Meet The Faculty
Glen Cook, MD, FAAN
Dr. Glen Cook is the Director of the Autonomic Disorders Clinic at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, where he helped establish the autonomic lab. Previously, Dr. Cook served as Director of the Clinical Neurophysiology Laboratory and the Autonomic Disorders Clinic at the Naval Medical Center in Portsmouth, Virginia. He also served as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Neurology at the Uniformed Services University’s F. Edward Herbert School of Medicine. Dr. Cook received his doctorate with Distinction in Service from the University of Michigan Medical School. He has furthered his education including completing a fellowship in Autonomic Disorders in the Clinical Neurocardiology Section of the National Institute of Neurologic Disorders and Stroke at the National Institute of Health. Amongst many awards, he is a two-time recipient of the Department of Defense’s Joint Service Commendation Medal. He is also a member of several professional medical associations including the American Autonomic Society, where he chairs the education committee.
June Bryant, DNP, APRN, CPNP-PC
June is a doctoral-prepared nurse practitioner and assistant professor of nursing at University of Tampa. She recently published a peer-reviewed article related to the management of autonomic dysfunction and has presented at the local, state, and national levels on the topic of dysautonomia. As a certified pediatric nurse practitioner, June has over 12 years of experience in primary care management of both acute and chronic diseases in the pediatric population. June also her own a primary care practice, Dr. Joonie’s Examinavan, that services 5+ counties in the Tampa Bay area. June is a Medical Ambassador for The Dysautonomia Project and president of the Gulf Coast chapter of the National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners.
David Goldstein, MD, PhD
Dr. David S. Goldstein is a founder and thought leader in autonomic medicine, with substantial experience and expertise in clinical catecholamine neurochemistry, sympathetic neuroimaging, autonomic pathophysiology, mechanisms of catecholaminergic neurodegeneration, and stress and homeostasis as medical scientific ideas. He received his BA from Yale College and M.D.-Ph.D. in Behavioral Sciences from Johns Hopkins. After internal medical residency at the University of Washington he came to the NIH as a Clinical Associate in the NHLBI in 1978, obtaining tenure as a Senior Investigator in 1984. He joined the NINDS in 1990 to head the Clinical Neurochemistry Section and founded the Clinical Neurocardiology Section (name changed to Autonomic Medicine Section in 2019). He has received Yale’s Angier Prize for Research in Psychology, the Distinguished Investigator Award of the Society for Clinical and Translational Science, the NIH Distinguished Clinical Teacher Award, the Schatz Award of the American Academy of Neurology for research on autonomic disorders, and 2 NINDS Director’s Awards for mentorship. He is a Fellow of the American Heart Association and the American Autonomic Society and a member of the Association of American Physicians. Additionally, he directs the UCNS-accredited Clinical Fellowship in Autonomic Disorders at the NIH Clinical Center.
Dr. Goldstein is the author of more than 650 research articles and several books, including “Adrenaline and the Inner World: An Introduction to Scientific Integrative Medicine,” ”Dysautonomias: A Handbook for Patients,” “Stress, Catecholamines, and Cardiovascular Disease,” “The Autonomic Nervous System in Health and Disease,” and the e-books, “Principles of Autonomic Medicine” and “Autonomic Medicine for Students.” Dr. Goldstein also co-authored The Dysautonomia Project’s book: Understanding Autonomic Nervous System Disorders for Physicians and Patients. His strategic goals are to establish autonomic medicine as a clinical and scientific discipline, promote patient-oriented research on autonomic and catecholamine-related disorders, and mentor rising investigators in the field.
Elisabeth Golden, MD
Elisabeth Golden is a neurologist with additional subspecialization in neuromuscular and autonomic disorders. She completed medical school, residency, and fellowship training at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center before joining the faculty there. She moved to East Texas in 2022 and is currently an assistant professor at the University of Texas at Tyler practicing hospital neurology. Her academic interests include multidisciplinary collaboration in the treatment of neuromuscular and autonomic disorders, teaching the broader medical community about autonomic disorders, and resident education.
Kelsey Klaas, MD
Kelsey Klaas, MD is a pediatrician in the division of General Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine at Mayo Clinic Children’s Center in Rochester; Minnesota. She is a graduate of the University of Minnesota Medical School, and completed residency at Mayo Clinic, followed by a year as chief resident. She is a certified member of the American Board of Pediatrics, part of the Mayo Medical School Advisory Program, and Associate Pediatric Clerkship Director for the Mayo Clinic Alix School of Medicine. Her practice includes care of children with complex health conditions. Dr. Klaas also focuses on medical student education.
Laura A. Pace, MD, PhD, FACG
Laura A. Pace, MD, PhD, FACG is a physician-scientist at Stanford University specializing in neuroimmunogastroenterology with a focus on the diagnosis and care of people suffering from complex multisystem disorders involving the neuroimmune axis. Dr. Pace is board certified in Internal Medicine and Gastroenterology through the American Board of Internal Medicine, and Autonomic Disorders through the United Council for Neurologic Subspecialties. Additionally, she has formalized clinical training in Neurogastroenterology and Medical Genetics, and a PhD in Neuroscience. She is a former NIH Building Interdisciplinary Careers in Women’s Health (NIH BIRCWH) Scholar and has published over 120 peer reviewed scientific articles.
Dr. Pace’s research has spanned the study of mammalian cell signaling; the physiology, ecology, and evolution of microbial metabolism; and human-microbe interactions leveraging multiomics. Through several collaborative multidisciplinary research projects, her current work is focused on decoding the molecular and cellular mechanisms of neuroimmune axis disorders. Some of these exciting projects include the application of next-generation environmental microbiology techniques to understand the complex human-microbiota interactions at mucosal interfaces; identifying genetic and environmental contributions to neuroimmune axis disorders; and the development and application of novel therapeutics to treat these disabling disorders.
Nathaniel Robbins, MD
Dr. Robbins is a neurologist at Harvard Medical School and the Director of Small Fiber and Autonomic Neurology at MGB, which includes the Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women’s Hospital. At MGB he is responsible for supervising all clinic activities related to autonomic disorders, autonomic testing, and small fiber neuropathy. Following neurology residency at UCSF and a fellowship in clinical neurophysiology at Dartmouth, he joined the Faculty at Dartmouth in 2016 where he started and grew the Autonomic Disorders program and clinical Autonomic Laboratory. He has research interests in clinical autonomic disorders and medical and professional ethics. Dr. Robbins is passionate about autonomic education and improving the diagnosis and treatment of autonomic disorders including synuclein-associated chronic autonomic failure conditions, postural tachycardia syndrome, and recurrent syncope.
Howard Snapper, MD, FACC
Dr. Snapper is a cardiologist and the Director of the Autonomic Disorder Division and Autonomic Lab for Wellstar Cardiovascular Medicine in Woodstock, GA. He has over 30 years of experience in cardiology and over 10 specializing in autonomic medicine. Dr. Snapper received his medical degree from the University of Massachusetts Medical School, completed an Internal Medicine Residency at Northwestern University Medical Center in Chicago, and then a Cardiology Fellowship at Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston. He received his UCNS certification in Autonomic Disorders in 2018 and serves as the Chairman of the POTS Section of the American Autonomic Society.
