NCCIH Research Blog

We are pleased to let you know of three upcoming lectures by NCCIH-funded researchers on pain and its management, forming the Center’s Spring 2018 Integrative Medicine Research Lecture Series. All talks will take place at Lipsett Amphitheater, Building 10, on the NIH campus, and will also be offered via NIH Videocast and Facebook Live.

On Monday, March 12, at 11:00 a.m. ET, Alexander Chesler, Ph.D., will give the first talk, “Under Your Skin: Molecules and Cells for Touch and Pain.”

The somatosensory system enables us to detect touch, temperature, and painful stimuli. By studying patients with a rare, inherited disease, Dr. Chesler and his team identified a key molecule for detecting touch and proprioception, our body’s awareness of itself in space. Dr. Chesler will discuss the “sixth sense” and how recent advances in genetics and functional imaging in model systems can help shed light on mechanisms involved in acute and chronic pain.

Dr. Chesler is Stadtman Investigator in the Section on Sensory Cells and Circuits in the Division of Intramural Research at NCCIH. You can view a summary with video of one of Dr. Chesler’s recent studies on the “sixth sense,” which was published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

We hope you’ll also consider saving the dates for our other two speakers, listed below. More details will follow on this blog. The lecture series homepage is nccih.nih.gov/news/events/IMlectures.

Monday, April 23, 11:00 a.m. ET
“Reframing the Primary Care Management of Chronic Pain”
Erin E. Krebs, M.D., M.P.H.
Associate Professor of Medicine
University of Minnesota Medical School and
Minneapolis Veterans Affairs Health Care System

Monday, June 4, 11:00 a.m. ET
“Caring for our Military: Considering Non-drug Therapies for Pain”
Mary Jo Larson, Ph.D., M.P.A.
Senior Scientist
The Heller School for Social Policy and Management
Brandeis University