Founder & Medical Director of NPM
Interventional Pain Management
Pain Medicine
Anesthesiology

Dr. Ben Zolper is the founder and medical director of Northeast Pain Management (NPM). He has lived in Bangor, Maine practicing Interventional Pain Management and minimally invasive spine care since 1993. He is a Diplomat of the American Board of Pain Medicine, a Diplomat of the American Board of Interventional Pain Physicians, a Diplomat of the American Board of Anesthesiology and a Fellow of Interventional Pain Practice as certified by the World Institute of Pain.

Dr. Zolper’s clinical interests include the whole spectrum of interventional pain treatments, as well as endoscopic discectomy, kyphoplasty, and ultrasound guided injection therapies such as platelet rich plasma (PRP). Dr. Zolper has passed the registration examination for musculoskeletal ultrasound with ARDMS.

Dr. Zolper’s wife, Sharon, is a teacher at Hampden Academy. Dr. Zolper has participated in many community activities including coaching AAU Basketball, serving as president of the Bangor Y Board of Directors and attending All Souls Church in Bangor. Dr. Zolper was voted “Best Pain Doctor” in Maine by his peers in a 2013 survey of doctors by Down East Magazine.

Download Dr. Zolper’s CV

Anesthesiology
Pain Management

Dr. Thompson joined NPM in 2006, after having practiced for several years in New Hampshire. He is a graduate of the University of Vermont College of Medicine, and completed his residency in anesthesiology at the Medical Center Hospital of Vermont in Burlington.

Dr. Thompson is board certified by the American Board of Anesthesiology. He is also certified in pain management by the American Society of Interventional Pain Physicians, and is a fellow of the World Institute of Pain.

Dr. Thompson is a member of the American Society of Regional Anesthesia, The International Spine Injection Society and The American Society of Interventional Pain Physicians as well as numerous other organizations. He is married with two children.

Interventional Pain Management
Pain Medicine
Anesthesiology

Dr. Wise joined NPM in 2017. He is an expert in minimally invasive spine care and interventional pain management and a board-certified Diplomat of the American Board of Anesthesiology in both the practice of Anesthesiology and the Subspecialty of Pain Medicine. He is a graduate of the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and completed his residency training in anesthesiology at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. He went on to complete a specialized Interventional Pain Medicine Fellowship at the West Penn Allegheny Health Network in Pittsburgh.

Dr. Wise’s clinical interests include ultrasound and fluoroscopic-guided injection therapies for a wide array of painful muscle, joint, and spine conditions. He also has a unique interest in spinal cord stimulation therapy that can be used to treat a variety of painful conditions including failed back surgery syndrome and complex regional pain syndrome. Dr. Wise focuses on developing individualized treatment programs for each of his patients.

Dr. Wise is an active member of the American Society for Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine, the North American Neuromodulation Society, and several other medical organizations. Dr. Wise settled in Bangor, where he lives with his wife, Tori, who is a nurse at EMMC. They have two sons, Jude and Theo. He enjoys exploring the outdoors with his Golden Retriever, Porter, and is an avid fisherman, hunter and backpacker.

Download Dr. Wise’s CV

Interventional Pain Management
Anesthesiology

Dr. Tivnan joined NPM in 2021 after moving to Maine from Massachusetts. He is a graduate of the College of the Holy Cross and the University of New England College of Osteopathic Medicine. He completed both his residency in anesthesiology and his fellowship in interventional pain management at St. Elizabeth’s Hospital in Boston.

Dr. Tivnan’s clinical interests include ultrasound and X-ray-guided injections, osteopathic manipulative treatment, home exercise programs, neuromodulation, kyphoplasty, and whatever else it takes to alleviate patients’ pain and improve their quality of life.

Dr. Tivnan lives in Bangor with his wife Casey who is a labor & delivery nurse at EMMC and his dog Fozzie who is an avid hiker. His interests include fishing and going to concerts and comedy shows.

Psychologist

Dr. Borkum is a licensed psychologist with twenty years of experience in the treatment of pain and headaches. He earned a Ph.D. in Psychology from the University of Maine, where he continues as a faculty associate. He has also taught the unit on pain in a postdoctoral program at the Massachusetts School of Professional Psychology in Boston. His peer-reviewed book on pain and headaches (Chronic Headaches: Biology, Psychology, and Behavioral Treatment) has been published by Taylor and Francis and has been added to academic libraries throughout the world.

He also reviews manuscripts submitted to the journals Headache and Cephalalgia, and the Clinical Journal of Pain, has contributed chapters to the textbooks Refractory Migraine: Mechanisms and Management, Handbook of Complex Occupational Disability Claims, Head, Face, and Neck Pain: Science, Evaluation, and Management, and the Handbook of Clinical Psychopharmacology for Psychologists and has written journal articles on the biology and psychology of chronic pain.

Click here to read a Boston Globe article about Dr. Borkum’s research.

Sandy Britton, NP joined NPM in 2014. She received a Master of Science in Nursing degree at Husson College, Bangor in 2007, and completed a Certificate of Advanced Study in Nursing at The University of Maine, Orono in 2012.

She holds dual certifications from the American Nurses Credentialing Center and the American Association of Nurse Practitioners. Over a span of 23 years, she worked in various Maine hospitals as a Nursing Supervisor, ED, ICU, and Resource nurse.

Witnessing pain in the acute care patient population motivated her interest in interventional pain management.

Giselle Robertson, NP joined Northeast Pain Management in 2017. She received a Master’s degree in nursing from Husson University in 2008 and has AANP certification.

She has 25 years of experience in Nursing altogether. Prior to joining the staff of Northeast Pain Management, she practiced as a Primary Care Provider in Family Medicine for 9 years serving the hard-working people of Downeast Maine.

As a PCP, she treated many different types of acute and chronic pain, which inspired her to seek out alternatives to dependency on medications for her patients.

Since joining Northeast Pain Management, she has seen many amazing success stories of reduced pain and improved function and wants to encourage all patients who have not tried interventional pain medicine to experience what it can do to improve their lives.

Kathleen O’Callahan NP-C joined Northeast Pain Management in March 2019. She received a Master’s Degree, Adult Nurse Practitioner Track at the University of Massachusetts in 2004.

She possesses a fifteen-year robust career history in meeting with patients to identify health issues, develop treatment plans and alleviate their concerns.

She has built a solid track record of success in the areas of Primary Care, Urgent Care, health and illness management, and treatment planning. She holds dual certificates from the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners and the American Nurse Credentialing Center.

She is married and has four children. Kathleen loves music, dancing, and being outdoors.