Front Row (left to right): Katie Fountain, PA-C, (HCoE team member); Emily Lane Schlitz Fortenberry, M.D., (HCoE Director); and Lynnie Harrison, PA-C, (HCoE Vice Director). Back row (left to right): Victor Sung, M.D., (Assistant Chief of Neurology, BVAMC); Morgan Rambo, Pharm.D., (HCoE team member); Nicole George, LICSW, (HCoE team member); Nidhi Kikkeri, M.D., (HCoE team member); Matthew McCay, M.D., (HCoE team member); Peter King, M.D., (Chief of Neurology, BVAMC).The Birmingham VA Headache Center of Excellence (HCoE) has recently been designated as a Hub, which is the highest level in the national HCoE program. The Birmingham program will receive an annual budget of $1.1 million to provide headache management to veterans in the Southeast. This will include an opportunity to participate in clinical trials for new headache treatments.
As the sole Hub in VISN7 (covering Alabama, Georgia, and South Carolina), Birmingham HCoE will expand clinical services to ensure veterans receive comprehensive and long-term care. Chronic headache disorders are prevalent among veterans with nearly 2 million being diagnosed and treated in the past 15 years. Since 2017, the Birmingham VA Medical Center (BVAMC) has seen a 70 percent increase in patients needing headache care. Chronic headache disorders are connected to war-related injuries including traumatic brain injury, toxic exposures, post-traumatic stress disorder, and military-related sexual trauma.
Emily Schlitz Fortenberry, M.D., associate professor in the UAB Department of Neurology, oversees the Birmingham HCoE as director along with Lynnie Harrison, PA-C as vice director. “This is a wonderful opportunity to help veterans with debilitating chronic headaches with a comprehensive treatment approach," Schlitz said. "Our interdisciplinary care team implements novel therapies to optimize physical therapy, behavioral therapy, and pharmacologic including interventional procedural therapy.”
The success of the HCoE has enabled Schlitz to develop a United Council for Neurologic Subspecialties (UCNS)-certified headache fellowship program in association with the UAB Department of Neurology. This program will play a central role in training future headache specialists.
Peter King, M.D., professor in the UAB Department of Neurology and Chief of Neurology at BVAMC, comments that “a multidisciplinary approach is the ideal model for treatment of complex chronic headaches, and Dr. Schlitz is leading the way.”