Pain Seminar Series

The NIH Pain Seminar Series, sponsored by the NIH PAIN Special Interest Group, features presentations by national leaders in the field of pain. Seminars highlight research conducted on model organisms at the behavioral, molecular, cellular and systems levels, as well as brain imaging work in patients and healthy volunteers. Our goal is to provide a forum where NIH researchers from different backgrounds can openly exchange their ideas and perspectives as well as discuss the latest technical approaches for the study of pain.

Fellows Pain SIG Seminar Meeting with the speakers: As part of the Pain Seminar Series, NIH trainees are invited to meet with speakers following the seminar. This is a great opportunity for trainees to network and learn more about the speaker and their affiliated institution. All trainees are welcome to attend and actively participate. Only NIH staff are allowed to participate. For more information about registration or to ask questions, please contact Jinhee Wang (jinhee.wang@nih.gov) and Vannida Ket (vannida.ket@nih.gov).

Cajal Legacy. Instituto Cajal (CSIC), Madrid

Upcoming events

January 9, 2025 - 11:00 a.m. ET to 12:00 p.m. ET

A Comparative Perspective on the Evolution and Function of Persistent Pain

Robyn Crook, Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Biology

San Francisco State University

February 13, 2025 - 11:00 a.m. ET to 12:00 p.m. ET

Severe Episodic Pain in Disparate Diseases: Sickle Cell Disease and Fabry Disease

Cheryl Stucky, Ph.D.

Marvin Wagner Endowed Professor

Department of Cell Biology, Neurobiology, and Anatomy

Medical College of Wisconsin

March 13, 2025 - 11:00 a.m. ET to 12:00 p.m. ET

Neuroplasticity in the Amygdala in the Transition From Acute to Chronic Pain

Volker Neugebauer, M.D., Ph.D.

Distinguished Professor and Chairman, Department of Pharmacology and Neuroscience

Executive Director, Garrison Institute on Aging

Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center School of Medicine

April 10, 2025 - 11:00 a.m. ET to 12:00 p.m. ET

Circuit Mechanisms of Neuropathic Pain Development

Guang Yang, Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Anesthesiological Sciences

Columbia University

See more Pain Seminars

May 15, 2025 - 11:00 a.m. ET to 12:00 p.m. ET

Top-Down Control of the Descending Pain Modulatory Pathway Underlies Placebo-Like Analgesia in Mice

Matthew Banghart, Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Neurobiology

School of Biological Sciences

University of California, San Diego

June 12, 2025 - 11:00 a.m. ET to 12:00 p.m. ET

Peptidergic Transmission in Central Pain Pathways

Sung Han, Ph.D.

Associate Professor

Peptide Biology Laboratory

Salk Institute for Biological Studies

July 10, 2025 - 11:00 a.m. ET to 12:00 p.m. ET

Implantable Systems for the Study and Treatment of Pain, Substance Use Disorder and Overdose

Robert W. Gereau, IV, Ph.D.

Dr. Seymour and Rose T. Brown Professor

Vice Chair for Research, Department of Anesthesiology

Director, Washington University Pain Center

Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis

Past events

2024

December 12, 2024 - 11:00 a.m. ET to 12:00 p.m. ET

Neural and Molecular Pain Processing in the Spinal Cord and Brain of Awake, Behaving Animals

Biafra Ahanonu, Ph.D.

Howard Hughes Medical Institute Hanna Gray Fellow

University of California, San Francisco

November 7, 2024 - 11:00 a.m. ET to 12:00 p.m. ET

Promoting Mental Health Assessment in Pain Management

Traci Speed, M.D., Ph.D.

Assistant Professor

Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences

Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine

September 12, 2024 - 11:00 a.m. ET to 12:00 p.m. ET

The Doctor-Patient Relationship and Pain Disparities: Sociocultural and Neural Mechanisms

Elizabeth Reynolds Losin, Ph.D.

Bennett Pierce Associate Professor in Caring and Compassion in Adulthood and Aging

Department of Behavioral Health

Penn State University

July 11, 2024 - 11:00 a.m. ET to 12:00 p.m. ET

Analysis of Real World Evidence Using Machine Learning To Improve Chronic Pain Treatment Outcomes

Ajay D. Wasan, M.D., M.Sc.

Professor of Anesthesiology and Psychiatry

Co-Director of the Center for Innovation in Pain Care

University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine

June 13, 2024 - 11:00 a.m. ET to 12:00 p.m. ET

A Spinal Framework for Organ Somatosensation

Vijay Samineni, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor

Department of Anesthesiology

Washington University School of Medicine

May 9, 2024 - 11:00 a.m. ET to 12:00 p.m. ET

Prognostic Biosignatures To Predict Persistence or Recovery in Pediatric Pain

Laura E. Simons, Ph.D.

Professor

Department of Anesthesiology, Perioperative, and Pain Medicine

Stanford University

April 11, 2024 - 11:00 a.m. ET to 12:00 p.m. ET

Chronic Alcohol Produces Hyperalgesia via Amygdala Circuit Changes

Nicholas Gilpin, Ph.D.

Professor & Vice Chair of Physiology

Co-Director of Alcohol & Drug Abuse Center

LSU Health Sciences Center

March 14, 2024 - 11:00 a.m. ET to 12:00 p.m. ET

Implantable Wireless Systems for the Study and Treatment of Pain, Substance Use Disorder, and Overdose

Robert W. Gereau, IV, Ph.D.

Vice Chair for Research

Dr. Seymour and Rose T. Brown Professor

Department of Anesthesiology

Director of Washington University Pain Center

Washington University School of Medicine

February 8, 2024 - 11:00 a.m. ET to 12:00 p.m. ET

Molecular Mechanisms of Mammalian Proprioception

Theanne Griffith, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor

Department of Physiology & Membrane Biology

University of California, Davis

January 11, 2024 - 11:00 a.m. ET to 12:00 p.m. ET

Psychosocial Modulators of Postsurgical Pain: Implications for Prediction and Prevention

Kristin L. Schreiber, M.D., Ph.D.

Associate Professor

Vice Chair of Faculty Development

Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Mass General Brigham, Harvard Medical School

2023

December 14, 2023 - 11:00 a.m. ET to 12:00 p.m. ET

Demographic and Sociological Perspectives on Chronic Pain and Pain Treatments

Anna Zajacova, Ph.D.

Professor

Department of Sociology

University of Western Ontario

November 9, 2023 - 11:00 a.m. ET to 12:00 p.m. ET

Brain Circuitry Supporting Patient/Clinician Therapeutic Alliance and the “Art of Medicine”: A Hyperscan Neuroimaging Approach

Vitaly Napadow, Ph.D., LAc

Professor, Harvard Medical School

Director

Scott Schoen and Nancy Adams Discovery Center for Recovery from Chronic Pain at Spauling Rehabilitation Hospital

October 12, 2023 - 11:00 a.m. ET to 12:00 p.m. ET

How the Brain Controls Pain

Mary M. Heinricher, Ph.D.

Professor

Department of Neurological Surgery and Behavioral Neuroscience

Oregon Health & Science University

June 8, 2023 - 11:00 a.m. ET to 12:00 p.m. ET

TLR4-Dependent Sex-Specific Differences in Neuroimmune Communications

Michael D. Burton, Ph.D.

Eugene McDermott Assistant Professor of Neuroscience

University of Texas at Dallas

May 11, 2023 - 11:00 a.m. ET to 12:00 p.m. ET

Biobehavioral Pain Mechanisms Across the Lifespan

Yenisel Cruz-Almeida, Ph.D., M.S.P.H.

Associate Professor and Associate Director

Pain Research & Intervention Center of Excellence

University of Florida

March 9, 2023 - 10:30 a.m. ET to 11:30 a.m. ET

The Role of PRDM12 in Nociceptor Development: From Embryogenesis to Adulthood

Helen Lai, Ph.D.

Associate Professor

Department of Neuroscience and Anesthesiology & Pain Management

UT Southwestern Medical Center

February 9, 2023 - 11:00 a.m. ET to 12:00 p.m. ET

Effects and Mechanisms of Psychological Treatments in Individuals With Chronic Pain

Mark P. Jenson, Ph.D.

Professor and Vice Chair for Research

University of Washington

January 12, 2023 - 11:00 a.m. ET to 12:00 p.m. ET

Epigenetics and Chronic Pain: What Is It and Why Should I Care?

Laura Stone, Ph.D.

Professor

Department of Anesthesiology

University of Minnesota

2022

December 8, 2022 - 10:30 a.m. ET to 11:30 a.m. ET

Understanding the Cells Making the First Synapses of the Human Pain Pathway

Theodore Price, Ph.D.

Ashbel Smith Professor and Director

Center for Advanced Pain Studies

University of Texas at Dallas

July 14, 2022 - 11:00 a.m. ET to 12:00 p.m. ET

Looking Upstream: Social and Cultural Contributors to Pain and Disparity

Vani A. Mathur, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor, Diversity Science and Well-Being, Texas A&M University

June 9, 2022 - 11:00 a.m. ET to 12:00 p.m. ET

Deep Phenotyping of Patients Experiencing Pain

Misha Backonja, M.D.

Supervisory Clinician Physician, NCCIH

Virtual

April 14, 2022 - 11:00 a.m. ET to 12:00 p.m. ET

Cutaneous Sensation and Pain: Keratinocytes and Sensory Neurons

Cheryl Stucky, Ph.D.

Marvin Wagner Professor Department of Cell Biology, Neurobiology and Anatomy, Medical College of Wisconsin

March 10, 2022 - TBD

POSTPONED: Molecular Characterization of Human Nociceptors

Theodore Price, Ph.D.

Eugene McDermott Professor and Co-Chair

Department of Neuroscience School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences University of Texas, Dallas

February 10, 2022 - 11:00 a.m. ET to 12:00 p.m. ET

Does This Hurt? New Discoveries About How Our Brain Scales Pain Responses

Victoria Abraira, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor, Department of Cell Biology and Neuroscience, Rutgers University

Virtual

2021

December 9, 2021 - 11:00 a.m. ET to 12:00 p.m. ET

Hypothalamic Cell Types and Circuits That Drive Survival Behaviors

Yeka Aponte, Ph.D.

Earl Stadtman Tenure-Track Investigator, Chief Neuronal Circuits and Behavior Unit; Associate Director for Diversity and Inclusion, National Institute on Drug Abuse Intramural Research Program; Adjunct Assistant Professor, Johns Hopkins University, Solomon H. Snyder Department of Neuroscience

November 4, 2021 - 11:00 a.m. ET to 12:00 p.m. ET

Defining a Spinal Microcircuit That Gates Myelinated Afferent Input: Implications for Tactile Allodynia

David I. Hughes, Ph.D.

Associate Professor

School of Psychology and Neuroscience College of Medical Veterinary and Life Science, University of Glasgow, UK

June 10, 2021 - 12:00 p.m. ET to 1:00 p.m. ET

The Importance of Expectation in Pain: Experimental Modeling in Humans

Irina Strigo, Ph.D.

Associate Professor

Department of Psychiatry, San Francisco VA Health Care System, University of California San Francisco

May 13, 2021 - 09:00 a.m. ET to 10:00 a.m. ET

Teaching the Brain to Fear

Joshua Johansen, Ph.D.

Team Leader

RIKEN Center for Brain Science

April 8, 2021 - 09:00 a.m. ET to 10:00 a.m. ET

Somatosensory Neuron Types and Neural Networks

Xu Zhang, Ph.D.

Senior Investigator, Shanghai Advanced Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Science (CAS); Director of Institute of Brain-Intelligence Technology

Zhangjiang Laboratory

March 18, 2021 - 09:00 a.m. ET to 10:00 a.m. ET

All in the Mind? The Role of Psychology in the Treatment and Etiology of Pain

Tim Salomons, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor

Department of Psychology; Queen's University, Canada

February 11, 2021 - 09:00 a.m. ET to 10:00 a.m. ET

Applying Evolutionary Principles to Pain Research

Amanda C. de C Williams, Ph.D.

Professor of Clinical Health Psychology, Research Dept of Clinical, Educational & Health Psychology, University College London; Consultant Clinical Psychologist, Pain Management Centre

University College London Hospital

January 14, 2021 - 09:00 a.m. ET to 10:00 a.m. ET

The emotional consequences of chronic pain: Special focus on the Anterior Cingulate Cortex

Ipek Yalcin, Ph.D., Pharm. D.

Research Director; Head of the team, Neuroanatomy, Pain and Psychopathology,

Institute of Cellular and Integrative Neuroscience UPR3212 CNRS and University of Strasbourg, France

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If you would like to receive email announcements about the NIH Pain Seminar Series, please email Vannida Ket and Jinhee Wang.

Contacts

For additional information about the PAIN Seminar series ot the PAIN SIG, please contact any of the organizers: Dr. Yarimar Carrasquillo, Dr. Lauren Atlas, or Dr. Alex Chesler.