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Meet Our Ambassadors
These individuals are dedicated to spreading the Shades for Migraine message and raising awareness for the disease by sharing their experiences. Each of them has a unique story and background. Below you will learn about people who have very different stories, however, what they all have in common is that their lives have been deeply impacted by migraine. These medical ambassadors have personal connections to migraine, and they have also dedicated their career to helping people who live with the disease. These ambassadors are available for press and speaking opportunities.
Please contact ashley@migrainedisorders.org for more details.
Andrew LaVear, PA-C, AQH
Founder CowTown Headache Center, Physician Assistant - Neurology
Fort Worth, Texas
Andrew LaVear (Fort Worth, Texas) has been in health care since 2002 and is one of the founders of CowTown Headache Center. He was a junior volunteer firefighter and nurse before completing his physician assistant training through the U.S. military's Interservice Physician Assistant Program. He received his Bachelor and Master's degree through the University of Nebraska Medical Center. After practicing in general neurology, he obtained his Additional Qualification in Headache Medicine from the National Headache Foundation.
Andrew grew up in a rural town outside of St. Louis, Missouri. He joined the National Guard after high school and served overseas as a Preventive Medicine Specialist after completing nursing school as. Andrew then entered into Physician Assistant school and commissioned as a Physician Assistant. He has served as a senior medical advisor to commanders and helps maintain soldier readiness as he continues to serve in the National Guard.
Migraine awareness is important to Andrew because he has witnessed first hand some of the worst of what the disease can do. His wife, Brittany, is a chronic migraine survivor and had a severe attack in 2014, which had her in and out of the hospital over the course of several months. After multiple tests and multiple general neurologists, she was not getting better. It wasn't until the LaVears saw a headache specialist that the path to recovery and management was in sight. Prior to seeing the headache specialist, they didn't know much about the disease. The LaVears want to help people understand the disease and prevent them from having to go through what they did. The couple has two sons together.
Franchesca Fiorito, MD
Headache Physician & Assistant Professor
University of Puerto Rico
Dr. Franchesca Fiorito is an Assistant Professor of Neurology at the University of Puerto Rico, School of Medicine. Dr. Fiorito completed her neurology residency at the Boston University Medical Center in Massachusetts. She continued her education with a fellowship in Headache Medicine at the Montefiore Medical Center in Bronx, New York. She is board-certified in Neurology and Headache Medicine.
After completion of her fellowship training in Headache Medicine, Dr. Fiorito returned to Puerto Rico and was the first and only fellowship-trained and board-certified Headache and Facial Pain specialist to practice on the island for 6 years. Since her return to Puerto Rico, she has dedicated her career to the development and growth of this field. She has developed a formal curriculum for the field of Headache Medicine for both the medical students and Neurology residents at the University of Puerto Rico. Dr. Fiorito introduced specialized headache medicine clinics that were incorporated into the curriculum of rotations for Neurology residents. She has developed a growing headache center dedicated to the care of people with migraine, in which medical students and residents of multiple specialties rotate.
She currently serves as the President-Elect for the Puerto Rican Academy of Neurology, which is a non-profit organization dedicated to offering health professionals the opportunity to learn more about the field of Neurology. She was chosen by the American Headache Society for the Emerging Leaders Program in 2019. Beyond her extensive experience caring for patients with migraine, Dr. Fiorito has a personal connection with the disease as she has lived with chronic migraine for more than 10 years.