Welcoming New Leadership to the AHDA
Last week we kicked off Headache on the Hill week with an internal joint Board Retreat for both the Alliance for Headache Disorders Advocacy (AHDA) and The Headache Alliance. We discussed the future of our two organizations including how we can best serve our member organizations and our advocates. It was also time to elect a new President as Dr. Christopher Gottschalk’s two-term, four year tenure came to a close. We thank Dr. Gottschalk for his steadfast commitment and leadership during his tenure at the helm of the AHDA and look forward to his continued involvement on the Board as Immediate Past President and the Board Representative for the Headache Cooperative of the Northeast.
We are pleased to share that the Board of Directors of the AHDA unanimously and enthusiastically elected Annika Ehrlich, DNP to serve as the new Board President of the AHDA. We are confident under Annika’s leadership the AHDA will continue to grow and thrive.
In addition to the election, the AHDA welcomed Susan Stone as the new representative of the National Headache Foundation on the Board of the AHDA as Jill Dehlin announced her retirement.
More About Annika:
Annika Ehrlich, DNP, FNP-C, CNRN, AQH is a Doctor of Nursing Practice, certified Family Nurse Practitioner, certified Neuroscience Nurse and holds an Added Qualification in Headache. She is a person living with migraine, a passionate advocate for patients and the Headache field, and is honored to be serving as the current AHDA Board President.
Dr. Ehrlich studied political science at New York University and worked for the Elie Wiesel Foundation in New York City prior to moving to San Francisco and starting her nursing career at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). After receiving her registered nursing license in 2006, she began caring for patients at UCSF Health, where she had the opportunity to work with Dr. Peter Goadsby and learn about patients with headache disorders. She received her Master of Science from the UCSF School of Nursing in 2014 and became a Certified Family Nurse Practitioner, working in primary care for the San Francisco Department of Public Health before returning to UCSF Health in 2015 at the Headache Center, under the leadership of Dr. Morris Levin. In dedicating her practice to patients with headache disorders, she obtained certification in Neuroscience Nursing in 2016, and received the Additional Qualification in Headache from the National Headache Foundation in 2020.
She is an active member of the American Headache Society (AHS) and was named an emerging leader in 2022. She is currently the chair of the AHS Advanced Practice Provider special interest section and serves on the Education and Awards Committees.
She joined the board of the Headache Cooperative of the Pacific in 2020 and serves as the Social Media and Advocacy Director. She joined the Alliance for Headache Disorders board in 2020, was elected to serve as Vice-President of the AHDA board in 2022, and President in 2024.
She is passionate about educating primary care providers, neurology residents, and students about headache disorders and was appointed as an assistant clinical professor (volunteer) at the UCSF School of Nursing in 2020. She received her Doctor of Nursing Practice degree from the UCSF School of Nursing in June of 2023. Her doctoral project focused on improving after visit communication for patients with a diagnosis of migraine.