Our Team
Egilius L.H. Spierings, M.D., Ph.D.
Founder, Medical Director, and Principal Investigator
Dr. Spierings is a physician, former clinical professor, and founder of MedVadis Research, based just outside Boston, Massachusetts. For more than 40 years, Dr. Spierings has been dedicated to understanding headaches and treating headache patients effectively. MedVadis Research is a clinical trial research center focused on headaches, including migraines, and chronic pain.
Dr. Spierings considers his work in clinical trial research as part of his goal to advance headache treatment. His involvement with clinical trial research began in 1980 while a neurology resident at the Erasmus University in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. When he moved to Boston in 1986, Dr. Spierings became the director of The Headache Research Foundation, an affiliate of Tufts University School of Medicine. In the late 1980s, Dr. Spierings worked on the first triptan known as Imitrex®, which came on the market in 1991 to treat migraines.
In addition to his clinical trial research at MedVadis and until recently, Dr. Spierings treated patients at Tufts Medical Center, where he was the director of the Headache and Face Pain Program. Dr. Spierings was also a clinical professor of neurology and craniofacial pain at Tufts University Schools of Medicine and Dental Medicine. From 1999 to 2014, Dr. Spierings was an associate clinical professor of neurology at Harvard Medical School’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital. In October 2019, Dr. Spierings and MedVadis Research joined Boston Advanced Medicine where Dr. Spierings continues his research and serves as Director of the Boston Headache Institute.
General Director and Principal Investigator
David DiBenedetto, M.D., one of the founding partners of Boston Advanced Medicine, specializes in interventional pain management and anesthesiology. Dr. DiBenedetto, who has more than 20 years of experience, serves as Boston Advanced Medicine’s medical director, as well as a principal investigator and general director of Medvadis Research at Boston Advanced Medicine.
Dr. DiBenedetto graduated from the College of the Holy Cross, and earned his medical degree from the University of Massachusetts Medical School. He completed his residency in anesthesiology at the University of Virginia. He received board certifications from the American Board of Anesthesiology and the American Board of Pain Medicine.
Before founding Boston Advanced Medicine, Dr. DiBenedetto served as the chief of Anesthesia and Pain Services at both Deaconess-Waltham Hospital and Milton Hospital.
Neurologist and Principal Investigator
Dr. Wang is board-certified in Neurology and Pain Medicine through the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology. He will be working with the BPC headache specialists as well as our pain management team.
Most recently, Dr. Wang held the position of Division Chief, Pain Neurology with the departments of Neurology and Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Chronic Pain at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Dr. Wang earned his medical degree from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign College of Medicine. He completed his neurology residency at the University of Utah and his Interventional Pain Fellowship at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. He previously served as a clinical instructor at Harvard Medical School for five years. Additionally, Dr. Wang has earned his MBA at Northeastern University.
In addition to working with our team at MedVadis, you will also find Dr. Wang working with our partners at Boston Advanced Medicine.
Donald F. Counihan, Jr., DC
Director of Recruitment
Since 2019, Dr. Donald Counihan has served as the Director of Recruitment for MedVadis Research. Prior to joining MedVadis Research, Dr. Counihan held the position of Director of Functional Rehabilitation and Physical Performance Assessment at Boston Advanced Medicine for more than 12 years. As MedVadis’ recruitment director, Dr. Counihan is responsible for the initial screening of our research subjects and excels in building rapport to create a positive connection with each participant. With over 35 years of experience caring for patients with musculoskeletal pain and neurodegenerative conditions, Dr. Counihan possesses the clinical knowledge needed to evaluate, identify and educate qualified participants for our research studies. Additionally, his extensive clinical experience allows him to provide the research subject the information needed to make informed decisions regarding study participation. Dr. Counihan works closely with MedVadis’ regulatory and marketing personnel as well as with study sponsors and central recruitment vendors to facilitate MedVadis’ recruitment efforts.
Dr. Counihan also serves as a certified Psychometric Rater for Medvadis’ neurodegenerative study programs. A graduate of Palmer College of Chiropractic, Dr. Counihan is also certified as a Functional Capacity Evaluator.
Executive Director
Maria Spierings is the executive director of MedVadis Research. Her responsibilities include overseeing all financial transactions, training new administrative and regulatory employees, and ensuring MedVadis Research runs smoothly on a daily basis. Maria earned a master’s degree in linguistics from Utrecht University in The Netherlands; she’s trilingual with working knowledge of three additional languages.
Angelo Termine
M.S.M., M.B.A., C.C.R.C., C.C.R.A., C.R.C.P.
Director
Angelo Termine oversees all business aspects of MedVadis Research since becoming the director in 2014. Angelo is simultaneously the president and CEO of Ki Health Partners, LLC., a Connecticut-based company he cofounded with Dr. Peter McAllister in 2014. Ki Health Partners is a parent company that owns New England Institute for Neurology and Headache, New England Institute for Clinical Research, and Ki Clinical Research, which has 11 sites nationwide. He is also certified as a clinical research associate, clinical research coordinator, and clinical research contract professional.
Angelo has a B.S. in psychobiology from Quinnipiac University and two master’s degrees in science management and business administration from Albertus Magnus College. Angelo launched his medical research career working at Yale School of Medicine’s Psychiatry Department and has more than 20 years of clinical research experience that includes over 300 clinical trials.
Angelo is a member of MAGI (Models Agreements and Guidelines International) as well as of the Headache Cooperative of New England. He lectures extensively on clinical research throughout the country and has coauthored numerous scientific papers.
