For the first half of her career, Dr. Ferron practiced general internal medicine at Community University Health Care Center (CUHCC) in the Phillips Neighborhood of Minneapolis, the most culturally and economically diverse community in that city. Serving as the clinic’s Medical Director for over a decade, she was the principal investigator for over $2 million in programmatic grants that focused on health disparities in the areas of prenatal and early childhood medical care, diabetes, preventive care, and adolescent health.
As opioid prescribing for chronic pain accelerated in primary care in the early 2000s, she participated with the Institute of Clinical Systems Improvement (ICSI) in the development of guidelines for pain management in primary care, and explored novel ways of increasing responsible opioid prescribing within CUHCC. These activities ultimately led her, in 2010, to focus her practice entirely on pain management at the Fairview Pain Management Center in Minneapolis. In 2015, she joined HealthPartners Riverway Pain Clinic (RPC) in Anoka, Minnesota, a clinic that devotes itself entirely to medical management of pain, including minimization of opioid use and, as needed, treatment of opioid use disorder. She became Medical Director of that clinic in 2017 and found her previous experience in primary care to be particularly pertinent as she initiated programs in neighboring primary care clinics to comprehensively address pain management, including minimization of opioid use.
In 2024, Dr. Ferron began serving on the Anoka County Opioid Solutions Initiative, convened to steward $18 million of opioid settlement funds. In the first round of the Initiative’s funding, she and a colleague from RPC received support for the development of
continuing medical education for the prevention and treatment of opioid use disorders. Dr. Ferron has retired from clinical care but continues teaching and research activities with HealthPartners Institute.
Conducting research since 2015
Education and training:
Residency in Internal Medicine, 1986-89, Mayo Graduate School of Medicine, Rochester, Minnesota
MD Degree, 1986, Mayo Medical School, Rochester, Minnesota
BA Degree, 1977, St. John’s College, Annapolis, Maryland and Santa Fe, New Mexico
Board Certifications:
American Board of Internal Medicine, current
American Baord of Preventive Medicine, Addiction Medicine, current
Educational Programs:
The Interface of Pain and Opioids: Comprehensive Pain Management and Responsible Opioid Prescribing. On-Demand Continuing Medical Education, July 15, 2026 - July 15, 2029.
Course Directors: Susan M. Ferron, MD and Georgia E. Panopoulos, PhD
Role: Course directors secured funding, designed the core curriculum, secured accreditation, recruited speakers, participated in 4 of 12 modules each, and oversaw the creation of all multimedia learning materials.
Accreditation: Postgraduate Institute of Medicine, 8 Hours, Physicians (AMA), Nurses (ANCC, CBRN), Pharmacists (ACPE), Physician Assistants (AAPA), Psychologists (APA), Dentists/Allied Dental Professionals (ADA)
Support: $100,000, Anoka County Opioid Solutions Initiative, Anoka County, State of Minnesota
Teaching and Research Interests:
Effective strategies for improving pain management and responsible opioid prescribing in primary care medicine.
Use of buprenorphine for acute and chronic pain management
Effective strategies for improving access to care for treatment of opioid use disorder
