Chair: President: Mariona Mulet Pradera
President-Elect: Michele Schultz-Robins
Treasurer: Isabel Moreno Hay
Secretary: Brijesh Chandwani
Secretary-Elect: Thomas Weber
Council Chair: Jeffrey Goldberg
Council Vice-Chair: Robert Mier Executive
Director: Allan O’Bryan

Access to Care

Chair: Andres Pinto

Budget

Chair: Michele Schultz-Robins

The Budget Committee of the AAOP is responsible for strategic financial planning and oversight to ensure the Academy’s financial health and alignment with its mission. This committee develops the annual budget, allocates resources to support AAOP programs and initiatives, and collaborates with various committees to identify budget needs. Additionally, the Budget Committee oversees surplus funds, manages investments, and ensures transparency and accountability in financial practices to sustain the organization’s long-term growth and stability. The Committee is to present their proposed itemized budget for Council approval, 30 days prior to the Annual Meeting.

Constitution and Bylaws

Chair: Maureen Lang

Continuing Education Oversight Committee
Co-Chair: Gary D. Klasser
Co-Chair: (President-Elect) Michele Schultz-Robins

The Continuing Education Oversight Committee (CEOC) functions to oversee continuing education learning for the members of the AAOP and the community at large. The committee’s membership includes distinguished leaders, such as the past president and president-elect as co-chairs, along with the CERP compliance chair, the annual scientific meeting chairs, the poster committee chair for the scientific meeting, and the chairs of the Online Learning Committee and their team members. The CEOC’s goals are the following:

• Advance Professional Development -Drive ongoing growth across fields with exceptional in-person and online continuing education programs. We work closely with program and poster chairs to ensure each year’s annual scientific meeting offers enriching, relevant education.
• Guarantee Quality Standards -Maintain excellence in course design, delivery, and assessment, adhering to CERP compliance for all educational offerings.
• Expand Accessibility-Provide continuing education that is accessible to a wide range of professionals, supporting diversity and inclusion.
• Promote Lifelong Learning- Encourage a culture of continuous learning to inspire professionals in every stage of their careers.
• Stay Aligned with Industry trends- Utilize emerging technology to create innovative learning experiences that meet current industry needs and keep pace with evolving trends.
• Meet Regularly for Improvement-The Continuing Education Workgroup meets at least twice a year, including in person at the annual scientific meeting, to assess progress in online learning. Additional meetings are held electronically as needed.
• Evaluate and Review feedback from the annual scientific meeting within five months of its conclusion to continuously enhance our programs.

Program 2025 – Arlington, VA

Seema Kurup
Steven Bender

Program 2026 – Orlando, FL

James Hawkins
Nojan Bahktiari

Posters

Maria Hernandez

Online Learning

Fernanda Yanez

Webinars

Ghabi Kaspo

Ethics and Grievances

Chair: Jennifer Bassiur

Guidelines

Co-Chair: Marcela Romero-Reyes
Co-Chair: James Hawkins
Advisor/Consultant: Gary D. Klasser

Industry Relations

Chair: Maram Taema

The industry relations committee’s purpose is mainly to promote collaboration among orofacial pain industry leaders and professionals to encourage innovation and growth in our field. We aim to support AAOP members in their professional development while contributing to the industry’s overall progress.

Our key activities include building partnerships and securing sponsorships for our annual meetings, participating in networking events, as well as supporting industry standards and best practices. Additionally, we work on addressing emerging trends and challenges, ensuring our members stay well-informed and ahead in this rapidly evolving field.

International Academy Liaison Committee

Chair: Ghabi Kaspo

Marketing and Communications Committee

Chair: Amittrej Virk

Membership/Member Relations

Co-Chair: Jasjot Sahni Co-Chair: Julie Robinson Smith

Mentorship Committee

Chair: Seema Kurup

Nominating Committee

Chair: Bob Mier

Past Presidents (Ad Hoc) Chair:

Donald Tanenbaum

Physical Therapy

Chair: Janey Prodoehl

The AAOP Physical Therapy committee is comprised of a few AAOP physical therapist (PT) affiliate members and one AAOP dentist member. The committee provides a communication bridge amongst AAOP dentist members, PT affiliate members, and the Physical Therapy Board of Craniofacial & Cervical Therapeutics (PTBCCT).The committee also facilitates inter-professional activities and disperses evidence based knowledge in the field of orofacial pain. It contributes educational content to AAOP’s scientific meetings and continuing education activities. In addition, the AAOP Physical Therapy committee will bring forward to AAOP any issues or concerns relevant to the field of orofacial pain.

Professional Relations

Chair: Sherwin Arman Publications
Chair: Lauren Levi

Research

Chair: Ian Boggero

The research committee is dedicated to advancing the research arm of the American Academy of Orofacial Pain. Activities of the research committee are entirely donor-funded and include, but are not limited to, sponsoring an annual research grant award, providing letters of support for eligible research led by AAOP members, and providing feedback on research projects of research-oriented orofacial pain residents. We are always looking for new and creative ways to expand the research infrastructure of the AAOP. If you are interested in joining the committee, please email the committee chair and [email protected]. Membership on the committee is entirely voluntary and new members serve terms of 1 year or longer which begin in May of each calendar year. Acceptance to the committee depends on available space on the committee, and the only requirements for serving on the committee are AAOP membership and having a strong interest in advancing AAOP’s research presence.

Resident/Academic Training Committee

Co-Chair: Hong Chen
Co-Chair: Sowmya Ananthan

Sleep Medicine

Co-Chair: Alex Vaughan
Co-Chair: Jeffry Shaefer

Strategic Plan Steering

Co-Chair: Nojan Bahktiari
Co-Chair: Maureen Lang