Susan Gold
Writer and Editor, Patient Advocate and Educator, Executive Director
Vet2Vet Maine

Susan Dudley Gold is an editor, graphic designer, and author of more than 60 books, including many on health-related topics, for high school and middle school students. After being diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis in 1992, she founded the Chronic Pain Support Group of Southern Maine and acted as facilitator for 15 years. She has taught self-help classes for the Arthritis Foundation, served on the member advisory committee of the American Chronic Pain Association, and was a patient advocacy ambassador for both the Arthritis Foundation and the U.S. Pain Foundation. In 2001 she received a Jefferson Award for Community Service for her work with the pain support group. Her story was among those spotlighted at the University of New England’s Pain Symposium in 2013. Susan and her husband, John Gold, and son, Samuel, have participated in panel discussions of the effects of chronic pain on the family as part of UNE’s training for health professionals. She has also collaborated with UNE on a number of panels, videos, and presentations exploring the point of view of patients and families when dealing with pain and medical issues and discussing ways to improve communication between doctor and patient. In 2017 she served as a panel member on the webinar, “Including the Patient and Student Voice in Interprofessional Education and Practice: An Interactive Panel Presentation,” produced by the American Interprofessional Health Collaborative for healthcare professionals, students, and educators. She served as a patient adviser and has worked closely with Dr. Nananda Col on three projects focused on incorporating patient preferences into decisions about chronic pain management, multiple sclerosis, and aortic valve stenosis. As a VISTA volunteer at the Southern Maine Agency on Aging in Scarborough, Maine, Susan developed the Vet to Vet project, which matches volunteer veteran peer companions to other veterans who need a friend. In 2018 she led a group effort to incorporate the program as Vet to Vet Maine and has served full-time as volunteer executive director since that time.

Presenting at the Nexus Summit:

Since 2018, the Nexus Summit has been a space to intentionally explore models of engaging individuals, families, communities and populations in the planning and delivery of health professions education, and as participatory members of the health team. Join this Conversation Café to explore questions of how individuals, families, and caregivers can not only be the center of care delivery, but the co-creators of how health professions are trained and how they practice. Facilitators Shelley Cohen Konrad, Kelley Harmon, and Susan Gold each bring a different lens to the key questions of: How can…