International Pain Foundation
presents Hero of Hope Awards
annually. Celebrating our 13-year anniversary
we have 5 award categories; The
Nerve to Be Heard, Corporate; Caregiver; Media-
Journalist and Patient Advocacy, recognizing exceptional
winners who have demonstrated outstanding commitment
to assisting and advocating for people with chronic pain
diseases. Nominations were solicited from the pain community of
those who are making significant contributions within the field of research,
education, awareness, or patient assistance for each category. Finalists
were then chosen from the nominations by the International Pain Foundation board
of directors and collaborative and hero partners. Winners were chosen by public vote.
This was our third year having the public choose the winners and more than 33,500 public
votes were cast.
The award Winners were honored live at Comic Pain Relief show on November 15, 2019 in Los
Angeles, CA The show entertainment included National touring comedian Tommy Savitt with the
Tommy Lama Experience. Opening comedian, Daniel G. Garza and Emcee Bunky Miller. The event
was held at the UCLA Luskin Hotel. The award winners were recognized in the event program as well as
receiving an award trophy during the presentation. Comic Pain Relief is hosted by International Pain
Foundation. Thank you to all our 2019 award nominees, finalists and winners for all you do to put a spotlight
on chronic pain diseases.
2019 HERO OF HOPE FINALISTS FOR EACH CATEGORY INCLUDED:
MEDIA-JOURNALIST – Megan Roche; My Paper Online, Citrus Pie Media; On A Scale of 1 to 10, Gayle Anderson;
KTLA Los Angeles, George Knapp; CBS TV Las Vegas, Pat Anson; Pain New Network
PATIENT ADVOCACY – Daniel G. Garza, Teresa Wright-Johnson, Shane Schulz, Ross McCreery, Donnie Hogan
THE NERVE TO BE HEARD – Kevin Schlehuber, Sarah Hyland, Tichina Arnold, Cynthia Germanotta, Josh Blue
CAREGIVER – John Garrett, Christian Ramirez, Dr. Forest Tennant, Dr Terri Lewis, Gayle Taylor-Ford
CORPORATE SUPPORT – HealtheVoices by Janssen, WEGO Health, AppliedVR, Avacen, Quell
46—iPain Living Magazine