Theresa is an Adult Nurse Practitioner with over 27 years’ experience at Stanford Health Care in Palo Alto, California. She received her graduate degree from University of California, San Francisco.
Theresa’s current clinical practice within the Division of Pain Medicine, focuses primarily on evaluation and treatment of individuals suffering from acute and chronic pain conditions in both the hospital and outpatient settings. Her subspecialty within the Division of Pain Medicine is diagnosis and management of chronic headache. She also has an interest in pain in pregnancy and recently published a book, “Holistic Pain Management in Pregnancy”.
As part of her commitment to education and professional development, she lectures extensively on topics surrounding pain management both locally and regionally. She has authored and co-authored numerous articles, abstracts, and book chapters on topics pertaining to pain assessment and management. As part of her commitment to safety and ethical treatment of patients with pain; Theresa has provided services as an independent expert witness on issues related to pain management and treatment.
Theresa is currently involved in multidisciplinary research and education projects at Stanford University and Medical Center involving compassionate opioid weaning through the EMPOWER study, as well as providing guided motivational counseling to patients recovering from surgery, as part of the PROMPT trial. Theresa is actively involved in multiple professional organizations including: The American Association of Nurse Practitioners, California Association of Nurse Practitioners and American Academy of Pain Medicine. She is on the editorial advisory board of Practical Pain Management and contributes a quarterly article for the Advanced Practice Provider. Theresa is the past co-chair of the pain management special practice group at AANP, as well as the current co-chair of the APRN/PA special interest group at AAPM.
Amongst her numerous honors, the two that stand out as the most treasured were awarded by peer nomination, Nurse Practitioner of the Year (Pain Medicine) – Point of Care Network in 2019 & 2021 & 2022, and Advanced Practice Provider of the Year – Stanford Health Care in 2015.
