Recent Publications

Sharon M. Weinstein MD, Director

Sharon M. Weinstein, MD, is Associate Professor of Anesthesiology and Adjunct Associate Professor of Neurology and Oncology at the University of Utah Health Sciences Center. She is Director of Pain Medicine and Palliative Care at the Huntsman Cancer Institute and the Veterans Administration Salt Lake City Health Care System. Dr. Weinstein earned her medical degree at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York, where she also completed her residency in Neurology. She was a Fellow in Pain Medicine at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. She has a background in complementary medicine.

Dr. Weinstein is certified by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology with a Certificate of Added Qualification in Pain Management, and is certified by the American Board of Hospice and Palliative Medicine. Dr. Weinstein is a Faculty Scholar of the Open Society Institute’s Project on Death in America. She was awarded a Clinical Oncology Career Development Award by the American Cancer Society for her research in post-amputation phantom pain.

Dr. Weinstein is a section editor of Current Pain and Headache Reports, serves on the editorial board of CNS Special Edition, and as the Associate Editor for Supportive Oncology for the Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network. She has authored more than 90 articles, book chapters, reviews, editorials, and abstracts. Additionally, Dr Weinstein has given more than 200 presentations to professional and lay audiences here and abroad.

Shelley White, Spec Exper, Social Services, Huntsman Cancer Institute

Shelley White, LCSW, is a medical oncology social worker and a member of the Association of Oncology Social Work (an international organization dedicated to the enhancement of psychosocial services for people with cancer and their families). With a master’s degree in social work from the University of Utah, she has over eight years of professional experience working with individuals and family members affected by cancer. She has five years of expertise working with Hospice and, in May `05, obtained her certification in Contemplative End of Life Care at Naropa University.

Prior to working in the field of oncology, Shelley worked in the area of domestic violence for eight years. During this time, she was the Director of the YWCA Battered Women’s Shelter and the Kathleen Robison Huntsman Apartments, which provide housing and educational programs to women and children fleeing abusive domestic relationships. Shelley also directed the Residential Self-Sufficiency Program at the YWCA, a program that provides transitional housing for single women who are transitioning from homelessness, residential substance-abuse treatment programs, prison, or abusive relationships. Shelley has over thirteen years experience facilitating therapeutic groups, including: grief and bereavement support groups for family members and friends, support groups for cancer survivors, and domestic violence groups for both abuse survivors and court-ordered perpetrators. She has provided training and educational groups on the topics of diversity, intimate partner violence, conflict-resolution, healthy boundaries, and healthy communication.

Kim Segal, MPH/HSA, Program Coordinator

Ms. Segal joins the team from the Governor Scott M. Matheson Center for Health Care Studies where she conducted health policy research and directed the masters-level program in health services administration. She is the clinical coordinator for the Pain Medicine and Palliative Care Clinic at Huntsman Cancer Institute. She is a member of the Steering Committee of the Partnership to Improve End of Life Care in Utah and is a member of the Board of Trustees of Rocky Mountain Candlelighters for Childhood Cancer.

Deborah Thorpe, PhD, APRN, Nursing Director for Pain Medicine and Palliative Care Program

Dr. Thorpe is an advanced practice nurse and is certified as a clinical nurse specialist. She is an experienced clinician, educator, and researcher. Prior to joining the staff of the Huntsman Cancer Institute she worked with Drs. Sharon Weinstein and C. Stratton Hill at The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston where she was instrumental in establishing one of first multidisciplinary pain and palliative care programs in the country and has been dedicated to the goal of integrating palliative care throughout the continuum of cancer care. She has also been active in governmental affairs and participated in lobbying efforts for and was present for the signing of the first Intractable Pain Treatment Act in the State of Texas in 1988. Currently she serves as the state health policy liaison for the Oncology Nursing Society in the State of Utah. Dr. Thorpe's research interests include non-pharmacological interventions for pain and symptom management, fatigue, bowel management, and the relationship of pain and suffering to requests for physician-assisted suicide. She holds a BSN from Illinois Wesleyan University, a MS in Nursing from Boston University, and a PhD in Nursing from Texas Woman’s University.

Lorene Johnson, APRN

Lorene Johnson is an advanced practice nurse and is certified as an acute care nurse practitioner.  She has done research in the areas of gender outcomes in burn patients, procedural anxiety in school age patients, and the treatment of pain.  She has recently joined the Pain Medicine and Palliative Care group at Huntsman Cancer Institute.  She holds a BSN and an MS in Nursing from the University of Utah.  Prior to coming to HCI, she worked in the Burn-Trauma ICU at the University Hospital where she developed guidelines for the management of procedural anxiety and was an experienced wound care specialist.  She has taught wound care and ICU skills to numerous nursing students.  She has also been very involved in providing health education and resources to various groups in the community.

Christine Webb, RN