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Allan Basbaum, PhD, FRS, is a professor and chair of anatomy at the University of California, San Francisco, USA, and holds a joint appointment in physiology. He is also a member of the W. M. Keck Foundation Center for Integrative Neuroscience. His research concerns the transmission and control of pain messages and the molecular mechanisms underlying the development of persistent pain after tissue or nerve injury. Dr. Basbaum is the editor-in-chief of Pain, the journal of the International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP). He is a recipient of the F. W. L. Kerr Memorial Award from the American Pain Society and the Bristol-Myers Squibb Prize for Distinguished Pain Research. Dr. Basbaum is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies, and the British Academy of Medical Science. He is also a Fellow of the Royal Society in the UK. |
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Marshall Devor, PhD, is the Alpert Professor of Pain Research at the Institute of Life Sciences of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in Israel. Previously, he was chair of the institute’s department of cell and developmental biology and director of the Center for Research on Pain. He has contributed considerably to understanding of the neurobiological basis of neuropathic pain. Dr. Devor’s research interests include synaptic plasticity in the spinal cord, central pain suppression, pathophysiology in injured nerve fibers, and the heritability of pain. Recently, he has also investigated the neural mechanisms by which general anesthetic agents suppress pain perception completely and produce a loss of consciousness. His laboratory pursues integrative research involving neurophysiology, computer simulations, neuroanatomy (light and electron microscopy), genetics, and animal behavioral models. Dr. Devor has chaired several large international congresses on pain and serves on the editorial boards of numerous journals in the pain field. In 2012, he received Israel's EMET Prize in Life Sciences "for excellence in academic and professional achievements that have far reaching influence and significant contribution to society." |
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Christopher Eccleston, PhD, is a professor of psychology and director of the Centre for Pain Research at the University of Bath in the UK. He is a leader in establishing the evidence base for psychological therapies, and in developing new methods for researching evidence-based pain interventions. He is also active in developing new interventions (including family-based and e-health strategies), in elucidating attentional and motivational mechanisms of disability related to chronic pain, and in exploring social and cultural factors in pain. He is particularly interested in advancing evidence-based medicine that is focused on realistic change for adolescents and adults. He has worked to de-pathologize patient behavior and developed a “normal” psychology of pain. Dr. Eccleston previously established the Bath Pain Management Unit at the Royal National Hospital for Rheumatic Diseases, where he developed cognitive behavioral rehabilitation programs for adults with chronic pain, and pioneered treatments for adolescents with chronic pain. Dr. Eccleston is coordinating editor of the Pain, Palliative, and Supportive Care Review Group of the Cochrane Collaboration, and field editor for psychology at the journal Pain. |
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Kathleen Foley, MD, is an attending neurologist in pain and palliative care at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City, USA, and holds the Chair of The Society of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in Pain Research. She is also a professor of neurology, neuroscience, and clinical pharmacology at Weill Medical College of Cornell University. Dr. Foley has devoted her career to pioneering the assessment, treatment, and support of patients with cancer pain. She has worked with governments around the world and with the World Health Organization to develop pain and palliative care initiatives and policies. She has received awards including the Distinguished Service Award and the Humanitarian Award from the American Cancer Society and the David Karnofsky Award from the American Society of Clinical Oncology. Dr. Foley is a past president of the American Pain Society and a member of the Institute of Medicine. |
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Rohini Kuner, PhD, is a professor of pharmacology at the University of Heidelberg in Germany. Her research focuses on the development and function of synapses between primary afferents and second-order neurons in the spinal dorsal horn, especially long-term plasticity underlying chronic pain. Her lab uses molecular, genetic, immunohistochemical, and electrophysiological approaches in vitro and in mouse models. Working in collaboration with clinicians, she dedicates her efforts to understanding the molecular mechanisms of pain disorders that are resistant to conventional therapy, such as knee arthritis, chronic pancreatitis, and tumor-induced pain. She is also exploring the roles of semaphorins and plexins in the development and function of the nervous system. Recently, she has started working on novel therapeutic approaches for chronic pain disorders, using viral gene delivery vectors and RNAi in mice. |
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Joseph Martin, MD, PhD, is the Edward R. and Anne G. Lefler Professor of Neurobiology at Harvard Medical School in Boston, USA. From 1997 to 2007, Dr. Martin served as Dean of the Faculty of Medicine at Harvard, where he played a key role in establishing structures to cultivate collaboration among basic scientists and clinicians, including the Harvard NeuroDiscovery Center. Before moving to Harvard, Dr. Martin served as Dean of the School of Medicine and Chancellor of the University of California, San Francisco, USA, where he established the W. M. Keck Foundation Center for Integrative Neurosciences. He was previously on the medical faculty at McGill University, Montreal, Canada, and was for 11 years the chief of the neurology service at Massachusetts General Hospital and the Julieanne Dorn Professor of Neurology at HMS. Dr. Martin is the recipient of numerous honors for his contributions to medical education and research, and a member of the Institute of Medicine. |
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Stephen McMahon, PhD, is Sherrington Professor of Physiology at King’s College London in the UK. He works to understand pain mechanisms using techniques ranging from molecular biology to electrophysiology to human psychophysical studies. He has a longstanding interest in the role and potential therapeutic applications of trophic factors. His current research is focused on neuro-immune interactions and the genetics and epigenetics of pain. Dr. McMahon directs the London Pain Consortium, a collection of researchers in London and Oxford working to better understand chronic pain mechanisms and improve treatments. He is also the academic leader of Europain, a collaboration of scientists working in academia and industry that is funded by the European Union’s Innovative Medicines Initiative. Dr. McMahon is editor of Wall and Melzack’s Textbook of Pain, 5th Edition, and the 6th Edition, due to be published in 2012. He is a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences. |
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Jeffrey Mogil, PhD, is the E. P. Taylor Professor of Pain Studies and the Canada Research Chair in the Genetics of Pain at McGill University in Montreal, Canada. He has made seminal contributions to the field of pain genetics and has written many reviews on the subject. He is the editor of The Genetics of Pain (IASP Press, 2004). Dr. Mogil also studies sex differences in pain and analgesia and is developing pain testing methods in the laboratory mouse. His awards include the Patrick D. Wall Young Investigator Award from the International Association for the Study of Pain, the Early Career Award from the Canadian Pain Society, and a Neuropathic Pain Award from Pfizer Canada. Dr. Mogil is a section editor for the journal Pain and was chair of the scientific program committee of the 2010 13th World Congress on Pain of the International Association for the Study of Pain. |
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Anne Louise Oaklander, MD, PhD, is an associate professor of neurology at Harvard Medical School and an assistant in pathology at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, USA, where she attends for the neurology service and directs the nerve injury unit and the neurodiagnostic skin biopsy service. She also directs a research laboratory that characterizes neurological disorders resulting in chronic pain and itch. Dr. Oaklander is known for discoveries on postherpetic neuralgia and pruritis after shingles. Her group was among the first to identify nerve injuries in patients with Complex Regional Pain Syndrome type I and has developed and characterized a rodent model of CRPS-I. Dr. Oaklander also studies small-fiber polyneuropathies, particularly those that affect children or are autoimmune-mediated. |
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William Schmidt, PhD, is president of NorthStar Consulting, Davis, California, USA, which provides advice on preclinical and clinical studies of novel analgesic drugs, and part-time vice president of clinical development at CrystalGenomics in Seoul, South Korea, and its subsidiary in the USA, CG Pharmaceuticals in Emeryville, California. Dr. Schmidt is also part-time vice president of clinical and regulatory for Arcion Therapeutics in Baltimore, USA. Dr. Schmidt previously worked in drug development and clinical research at biotech and pharmaceutical companies including DuPont Merck, Limerick BioPharma, Renovis, and Adolor. At Adolor, Dr. Schmidt was a key member of the team that developed Entereg (alvimopan), a peripherally-acting opioid antagonist. Dr. Schmidt is a scientific consultant to numerous companies around the world and sits on the advisory boards of one academic laboratory and three biotech companies. He is the co-editor of Pain: Current Understanding, Emerging Therapies, and Novel Approaches to Drug Discovery. |
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Clifford Woolf, MD, PhD, is director of the F. M. Kirby Neurobiology Center and the Program in Neurobiology at Children’s Hospital Boston, USA, a professor of neurology and neurobiology at Harvard Medical School, and a faculty member of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute. His pain research focuses on understanding basic mechanisms and translating the results into new therapeutics and diagnostics. He discovered central sensitization and showed that nerve growth factor plays a role in inflammatory pain. His current work includes human, mouse, and Drosophila genetics, stem cell biology, and a strategy for silencing pain fibers to relieve pain. Dr. Woolf is also a serial innovator, holding 15 patents, patent applications, and licenses for technological innovations in pain management, and he serves as a consultant and advisory board member for several biotechnology firms and drug companies. Recently, he received a Javits Award from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke of the US National Institutes of Health, and in 2010 he delivered the Bonica Lecture at the 13th World Congress on Pain of the International Association for the Study of Pain. Dr. Woolf is a dedicated teacher and mentor and has served on many national and international committees on pain research and treatment. |
