Our Team

Tonya M Palermo, PhD

Dr. Tonya Palermo is Professor of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine at University of Washington with adjunct appointments in Pediatrics and Psychiatry. She holds the Hughes M. and Katherine Blake Endowed Professorship in Health Psychology. Dr. Palermo serves as Vice Chair for Research for the Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine. At Seattle Children’s Research Institute, Dr. Palermo serves as Interim Director of the Center for Child Health, Behavior and Development. Dr. Palermo completed her undergraduate training at UCLA in Psychology and her PhD at Case Western Reserve University in Clinical Psychology. She completed residency training at Ohio State University followed by a postdoctoral fellowship in pediatric pain management at Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital.

Dr. Palermo has been in Seattle since 2010 where she directs the Pediatric Pain & Sleep Innovations Lab. The focus of her research is on behavioral, psychosocial and family factors that affect pain experiences, the interrelationship of sleep and pain, and innovative psychological treatments for managing and preventing chronic pain. Currently, Dr. Palermo serves as Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Pain. Dr. Palermo has developed and evaluated several internet and mobile applications to deliver cognitive-behavioral interventions for chronic pain, has published over 290 articles, and has published two books on cognitive-behavioral therapy. She is active in training clinician-scientists at the postdoctoral and faculty level and directs the T32 postdoctoral training program in anesthesiology research at the University of Washington.

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See Wan Tham, MD

Dr. See Wan Tham is an Associate Professor in the Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine at the University of Washington School of Medicine and Seattle Children’s Hospital. As a clinician-scientist, pediatric pain physician and anesthesiologist, she is dedicated to optimizing the management of pain in children, adolescents, and young adults to improve health outcomes. She received her MBBS at the University of Sydney, Australia in 2001 followed by anesthesiology residency at the State University of New York (Syracuse). She then completed pediatric anesthesiology fellowship at Seattle Children’s Hospital. Dr. Tham is also an investigator at Seattle Children’s Research Institute, Center for Child Health, Behavior and Development. Her research focuses on identifying the complex biopsychosocial mechanisms underlying the relationship between pain and sleep in pediatric populations.

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Caitlin Beth Murray, PhD

Dr. Caitlin Murray is an assistant professor and a pediatric psychologist in the Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine at Seattle Children’s Hospital. She provides clinical services in the pain management clinic at Seattle Children’s Hospital. She received her PhD in clinical psychology from Loyola University Chicago and completed her predoctoral internship training in pediatric psychology at Nationwide Children’s Hospital (Columbus, Ohio). Dr. Murray’s research focuses on elucidating unique health and developmental issues facing young adults with chronic pain. Her current work includes creating adaptive digital behavioral interventions to provide targeted, accessible pain management for young adults with chronic pain.

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Sara Jane Fligelman, PsyD

Dr. Sara Fligelman is an assistant professor and pediatric psychologist in the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine at the University of Washington School of Medicine and Seattle Children’s Hospital. She received her PsyD in Clinical Psychology from Pacific University and completed specialized training in pediatric psychology as a predoctoral intern at Kennedy Krieger Institute/Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and a postdoctoral fellow at Alpert Medical School of Brown University. Dr. Fligelman is passionate about multidisciplinary care and program development, and her clinical and academic interests are related to improving quality of life and daily functioning in youth with chronic pain and other health conditions.

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Nancy Lau, PhD

Dr. Nancy Lau is an assistant professor and clinical psychologist in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Washington School of Medicine. She received her MA and PhD in clinical psychology from Harvard University. She completed her psychology residency training at the University of Washington and Seattle Children's Hospital, followed by an NIH-funded T32 postdoctoral research fellowship in pediatric palliative care at the University of Washington. Dr. Lau’s research focuses on the development, testing and implementation of digital mental health interventions for teens and young adults with cancer.

Rui Li, PhD

Dr. Rui Li is a pain epidemiologist and research assistant professor in the Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine at the University of Washington School of Medicine. She received her bachelor's degree in preventive medicine (2011-2016) from Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine and School of Public Health, followed by a PhD in epidemiology from the University of Rochester School of Medicine & Dentistry (2016-2021). She then completed postdoctoral training in the Pediatric Pain & Sleep Innovations Lab at Seattle Children’s Research Institute (2021-2024), where she studied chronic pain assessment and prevention in adolescents alongside a team of pediatric pain researchers. Dr. Li’s research aims to integrate developmental aspects and sex and gender-specific factors to prevent the occurrence and reduce the public health impact of chronic pain. With a keen interest in addressing pain in women and children, her long-term goal is to prevent the development of chronic pain in young people and reduce sex and gender disparities in pain across the lifespan.

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Ryan Parsons, PhD

Dr. Ryan Parsons is a T32 postdoctoral scholar-fellow in the UW Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine/Seattle Children’s Research Institute under the mentorship of Dr. Tonya Palermo. He completed his undergraduate degrees (BMus, BA Psych Hons) in South Africa at Nelson Mandela University and the University of South Africa. He subsequently completed his MSc degree in Cognitive and Clinical Neuroscience at Goldsmiths, University of London and his PhD at the University of Bath in the United Kingdom. His PhD work focused on exploring flourishing in adolescents with chronic pain, investigating potential positive aspects and protective factors as a result of, or despite, living with chronic pain. Dr. Parsons most recently completed a two-year postdoctoral researcher position at the University of Oxford (2023-2025) where he primarily worked on the Oxford BrainWaves study - a program of research to improve school-based mental health and well-being in adolescent populations. His current work focuses on applying a positive psychology approach to the investigation of pediatric pain to promote resilience and wellbeing in adolescents.

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Michaela Patton, PhD

Dr. Michaela Patton is a psychology postdoctoral fellow in Embedded Behavioral Health at Seattle Children’s Hospital, primarily spending time in Oncology, Gender Clinic and Differences in Sex Development. She completed her Doctor of Philosophy in clinical psychology at the University of Calgary, followed by a pre-doctoral internship at Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago. Under the mentorship of Dr. Nancy Lau, her current research focuses on the implementation of digital mental health interventions for youth with cancer. Michaela is passionate about exploring and implementing equitable, practical and clinically useful solutions to improve access to evidence-based mental health care for underserved communities and working directly with people with lived experience to meet this need. She is particularly inspired by the youth and families she gets to work with clinically every day.

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Bethany Pester, PhD

Bethany Pester is an acting assistant professor and pain psychologist in the UW Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine. She earned her PhD in clinical psychology from Wayne State University and completed a predoctoral clinical internship at the Charleston Consortium Internship Program with a focus on behavioral medicine. She recently completed a 2-year postdoctoral research fellowship at Brigham and Women’s Hospital/Harvard Medical School, where she developed, conducted, and tested various nonpharmacological interventions for chronic pain and post-surgical pain. During her training, she collaborated with interdisciplinary teams within the Harvard Medical System, Medical University of South Carolina, and academic medical centers across Michigan to study biopsychosocial approaches to understand, treat, and prevent chronic pain. For example, some of her research explored the influence of romantic partners and social media on pain treatment outcomes. Bethany aspires to lead interdisciplinary teams to effectively and compassionately assess and treat people with acute and chronic pain and to advance research to better understand these complex conditions and translate discoveries into effective personalized treatments for children, adolescents, and adults.

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Francesca Querdasi, PhD

Dr. Fran Querdasi is a T32 postdoctoral fellow in the UW Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine/Seattle Children’s Research Institute. She completed a bachelor’s degree in psychology at Pomona College, and a PhD in developmental and health psychology at the University of California, Los Angeles. Fran is passionate about improving understanding, prevention, and treatment of chronic pain through research. Her current work focuses on understanding how adolescents’ and young adults’ complex social worlds interact with psychological and biological factors to shape pain outcomes, and how risk for chronic pain can be transmitted across generations. Her ultimate goal is to inform accessible, targeted interventions to optimize the treatment and prevention of chronic pain in youth.

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Daron Michelle Vandeleur, MD, MS

Dr. Daron Vandeleur is a pediatric chronic pain physician in the UW Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine/Seattle Children’s Research Institute. She completed both her undergraduate training (in neurobiology and global health) and medical training at the University of Washington. Her pediatric residency was completed at University of California San Francisco and chronic pain fellowship at the University of Washington. She is motivated by the patients she sees in clinic to improve and expand access to pain care. Her research includes understanding the sociocultural context of pediatric chronic pain, increasing knowledge of commonly used pain treatments, improving the transition from pediatric to adult pain care, and expanding access to pain care through innovative methods such as mobile health and community-delivered interventions.

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