NIH hosts meeting on chronic pain and the opioid crisis

Event will highlight the need for better pain management and the latest research in the field.

What

On May 31st and June 1st 2018, researchers from around the United States will gather at the NIH for a two-day symposium called From Science to Society – At the Intersection of Chronic Pain Management and the Opioid Crisis(link is external). Chronic pain is a major public health problem affecting at least 25 million Americans every day, and over-prescribing of opioids for its treatment has contributed to the current crisis. The crisis highlights the challenges the pain field faces as it tries to develop better treatment and management strategies for patients and health professionals.

At the meeting, convened by the NIH’s Pain Consortium, NIH Director Francis S. Collins, M.D., Ph.D., and U.S. Surgeon General VADM Jerome M. Adams, M.D. M.P.H., will discuss these challenges and how the NIH’s Helping to End Addiction Long-term (HEAL) Initiativewill help researchers tackle some of them.

Keynote speaker, Judith Paice, Ph.D., R.N., director of the Cancer Pain Program at Northwestern University, and George Carter, a sickle cell patient and advocate, will present their views on the issue. In addition, the meeting will be an opportunity to hear from and talk to researchers and NIH leaders who address some critical questions for the field:

How can the field make quality pain care available to everyone?

Research has shown that some racial and socioeconomic groups are more vulnerable to poor quality pain management. Eliseo J. Peréz-Stable, M.D., director, NIH’s National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities, will moderate a session on the latest research on racial and socioeconomic disparities in clinical pain management.

What is the link between pain and opioid addiction?

Rita Valentino, Ph.D., director of the Division of Neuroscience and Behavior in NIH’s National Institute on Drug Abuse, will lead a session in which pain researchers present their studies on the biological links between pain and addiction.

Can cutting-edge brain science improve pain care?

Walter J. Koroshetz, M.D., director of the NIH’s National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, will describe how the BRAIN (Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies®) Initiative is supporting research to both understand the neural circuits underlying pain and develop novel treatments.

Who

The following NIH experts will be available for interviews.

Francis S. Collins, M.D., Ph.D., director, National Institutes of Health
Jerome M. Adams M.D., M.P.H., U.S. Surgeon General
Linda L. Porter, Ph.D., director, NIH Office of Pain Policy
Patricia A. Grady, Ph.D., RN, FAAN, director, National Institute of Nursing Research
Walter J. Koroshetz, M.D., director, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke
Ann O'Mara, Ph.D., RN, FAAN, head of palliative research, Division of Cancer Prevention, National Cancer Institute
Eliseo J. Peréz-Stable, M.D., director, National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities
David Shurtleff, Ph.D., acting director, National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health
Martha J. Somerman, D.D.S., Ph.D., director, National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research
Rita Valentino, Ph.D., director, Division of Neuroscience and Behavior, National Institute on Drug Abuse
Nora D. Volkow, M.D., director, National Institute on Drug Abuse

For media inquiries, please contact the NINDS press team at nindspressteam@ninds.nih.gov(link sends e-mail); 301-496-5751

When

May 31 - June 1, 2018, starting at 8:30 a.m.; Masur Auditorium and FAES Terrace in the NIH Clinical Center, Building 10, NIH Campus, 10 Center Drive, Bethesda, Maryland.

For schedules and logistics: www.youreventinfo.org/PainConsortiumSymposium2018/Logistics.html(link is external)

All talks and panel discussions will be livestreamed via NIH’s videocast website:

Day 1
Day 2

The NIH Pain Consortium was established to enhance pain research and promote collaboration among researchers across the many NIH Institutes and Centers that have programs and activities addressing pain. The consortium supports initiatives, development of research resources and tools, and hosts events to promote collaboration and highlight advances in pain research. For more information on the Pain Consortium, please visit www.painconsortium.nih.gov.

About the National Institutes of Health (NIH): NIH, the nation's medical research agency, includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIH is the primary federal agency conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and is investigating the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit www.nih.gov.