For Release: January 7, 2010
Contact:
David Corriveau, Media Relations Officer, Dartmouth Medical School, at David.A.Corriveau@Dartmouth.edu or 603-653-0771, or
Jason Aldous at (603) 653-1913
Thomas N. Ward, M.D.
Dartmouth's Ward named editor of national journal
Lebanon, N.H.—The American Headache Society (AHS) recently named Dartmouth neurologist Thomas N. Ward, M.D., as editor-in-chief of the professional journal Headache Currents.
Ward, a professor of neurology at Dartmouth Medical School (DMS) and co-director of the Headache Center at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, will compile review articles on areas of headache medicine and related disorders for Headache Currents, which appears within the AHS's official journal Headache.
The DHMC Headache Center, which Ward directs with colleague Morris Levin, M.D., provides headache management solutions for the many patients in northern New England, and on an outpatient basis wherever possible. Headache-center physicians and the Headache Fellowship Training Program are certified in Headache Medicine with the nonprofit United Council for Neurological Subspecialties (UCNS).
Ward and Levin are co-editors of Head, Neck and Facial Pain: A Case-Based Handbook of Diagnosis, Management, and Prognosis. Board-certified in neurology and psychiatry, Ward came to Dartmouth in 1989. He is treasurer of the Headache Cooperative of New England. In 2004, he received the Arnold P. Friedman Distinguished Clinician Research Award from the American Headache Society.
According to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) and the American Council for Headache Education (ACHE), nearly 90 percent of men and 95 percent of women have suffered at least one headache in the past year. Migraine headaches affect an estimated 25 million to 30 million people in the United States.
Most people with a headache use nonprescription pain relievers to treat their symptoms. According to the ACHE, a headache sufferer may need to see a physician if he or she:
- experiences three or more headaches per week
- must take a pain reliever every day or almost daily
- needs more than the recommended doses of over-the-counter medications to relieve headache symptoms
- suffers from a stiff neck and/or fever, in addition to a headache
- experiences, along with the headache, shortness of breath, fever, and/or unexpected symptoms that affect eyes, ears, nose, or throat
- also experiences dizziness, unsteadiness, slurred speech, weakness, or numbness and/or tingling
- experiences confusion or drowsiness along with headache
- notices headache beginning with and persisting after a head injury
- finds headaches triggered by exertion, coughing, bending, or sexual activity
- notices headaches worsening or not going away
- perceives headaches changing in character
- experiences persistent or severe vomiting along with headaches.
-DMS-
