor, Department of Family Medicine, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health

Annette Zaharoff, MD, Medical Director, The Non-Surgical Center of Texas

Mary P. Doherty, Vice President, Hackett Hemwall Patterson Foundation

Laura Cruz, Hackett Hemwall Patterson Foundation

Terese Bailey, Accreditation Specialist, University of Wisconsin–Madison ICEP