Our 2023 Faculty
Andrew Barnes, MD, MPH, FAAP
Dr. Barnes is Associate Professor in Pediatrics and Adolescent Health, Developmental-Behavioral Pediatrics at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN Dr. Barnes has served as the webmaster and listserv manager for NPHTI, and has also served in leadership roles in the Minnesota Society of Clinical Hypnosis. His clinical work with children and families focuses on helping children gain mastery of their own mind-body interactions. Some of the ways that he helps children become more competent in this regard includes teaching them how to use biofeedback, mindfulness, and self-hypnosis to help themselves better regulate their own thoughts, feelings, and actions. His research focuses on promoting resilience in children under stress, and on the interplay between behavior and biology, with recent work focusing on the well-being of children growing up in homeless families. His clinical and scientific contributions in these areas have been published in top peer-reviewed journals including Pediatrics and The Journal of Pediatrics. He has been acknowledged annually since 2015 as a regional “top doctor” by both Minnesota Monthly and Mpls-St. Paul magazines. He is the recipient of the 2015 Daniel P. Kohen Outstanding Clinician Award from the Minnesota Society of Clinical Hypnosis (MSCH), and 2017 Presidential Award for Service from MSCH.
David K Becker, MD, MPH, MA, LMFT
Dr. Becker is Clinical Professor at the UCSF Department of Pediatrics; UCSF Osher Center for Integrative Medicine and Co-Medical Director, IP3 Pediatric Pain Management Clinic. He has extensive training and clinical experience with integrative medicine, mind-body strategies, chronic pain management, and clinical psychology. Dr. Becker sees children and young adults with a range of chronic and complex medical issues, with a focus on chronic pain. He also does mental health counseling for children and young adults through their mid-twenties, focusing on anxiety, depression, and other behavior concerns, as well as family therapy. Dr. Becker received his medical degree, Master’s in Public Health, and pediatric residency training from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Additional post-graduate training includes the Fellowship in Integrative Medicine at the University of Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine, a master’s degree in Clinical Psychology from the Wright Institute, and a three-year psychotherapy internship at the San Francisco Psychotherapy Research Group. He has also received additional training in mind-body skills and chronic pain management, in addition to completing the Teaching Scholars Program at UCSF. Dr. Becker has a background in global humanitarian aid work with several relief organizations, including Doctors Without Borders. He teaches and lectures nationally and internationally on integrative medicine, mental health, chronic pain management, and mind-body strategies.
Cheryl S. Bemel, PhD, LP, NCSP, CTTS
Dr. Bemel is a Licensed Child/Adolescent Psychologist, Nationally Certified School Psychologist, and a member of the Minnesota Behavioral Health Medical Reserve Corps. She is the President of the Minnesota Society of Clinical Hypnosis, MSCH. Dr. Bemel is an Approved Consultant with the American Society of Clinical Hypnosis. With special expertise in assisting those experiencing crisis, trauma, and other emergencies, she has provided Psychological First Aid at disaster sites (e.g. Houston and Dallas following Hurricane Harvey) as a member of the Minnesota Behavioral Health Medical Reserve Corps; trauma services within Minneapolis Police Department’s Child Development Policing Project; and interventions as a Crisis Psychologist in hospital emergency rooms. In her current private practice, she sees children, teens, and adults targeting habit control, heathier relationships with food, trauma treatment, healing from chronic pain, and successfully living with chronic health conditions. With further advanced training (National Certificate in Tobacco Treatment Practice (NCTTP0), Dr. Bemel also assists adolescents to become non-smokers.
F. Ralph Berberich, MD, FAAP
Frederick Bogin, MD
Dr. Bogin is retired Assistant Professor in Pediatrics, University of Connecticut School of Medicine and maintains a part-time private practice at CLINIC Alternative Medicines in Northampton, MA Fred is a graduate of Yale College (BA) and New York Medical College (MD). He completed his pediatric residency at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine. He did a one year “mini-fellowship” in Developmental-Behavioral Pediatrics and is Board Certified in that subspecialty. Fred spent the last 15 years of his career as the Director of the Pediatric Primary Care Center at Saint Francis Hospital in Hartford, CT. During that time he was an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine. Fred attended his first Pediatric Hypnosis training in 1979 and has been involved in further education and clinical practice of pediatric hypnotherapy since that time. He is a member of ASCH.
Camilla Gabriella Ceppi Cozzio, MD, FMH
Dr. Ceppi Cozzio maintains a private practice in Zollikon, Switzerland. She is a Member of Swiss Society of Pediatrics; Certified Physician, Member of Swiss Medical Society of Hypnosis (SMSH), Swiss Academy of Psychosomatic and Psychosocial Medicine (SAPPM). ASCH: International Member. Early in her professional career she worked in a Romanian orphanage. She has been a research assistant at the Department of Neurology of University of California Medical School (San Francisco) and has contributed to developing an assessment score of coordination of eye movements in premature born infants. Dr. Ceppi Cozzio has been using hypnosis as part of her general pediatric practice for 10 years. She uses medical hypnosis for the treatment of headaches, sleeping disorders, nocturnal enuresis (bedwetting), Functional Abdominal Pain (FAP), tics and acute pain management. As a teacher she’s involved in the course of advanced studies in child development and the education of medical students of the University of Zurich. She’s active lecturing locally and nationally on hypnosis (Kindertagung Heidelberg 2016; 61 st Annual Meeting of the Society of Thrombosis and Hemostasis research Basel 2017). The SMSH approved Consultant.
Candace J. Erickson, MD, MPH, FAAP
Dr. Erickson is Associate Professor of Clinical Pediatrics at the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons and Director of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics at The Brooklyn Hospital Center, New York, NY In 1987, Dr. Erickson developed and implemented the first 3-day, skill building Clinical Hypnosis Workshop for pediatric health care professionals as a pre-meeting workshop of the Society for Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics (SDBP) Annual Scientific Meetings. For 22 years, Dr. Erickson was Course Director, SDBP Pediatric Clinical Hypnosis Workshops, bringing together a core teaching faculty (now NPHTI’s senior faculty): she received a SDBP Award for this service. Dr. Erickson has been senior faculty since NPHTI’s inception in 2010. For 39 years Dr. Erickson has directed and/or taught skill building pediatric hypnosis workshops at various hospitals, mental health programs, hypnosis societies, and various national professional conferences. Dr. Erickson has done research on the use of self-hypnosis by children with sickle cell anemia and on the perceptions of hypnosis and biofeedback among inner-city Hispanic children and their families. She received a NIMH Clinical Investigator Award for her study of Coping with Chronic illness in Children. For 20 years, she was the Director of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics at Columbia University’s Children’s Hospital of New York Presbyterian. Dr. Erickson was a Curriculum Committee member that formulated the proposed curriculum requirements for fellowship training programs with the newly created Subspecialty Board of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics. Dr. Erickson developed a DBP fellowship training program at Columbia University’s Babies Hospital and other DBP residency training programs. Dr. Erickson held various leadership position with SDBP, including was a founding Executive Council member, Chair of Constitution Committee, and Program Director. SDBP gave her a 5 year Service Award as Director of their Annual Scientific Meetings and a second award on SDBP’s 20th anniversary for Developing and Directing the Clinical Hypnosis Workshops.
Melanie A. Gold, DO, DABMA, DMQ, FAAP, FACOP
Dr. Gold is Professor, of Adolescent Medicine, at Columbia University Medical Center; Professor, in the Department of Population & Family Health, Mailman School of Public Health and Medical Director, School Based Health Centers at New York Presbyterian Hospital. Dr. Gold serves on the Executive Committee of the American Academy of Pediatrics Section on Integrative Medicine and was a former board member of the American Academy for Medical Acupuncture. She is a Diplomat of the American Board of Medical Acupuncture and holds a Doctorate in Medical Qi Gong. Dr. Gold has been a Motivational Interviewing Network Trainer since 2000 and has conduct numerous trainings on Motivational Interviewing (MI) and behavior change counseling for the health care setting with health care professionals. Dr. Gold started using hypnosis in 1993 and has been teaching pediatric clinical hypnosis since 1996. With NICHD funding, Dr. Gold studied the effectiveness of MI for reducing sexual risk taking behaviors that lead to unintended pregnancy and STDs. She is Co-PI of a $3.6 million 5-year CDC and Office of Adolescent Health-funded study to modify and rigorously test her computer-assisted MI intervention to help young men avoid involvement in teen pregnancies. Dr. Gold has been training clinicians to provide adolescents long acting reversible contraceptive services and integrative health services within the school based health setting since 2014. Dr. Gold is the president and founder of Renaissance Research and Educational Consulting, Inc. (RRECI), a consulting firm offering health care professionals training, mentoring, and research consultation for various current life style and health-related issues.
Howard Hall, PhD, PsyD, BCB
Dr. Hall is Professor in the Departments of Pediatrics, Division of Developmental/Behavioral Pediatrics and Psychology at Case Medical Center, Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital. He is Board Certified in Biofeedback (BCB) and an ASCH Approved Consultant. Dr. Hall is recognized worldwide as a pioneer in integrative health care. He has been a visiting professor on pain management and healing research in Iraq, Egypt and Jordan. His research experience spans more than 25 years and includes studies on rapid wound healing, hypnosis and the immune system, and integrative techniques for pain management. Dr. Hall has published nearly three dozen articles in professional journals, co-authored two books on healing and contributed more than a dozen textbook chapters. His clinical integrative practice employs hypnosis, biofeedback, and mind/body/holistic approaches for patients with complex medical symptoms. He holds two doctorate degrees, a Ph.D. in experimental psychology (Princeton); a Psy.D. (Rutgers) in clinical psychology. He is boarded in general biofeedback by the Biofeedback Certification Institute of America. He is also an Approved Consultant with the American Society for Clinical Hypnosis and a senior teaching faculty member of the National Pediatric Hypnosis Training Institute. His BS (Delaware State University) was in Psychology, minors in Music and Philosophy. Dr. Hall’s latest global work is on Sufi rapid wound healing research and was featured on the National Geographic channel. He also enjoys teaching residents, interns, and fellows his unique clinical approaches. Dr. Hall is also a sports psychologist previously with the Penn. State football team, and has worked with the Case’s men soccer team utilizing hypnosis, biofeedback and lifestyle analyses. Dr. Hall is currently a member of Rainbow Sports Medicine program.
Rebecca L. Kajander, MPH, APRN, CPMHS, BSB
Rebecca retired in 2015 from the Noran Neurological Clinic in Minnetonka, Minnesota and is currently an Associate at Partners In Resilience. She also teaches self-regulation skills at NewBridge Clinic. She is completing certification in Yoga Calm – a yoga program for all ages that combines Hatha yoga with mindfulness, nervous system self-regulation, and social/emotional support. One of her areas of expertise and passion is teaching mind/body/skills to children and adolescents for health and management of chronic health issues. Ms. Kajander lectures locally and nationally on hypnosis, biofeedback, mindfulness, stress management and resiliency since the 1980s. Certified as a Pediatric Nurse Practitioner, Pediatric Mental Health Specialist, and Biofeedback Specialist, her career path spanned Primary Care, Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics, and Neurology. For many years, she served as the Department Chair and Program Director of the Alexander Center for Child Development and Behavior, Park Nicollet Clinic in St. Louis Park Minnesota and as adjunct faculty at the University of Minnesota. While at the Noran Clinic for Neurology Rebecca provided mind/body skills training including biofeedback, hypnosis, and life style strategies to children and adolescents with chronic pain. She has taught medical school students, residents, and fellows and UMN Graduate School nurses. She has lectured on the integration of hypnosis and biofeedback for ASCH and MNSCH. She has been a senior faculty member with NPHTI since its inception. Rebecca earned her BSN, PNP and MPH from the University of Minnesota. She was also certified as a YogaKids Instructor and is currently studying Yoga Calm. She has trained in integrative medicine with James Gordon’s Mind/Body/Spirit and Henry Emmons’ Pathways to Resilience. Ms Kajander received the Pediatric Nurse Practitioner of the Year Award in 2000 and Distinguished Nurse Award, U of Minnesota School of Nursing in 2011. She is the author of 5 books for children including Living with ADHD: A Guide for Living with Attention Deficit Disorder and co-author of the Be the Boss of Your Body series with Timothy Culbert, MD.
Adam Keating, MD, FAAP
Dr. Keating is Section Head of Community Pediatrics at Cleveland Clinic Children’s in Wooster, Ohio and Quality Improvement Officer at Cleveland Clinic Community Pediatrics. He is Former Medical Director, Longbrake Student Wellness Center The College of Wooster; Clinical Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine; Clinical Associate Professor of Pediatrics, Ohio University Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine. Dr. Keating has been using hypnosis as part of his general pediatric practice for his entire career, since being first introduced to hypnosis in his 3rd year of medical school at the University of Rochester. He is an American Society of Clinical Hypnosis (ASCH) Approved Consultant. He is a member for the American Academy of Pediatrics Section for Complementary and Alternative Medicine. In addition to his community based pediatric practice, he regularly teaches medical students in the clinical setting, serves at primary care physician to the youth in The Village Network Wooster residential facility, and works to integrate mental health and primary care for the Cleveland Clinic Children’s population transformations.
Daniel P. Kohen, MD, FAAP, ABMH
NPHTI Board of Directors Member-at-Large
Dr. Kohen is NPHTI Co-Founder/Director of Education and is a Developmental-Behavioral Pediatrician now retired from clinical practice with Kohen Therapy Associates, Minnetonka, MN, and a retired Professor of Pediatrics and Family Medicine and Community Health in the Departments of Pediatrics and Family Medicine and Community Health, University of Minnesota. He is the Former Director, Fellowship Training in Developmental-Behavioral Pediatrics, Department of Pediatrics, University of Minnesota. Dr. Kohen is a Diplomate of the American Board of Pediatrics and the American Board of Medical Hypnosis and is a Fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Society of Clinical Hypnosis, and the Society of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis. He has been honored with multiple awards for scientific writing in clinical hypnosis and for clinical excellence and education in Pediatrics and Pediatric Clinical Hypnosis by local, national, and international hypnosis organizations. Dr. Kohen has published over 100 scientific publications including manuscripts in peer-reviewed publications, books, book chapters, and Abstracts. With Dr. Karen Olness he wrote the textbook, Hypnosis and Hypnotherapy with Children, now re-named Hypnosis with Children, in its fifth edition (2023). He has also created dozens of educational video recordings of clinical encounters illustrating and elucidating therapeutic encounters in pediatric clinical hypnosis. Dr. Kohen is past-President of and examiner for the American Board of Medical Hypnosis, past-President of the Minnesota Society of Clinical Hypnosis, and in 2016 completed 30 years as Director of Education and Training for the Minnesota Society of Clinical Hypnosis. He is the former Director of Fellowship Training in Developmental-Behavioral Pediatrics, Department of Pediatrics, University of Minnesota and previously was the Associate Director of Medical Education, Minneapolis Children’s Medical Center (1978-1986) and Director of the Emergency Room, Minneapolis Children’s Medical Center (1978-1981). Dr. Kohen graduated from the Wayne State University School of Medicine (Detroit, MI) and completed Pediatric Residency training at the Children’s Hospital of Michigan in Detroit and the Oklahoma Children’s Memorial Hospital in Oklahoma City. Dr. Kohen served as a Commissioned Officer in the Division of Indian Health of the U.S. Public Health Service (1971-1978).
Harriet Kohen, MA, MSW, LICSW, CPT
Harriet is Clinical Social Worker at Kohen Therapy Associates in Minnetonka, Minnesota Her particular passion is working with individuals with chronic conditions and treating anxiety. Formerly, she worked at the University of Minnesota Adolescent Health Program (managing and coordinating research focused on children with disabilities, and organizing conferences to develop policy focused on children with disabilities in communities of color), and at UMN Children’s Hospital as a social worker in pediatric oncology, NICU, and Blood and Marrow Transplant program, and at Children’s Hospitals and Clinics. She has been in private practice since 2008. Ms. Kohen is the Past President and a Fellow of the Minnesota Society of Clinical Social Workers. She is a member and faculty member of the Minnesota Society of Clinical Hypnosis. She is also the Credential Chair of the International Federation of Biblio/Poetry Therapy and is a Certified Poetry Therapist who utilizes expressive writing and poetry in her practice for exploring and strengthening self-expression.
Leora Kuttner, PhD
Dr. Kuttner is Clinical Professor of Pediatrics at the University of British Columbia and BC Children’s Hospital, in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Dr. Kuttner is the recipient of the American Pain Society’s Jeffrey Lawson Award for Advocacy in Children’s Pain Relief in 2007, and is internationally recognized for her work in pain management. She has published over 45 Journal articles and has written two books, the most recent A Child in Pain, What Health Professional can do to Help (2010) has been translated into Italian, French and Mandarin. As a documentary filmmaker, Dr. Kuttner has co-produced and directed the award-winning documentaries: “No Fears, No Tears – Children Coping With Pain” (1985) on hypnosis to alleviate procedural cancer pain management; “No Fears, No Tears – 13 Years Later” (1998) on the long-term benefits of hypnosis for children and teens with cancer; with The National Film Board of Canada “Making Every Moment Count” (2003) on state the art pediatric palliative care and “Dancing with Pain” (2013) exploring chronic pain treatment in teens through the lens of dance. Dr. Kuttner was trained in Hypnosis in 1976 has taught pain management and pediatric hypnosis since 1987 to pediatric professionals in hospitals throughout Europe, the Middle East, Australia, New Zealand and Asia. She taught with The Society of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics from 1987 and with NPHTI since it’s founding in 2010 and as co-coordinator of the Advanced workshop. She has been on the Board of the Canadian Clinical Hypnosis Society (BC Division) since 1987 and is an approved ASCH Consultant. Dr. Kuttner was awarded the Vancouver Woman of Distinction for Health and Wellness in 1998.
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Lisa Lombard, PhD
President,
NPHTI Board of Directors
Dr. Lombard is a clinical psychologist in private practice in Chicago. She is a psychological advisor to start-up tech company, Alerje and Founder of the Comfort Kits for Children Initiative. She is a former Research Assistant Professor at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and school-based psychologist. She has over 30 years of direct service, teaching, and supervisory experience. She integrates mind-body skills in her therapeutic work with children, families, and adults as they cope with anxiety, stress-mediated health concerns, and pain. She also treats children and adults experiencing unexpected grief and loss, sometimes described as traumatic bereavement. For over 10 years she delivered services within a preschool and elementary school, in addition to her private practice. This was an opportunity to therapeutically work directly with children in a school setting and to provide parent guidance, clinical supervision to trainees, and consultation on topics such as risk behaviors, trauma, SEL, and screen-time to educators. Dr. Lombard is interested in exploring the overlap between the devices we use, the social media we participate in, the multiple forms of media surrounding us in our everyday lives and nurturing healthy families. From early 2020 to summer of 2022, she was on the faculty of Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Department of Medical Social Sciences, Center for Food Allergy and Asthma Research, as a research assistant professor. She applied her knowledge of stress management skills (like mindfulness, hypnosis, and guided imagery) to better understand and meet the psycho-emotional needs of those with food allergies, eczema, and atopic disease. She led behavioral health initiatives within the Center and the launch of a free digital behavioral health tool for parents during the pandemic. In addition to curated wellness resources, it included mindfulness practices and other stress management exercises for parents and children. In March 2022 she began the Comfort Kits for Children Initiative, part of her leadership activities as President of the Board of Directors of the National Pediatric Hypnosis Training Institute (NPHTI). This initiative, Comfort Kits for Children, is now a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization and has provided over 300 Comfort Kits to children impacted by the war in Ukraine (in addition to maintaining a website of curated behavioral health resources). She has broadened the mission to serve Chicagoland children who have experienced gun shootings and other traumatic events. In Fall 2022 she will provide Comfort Kits to an under-resourced Chicago school and other community partners in need. Comfort Kits are accompanied by expert guidance, in both written and webinar formats. Dr. Lombard earned her BA (Behavioral Sciences) and PhD (Psychology/Human Development) from the University of Chicago and completed an APA-approved internship at the Illinois State Psychiatric Institute. She is an ASCH Approved Consultant in hypnosis. She is an active leader in several professional organizations (President of the Board of Directors of the National Pediatric Hypnosis Training Institute, a member of the Council of Representatives of the American Psychological Association (Division 30), and President of the Chicago Society of Clinical Hypnosis). Throughout the pandemic she has provided free weekly virtual mindfulness sessions for her community and colleagues.
Robert A. Pendergrast, Jr., MD, MPH, FAAP
Treasurer,
NPHTI Board of Directors
Dr. Pendergrast is Professor of Pediatrics and Director of Adolescent Medicine, Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University. He completed Pediatrics Residency and a Fellowship in Adolescent Medicine at the University of Mississippi Medical Center, Jackson, MS. After a graduate degree in Public Health at Johns Hopkins University, he has spent his career teaching medical students and pediatric residents in the context of pediatric primary care of children and teens. Since 1997 he has been the director of Adolescent Medicine at the Medical College of Georgia. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics and an Approved Consultant in clinical hypnosis, American Society of Clinical Hypnosis. After beginning training in clinical hypnosis in 2002, he started the Pediatric Mind-Body Program at MCG in 2003, serving children and teens with chronic pain and other chronic medical conditions. In 2005 he completed the Fellowship at the Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine, University of Arizona Health Sciences Center and has since contributed to editing portions of their online curriculum in nutritional medicine. He is a founding member of the Section on Integrative Medicine of the American Academy of Pediatrics. He has been part of NPHTI’s Core Faculty since 2012. He has authored and co-authored a number of medical research articles and book chapters, and has published research through the Georgia Prevention Institute on the effects of meditation on cardiovascular disease risk factors in youth. He was honored by the MCG School of Medicine class of 2004 by being voted their Educator of the Year. He has received the Exemplary Teacher Award in the Department of Pediatrics six times since 2010. Major clinical and teaching interests include adolescent primary care, nutrition, doctor-patient communication, cancer and other disease prevention, and clinical hypnosis. His book Breast Cancer: Reduce Your Risk with Foods You Love was a Finalist in the Indie Excellence National Book Awards competition in 2011.
Teresa Quinn, MD, FAAFP, ABMH
Dr. Quinn is Assistant Professor in the Department of Family Medicine and Community Health at the University of Minnesota/Methodist Hospital Family Medicine Residency, St. Louis Park. She received her MD degree from the University of Wisconsin Medical School and completed family medicine residency at St. Paul Ramsey Medical Center (now Regions) in St. Paul, MN. She is a member of the Minnesota Society of Clinical Hypnosis. She recertified with the American Board of Family Medicine in 2016 and recertified the CAQ in geriatrics in 2014. She is a member of the AAFP and American Geriatrics Association. She was a Bush Medical Fellow in 2007. Dr. Quinn has facilitated NPHTI’s small groups since 2010, and has used clinical hypnosis in her practice since 1982.
Laurence I. Sugarman, MD, FAAP, ABMH
Faculty since 2010
Dr. Sugarman is Research Professor and Director of the Center for Applied Psychophysiology and Self-regulation in the College of Health Sciences and Technology at the Rochester Institute of Technology. He is also a developmental and behavioral pediatrician at the Easter Seals Diagnostic and Treatment Center in Rochester, New York; and Clinical Professor in Pediatrics at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry. He received his MD magna cum laude from the University of Missouri School of Medicine and completed residency and Senior Chief Residency in pediatrics at the University of Rochester. For his two decades after residency, Dr. Sugarman ran a solo, community-based primary care practice. During this time he developed an interest in clinical strategies that effectively increase resilience and coping skills including biofeedback and hypnosis. Through his training, practice, teaching and writing he has emerged as an international leader in the clinical integration of self-regulation strategies with children. He is an Approved Consultant and Fellow in the American Society of Clinical Hypnosis (ASCH), for which he has served as Vice President and Co-Director of Education. He is immediate Past President and current Vice-President of the American Board of Medical Hypnosis, the credentialing body for competency in clinical hypnosis for US physicians. He was on the teaching faculty for the SDBP Clinical Hypnosis Workshops from 1997-2009 and the National Pediatric Hypnosis Training Institute since inception in 2010. He lectures and trains professionals in pediatric hypnosis, biofeedback and self-regulation internationally. He was also an Executive Committee member of the Section on Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics of the American Academy of Pediatrics. Dr. Sugarman has authored numerous papers, audio-recordings, book chapters and produced an internationally acclaimed video-documentary, Hypnosis in Pediatric Practice: Imaginative Medicine in Action. With Dr. William Wester, Dr. Sugarman has co-authored and co-edited the text, Therapeutic Hypnosis with Children and Adolescents now in its second edition. At RIT his work has focused on how best to evoke the abilities of young people with autism spectrum disorder to control their own stress with a combination computerized biofeedback and hypnotic techniques as well as developing pedagogy for continuing professional development in psychophysiological care. He has received numerous awards and citations for his efforts in this field, the essence of which, he writes, “is exploring and investing in the therapeutic potential of each child’s imagination.”
Jody Thomas, PhD
Dr. Thomas is a Licensed Clinical Psychologist in Denver, Colorado and Adjunct Faculty in the Stanford Department of Psychiatry. A well-known expert in pediatric pain, she is also a founder and the former Clinical Director of the Packard Pediatric Pain Rehabilitation Center at Stanford. She is a former Assistant Professor at the Stanford University School of Medicine, and currently serves as Adjunct Faculty providing supervision and teaching for faculty and trainees in Stanford’s Department of Psychiatry. As an active consultant for the Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford, she directs projects for the institution on the integration and innovation of pain management and hypnosis. Her current projects include developing video based interventions to empower children and families around issues of pain management (“You Are The Boss of Your Brain”: https://youtu.be/UbK9FFoAcvs). Recently, she has also partnered with Dr. Leora Kuttner to found and serve as Executive Director of the Meg Foundation, a non-profit dedicated to closing the gap between research and clinical practice regarding pain prevention and management in children through empowerment and education. She currently practices in Denver, Colorado.
Previous Faculty
NPHTI thanks our faculty who are no longer active for their service and contributions to our organization.
Timothy P. Culbert, MD, FAAP, ABMH, BCB
Assistant Professor of Clinical Pediatrics, Department of Pediatrics, University of Minnesota; Medical Director, Center for Integrative Pediatrics and Family Wellness, Ridgeview Medical Center; Board Certified in Biofeedback (BCIA), Medical Hypnosis (ABMH), Holistic Medicine (ABHIM) and Developmental/Behavioral Pediatrics (ABP)
Carla Frankenhuis, RN
Bryan Kono, MD
Integrative pediatrician; founder of Highlands Integrative Pediatrics in Denver; Clinical Instructor at the University of Colorado School of Medicine.
Kate Pfaffinger, PhD, LP, BSN, MSPH
Health psychologist and consultant in private practice
David Wark, PhD
Emeritus Professor of Psychology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN; Past President, MSCH; Board Member, International Society of Hypnosis; Past President, Fellow, and Approved Consultant, ASCH; Fellow, SCEH
Lynda Richtsmeier Cyr, PhD
Licensed Clinical Psychologist in private practice in Golden Valley, Minnesota; Associate Clinical Director, The Center for Mind-Body Medicine (CMBM), senior faculty for CMBM Global Trauma Programs in the U.S., Haiti, Israel and Gaza
Kevin Harrington, PhD
Private Practice, Bloomington, MN
Jeff Lazarus, MD, FAAP
Pediatrician in private practice in Menlo Park, California.
Eileen Poulin, MD, FAAP
General pediatrician in Portland, Maine; Assistant Professor in the Department of Pediatrics at Tufts Medical School (Maine Medical Center Campus); faculty and attending physician with Maine Medical Partners: Pediatric Clinic at Maine Medical Center in Portland, Maine.
The Rev. James W. Warnke, MA, MSW, LCSW
Former President, Member of the Board of Directors, and Faculty Member of the New York Milton H. Erickson Society for Psychotherapy and Hypnosis
Bob Deutsch, PhD
Private Practice in Adult, Child & Family Psychology, West Hartford, CT; Allied Health Professional (Division of Psychiatry) & Consulting Psychologist (Department of Hematology-Oncology) at CT Children’s Medical Center; Consulting Psychologist, Social Security Department Bureau of Disability, Hartford, CT; ASCH Approved Consultant
Pamela Kaiser, PhD, CPNP, CNS
Child/adolescent psychologist, pediatric nurse practitioner, pediatric clinical nurse specialist, and developmental specialist. She is Co-Founder of NPHTI, a founding member of NPHTI’s Board of Directors, and NPHTI Co-director of Education (2010 – 2021).
Karen Olness, MD, FAAP, ABMH
Board certified in Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics and Professor Emerita of Pediatrics, Global Health and Diseases at Case Western Reserve University in Ohio; Inaugural President of the NPHTI Board of Directors (2016-2020), NPHTI Co-director of Education (2010-2021), and past president of the American Society of Clinical Hypnosis, the Society for Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, the American Board of Hypnosis, the International Society of Hypnosis and the Society for Developmental Behavioral Pediatrics.
Michele Semerit Strachan, MD
Director of Medicine at the Cultural Wellness Center in Minneapolis, MN.
Mark Weisberg, PhD, ABPP, LP
Licensed Clinical Health Psychologist in private practice in Minneapolis, MN.
Elaine Wynne, MA, LP
Licensed Psychologist in Minnesota;
President/Founder of the Veteran Resilience Project.