Rebecca Erwin Wells, MD, MPH

Dr. Rebecca Erwin Wells is a Professor with tenure in Neurology and Social Sciences Health Policy at Wake Forest University School of Medicine and Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist in Winston-Salem, NC. She has been there since 2012, where she founded the institution’s first Comprehensive Headache Program and has continued to be its Director.

Prior to Wake Forest, she graduated with highest honors on a full academic scholarship from UNC-Chapel Hill with a major in psychology and double-minor in French and Chemistry and is a lifelong “Tar Heel.” She received her MD degree from East Carolina-Brody School of Medicine. After completing her Neurology residency at University of Virginia, she decided to pursue her life-long passion of better understanding the brain and the mind-body connection. She pursued a Fellowship in Integrative Medicine from Harvard Medical School/Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and obtained a Masters’ in Public Health from Harvard for rigorous clinical research training. She then completed her Headache Medicine fellowship from Harvard’s Graham Headache Center.

In addition to her long-standing leadership of Southern Headache Society, she is on the Board of Directors of the American Headache Society. She is a Fellow of the American Headache Society and the American Academy of Neurology. She received the American Headache Society’s “Above and Beyond Award” for her service as Co-Chair of the AHS Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Taskforce. She won the American Academy of Neurology’s Wolff-Graham award for recognition of her outstanding achievements in headache/facial pain research and the American Headache Society Early Career Lecture Award for her research on the patient voice in migraine. Her NIH funded research investigates the mechanisms and efficacy of mind/body treatments for headache, which often receives media attention, including interviews with Time magazine, NPR, BBC News, Boston Globe, and Prevention magazine. Her National Headache Foundation research investigates the genetics of Cluster headache. She presents to national and international audiences as an expert in headache, mind/body, and integrative medicine. As a trained mindfulness meditation instructor, she led mindfulness sessions virtually with worldwide participants during the pandemic.

Presidency Accomplishment Statement

I was elected to the Board of Southern Headache Society in 2013 and since that time have been dedicated to the organization, serving as Secretary, Treasurer, Vice-President, President-elect, President, and Immediate Past President. I love being a part of this thriving organization where we all feel connected through our vibrant list-serv and our annual meetings that provide the opportunity to learn and bond over our shared interests and experiences in Headache Medicine. As President, my Mission was to “build on the SHS legacy to increase SHS Inclusivity, Engagement, Connection, and Joy.” My strategies for doing so included clearly defining the SHS vision, increasing opportunities for engagement of members, developing systematic methods for conducting SHS business, clearly defining roles and responsibilities of all leaders, and enhancing communication with members. With my positive and inclusive spirit, I have prioritized creating infrastructural organization to ensure the long-term success of Southern Headache Society. For example, I spearheaded the organization’s first membership drive, worked together with others to edit and re-write the bylaws of the organization, and helped re-structure Board elections to an online election process prior to the annual meeting. I supported the initiation of a Communications Committee to ensure effective engagement between the Board and its members and broader Headache community. I worked to safeguard the financial integrity of the organization through successful contract negotiations for annual meetings and SHS Board Insurance. I have supported efforts for SHS to promote the pipeline of Headache Medicine, such as through our annual meeting Resident Scholarship, and to support our members’ excellence, such as through the annual SHS Listserv “Best Post” award. To ensure the security and success of the SHS Listserv, I created the Listserv Taskforce and helped write its new Terms of Use. I orchestrated the first-ever SHS Board Retreat that created an environment to define SHS’s vision and strategies for future success. The retreat provided an opportunity for new ideas to emerge, such as the SHS State Liaisons, and I have since helped launch this new priority. Throughout it all, I have hoped to infuse the organization with positivity by developing processes that enhance joy, friendships, and collegiality to build on the legacy of SHS.