Meet our team.
Principal Investigator
Thomas J Schnitzer, MD, PhD
Professor of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Anesthesiology, and Medicine(Anesthesiology)
Northwestern University
tjs@northwestern.edu
Background
Dr. Thomas Schnitzer received his medical degree from Harvard Medical School, followed by a residency in internal medicine at Johns Hopkins Hospital. He then spent time at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, MD, and further clinical and research training at the MRC Rheumatism Unit in Taplow, England at the Imperial Cancer Research Institute in London, England, where he received his Ph.D. He had faculty appointments at the University of Michigan Medical School and Rush Medical College before coming to Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in 1997.
Dr. Schnitzer has had long-standing interests in understanding osteoarthritis and pain. His early research focused on factors responsible for progression of cartilage damage and bone changes in osteoarthritis. This work led to interventional studies assessing how to ameliorate these changes and reduce the symptoms of osteoarthritis.
Since coming to Northwestern, Dr. Schnitzer has worked in collaboration with the Apkarian Lab to understand the mechanisms responsible for the development and maintenance of chronic pain. These studies have been fruitful, resulting in numerous publications and funding from federal (NIH, DOD) and non-federal sources (foundations, pharma). In addition, Dr. Schnitzer has been the principal investigator in a wide-range of studies of new therapeutic approaches to treat chronic pain, including osteoarthritis, low back pain and neuropathic pain. These studies have focused largely on new compounds developed by pharmaceutical companies and now being tested in phase 2 or phase 3 clinical trials. Other studies have examined disease modifying agents in osteoarthritis and treatments to prevent the rapid bone loss seen after spinal cord injury.
Profiles/Other Links:
Manager
Katie Wilmsen BS, CCRC
Years with Lab: 2015-
Clinical Operations Manager
Interests: Clinical Operations, clinical trial overview, financial overview, etc.
Contact at: Katie.wilmsen@northwestern.edu, 312-503-4043Recruitment
Kathlyn Craigie BA, M.Ed
Years with Lab: 2020-
Recruitment Manager
Interests: Social media marketing, traditional forms of marketing, pain research, data analysis
Contact at: kathlyn.craigie@northwestern.edu, 312-503-4535Clinician
Michael Tam PA
Years with Lab: 2021-
Physician Assistant
Interests: Patient visits, intrarticular injections, and IV placements/removals.
Contact at: michael.tam@northwestern.edu, 312-503-1529Coordinators
Narina Simonian BS, CCRC
Years with Lab: 2012-
Clinical Research Project Manager
Interests: Bone Health, Spinal Cord Injury, Pain
Contact at: n-simonian@northwestern.edu, 312-503-5780Liz Yan BS, CCRC
Years with Lab: 2020-
Clinical Research Project Manager
Interests: OA knee and lower back pain studies.
Contact at: elizabeth.yan@northwestern.edu, 312-503-6458Tiana Zdravkovich MPH
Years with Lab: 2018-
Clinical Research Project Manager
Interests: I enjoy various aspects of the clinical research, from the point when our subjects enter the trial through their last visit. I oversee their daily activities, and make sure that they come for their visits and use their assigned study treatments.
Contact at: tiana.zdravkovich@northwestern.edu, 312-503-9915Sam Shah BS, CCRC
Years with Lab: 2018-
Clinical Research Project Manager
Interests: Knee/hip pain, Back pain, Diabetic Neuropathy pain, Pain Management
Contact at: samantha.shah@northwestern.edu, 312-503-4665Byron Yip MSc, CCRP
Years with Lab: 2017-
Clinical Research Project Manager
Interests: Chronic low back pain, clinical trial design, protocol development, and data analysis
Contact at: b-yip@northwestern.edu, 312-503-4856Maryam Abdallah BS, CRC, pharmacy technician
Years with Lab: 2017-
Clinical Research Project Manager
Interests: addiction, opioid misuse disorder, opioid research, pain, brain, unblinded pharmacist, fMRI, NIH Toolbox, blood draws
Contact at: maryam.abdallah1@northwestern.edu, (312) 503-4597Research Assistants
Stephanie-Dee Sarovich BA
Years with Lab: 2019-
Research Assistant
Interests: Osteoarthritis, Low Back Pain, and Diabetic Neuropathy pain clinical research studies
Contact at: stephaniedee.sarovich@northwestern.edu, 312-503-4163Chorine Adewale BA
Years with Lab: 2020-
Research Assistant
Interests: I enjoy participant facing work which includes recruitment, clinical assessments, and survey administration. I am currently most involved with trials focusing on chronic back pain and osteoarthritis of the knee.
Contact at: chorine.adewale@northwestern.edu, 312-503-4651Aleksandra Savich BA
Years with Lab: 2021-
Research Assistant
Interests: My interests incldue working one on one with patients and making sure they’re in a comfortable environment. I also like that my lab practices overlook a spectrum of pain types that are covered by different treatment methods. I make sure that I do my part to collect and process lab specimens correctly for easier result readings
Contact at: aleksandra.savich@northwestern.eduPostdoctoral Fellows
Joana Barroso MD, MSc
Years with Lab: 2018-
Postdoctoral Fellow
Interests: Data Analysis; Osteoarthritis Pain; Brain adaptations in chronic pain
Contact at: joana.barroso.monteiro@northwestern.edu, 312-503-0683Undergraduate and High School Students
Siddharth Tiwari
Years with Lab: 2020-
High School Student
Interests: Data Analysis (R, Python); Chronic Pain; fMRI + EEG scanning
Contact at: stiwari@imsa.edu