Roni Evans

February 18, 2026: Applying Mind-Body Skills for Pain, in This Week’s Rethinking Clinical Trials Grand Rounds

Posted on by Sophia Ramirez

In this Friday’s Rethinking Clinical Trials Grand Rounds, Diana Burgess, Roni Evans, and Katie Hadlandsmyth will present “Applying Mind-Body Skills for Pain Using a Whole Health Telehealth Intervention (RAMP): Early Progress and Lessons Learned.”

The Grand Rounds session will be held on Friday, February 20, 2026, at 1:00 pm eastern.

RAMP, an NIH Collaboratory Trial, is evaluating the use of a 12-week mind-body skills training program for rural veterans with pain within the VA’s Whole Health initiative, including a one-on-one session with a Whole Health coach followed by 11 weekly group sessions to include prerecorded expert-led education videos, mind-body skills training and practice, and group discussions. The study is supported by within the NIH Collaboratory by a grant from the National Institute of Nursing Research.

Burgess is a professor of medicine at the University of Minnesota and the director of the VA Advanced Fellowship Program in Health Systems Research. Evans is a research professor at the University of Minnesota and the director of their Integrative Health and Wellbeing Research Program. Hadlandsmyth is an associate professor at the University of Iowa.

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June 27, 2024: NIH HEAL Initiative Turns Attention to Pragmatic Trials in Rural Communities

Posted on by Damon Seils

Three of the newest NIH Collaboratory Trials are supported through the NIH HEAL Initiative℠, or Helping to End Addiction Long-Term Initiative℠, reflecting a special emphasis on developing strategies for the management of chronic pain in rural and remote populations.

“There are many known disparities between urban and rural populations,” said Karen Kehl, a program director at the National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR). “And when we talk about chronic pain, we know that there’s a higher incidence and a higher severity of pain in rural populations, and yet they don’t have access to many of the effective solutions that we have,” Kehl added.

We recently spoke with Kehl, Julie Fritz of the BeatPain Utah trial, and the principal investigators of the AIM-CP, ARBOR-Telehealth, and RAMP trials at the NIH Collaboratory’s 2024 Annual Steering Committee Meeting. They discussed the progress of their studies and the importance of supporting healthcare and promoting health equity in rural communities through pragmatic research.

AIM-CP

 AIM-CP will test the implementation of a care management program to address inequities in access to nonpharmacological treatment for chronic pain in rural populations. The principal investigators are Kushang Patel and Sebastian Tong of the University of Washington. The study is supported by NINR. Learn more about AIM-CP.

ARBOR-Telehealth

 ARBOR-Telehealth will evaluate the use of a telehealth physical therapy strategy for patients who present to primary care clinics with low back pain in rural communities. The principal investigators are Richard Skolasky and Kevin McLaughlin of Johns Hopkins University. The study is supported by the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases. Learn more about ARBOR-Telehealth.

RAMP

 RAMP will evaluate the use of a 12-week mind-body skills training program for rural veterans with pain, including a one-on-one session with a “whole health coach” followed by 11 weekly group sessions to include prerecorded expert-led education videos, mind-body skills training and practice, and group discussions. The principal investigators are Diana Burgess and Roni Evans of the University of Minnesota and Katherine Hadlandsmyth of the University of Iowa. The study is supported by NINR. Learn more about RAMP.

Learn more about the NIH Collaboratory Trials.