Kate Nicholson, JD, is Executive Director and founder of the National Pain Advocacy Center (NPAC), a non-profit advocacy organization that takes no industry funding and advocates for the health and human rights of people in pain. NPAC is a coalition of scientists, clinicians, health policy experts and people with lived experience of pain.

Kate is also a civil rights attorney and a nationally-recognized expert on the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). She served in the U.S. Department of Justice for 18 years, where she litigated and managed cases, coordinated federal disability policy, and drafted the current ADA regulations.

Kate developed intractable pain and was largely unable to sit or stand, and severely limited in walking nearly two decades. Today, she speaks and writes widely about the importance of effective, equitable, and accessible pain treatment.

Kate was a Senior Fellow at Dartmouth College and is a graduate of Harvard Law School.