University College London
UK
Professor Stephen Hunt has been Professor of Molecular Neuroscience at University College London since 1998. Before that he was at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge where he pioneered research into the rapid neuronal gene expression that promotes chronic pain states. He has worked extensively on the molecular neurobiology of Pain and Addiction and gave the Pat Wall Lecture at the British Pain Society in 2016.
Stanford University
USA
Dr Sean Mackey, M.D., Ph.D, is Chief of the Division of Pain Medicine, Redlich Professor of Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine, Neurosciences and Neurology (by courtesy) and Director of the Systems Neuroscience and Pain Laboratory (SNAPL) at Stanford University. He is the Immediate Past President of the American Academy of Pain Medicine. Dr. Mackey received his BSE and MSE in Bioengineering from University of Pennsylvania and his PhD in Electrical and Computer Engineering as well as MD from University of Arizona. Dr. Mackey is author of over 200 journal articles, book chapters, abstracts, and popular press pieces in addition to numerous national and international lectures.
Under Dr Mackey’s leadership, the Stanford Pain Management Center has been designated a Center of Excellence by the American Pain Society, one of only two centers to receive this honor twice. In 2011 he was a member of the Institutes of Medicine committee that issued the report on Relieving Pain in America. He is currently Co-Chair of the Oversight Committee for the NIH/Health and Human Services National Pain Strategy, an effort to establish a national health strategy for pain care, education and research.
Under Dr Mackey’s leadership, researchers at the Stanford Pain Management Center and the Stanford Systems Neuroscience and Pain Laboratory have made major advances in the understanding of chronic pain as a disease in its own right, one that fundamentally alters the nervous system. Dr Mackey has overseen efforts to map the specific brain and spinal cord regions that perceive and process pain, which has led to the development of a multidisciplinary treatment model that translates basic science research into innovative therapies to provide more effective, personalized treatments for patients with chronic pain.
University of Washington School of Medicine
USA
Dr Judith Turner is Professor of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences and Rehabilitation Medicine at the University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, Washington, USA. She received a Ph.D. in clinical psychology from UCLA and has worked in the University of Washington multidisciplinary pain center since 1980. Dr Turner has been active in leadership of the International Association for the Study of Pain (President-Elect 2014-2016, President 2016-2018). She has published over 200 journal articles, and received the Wilbert E. Fordyce Clinical Investigator award from the American Pain Society and the International Society for the Study of the Lumbar Spine prize for clinical pain research. Her current research interests include chronic opioid therapy, predictors and mediators of pain treatment outcomes, and randomized trials of cognitive-behavioral therapy for chronic pain.
Pain Management Research Institute, University of Sydney
NSW Australia
Dr Claire Ashton-James is a Senior Lecturer at The University of Sydney’s Pain Management Research Institute (PMRI). Dr. Ashton-James completed her PhD in Social Psychology (2009), and obtained international research and teaching experience as an assistant professor at Duke University (USA), the University of British Columbia (Canada), the VU University Amsterdam, VU Medical Centre Amsterdam (The Netherlands) and University College London (UK). Dr Ashton-James has published empirical research and theoretical review articles on a variety of topics related to social judgment, decision-making, perception, nonverbal communication, emotion, and interpersonal behaviour. Drawing upon her broad expertise in social psychology, her current research examines social processes that stand to modulate clinical assessments of pain, patients’ experience of pain, and treatment expectations.
Flinders University
SA Australia
A/Professor Stuart Brierley is an NHMRC R.D Wright Biomedical Fellow at Flinders University and Head of the Visceral Pain Group at located at the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute (SAHMRI).
He is an internationally recognized as an authority on the different afferent classes innervating the gut, the mechanotransduction channels underlying their function, the interaction of these channels with inflammatory mediators, and how this changes in acute and chronic pain.
A/Professor Brierley has a proven track record in coordinating multi-faceted research programs for high-impact publications in journal such as Nature, Nature Communications, Nature Reviews Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Gastroenterology, Gut and The Journal of Neuroscience.
His recent paper in Nature identified a crucial role for the voltage gated ion channel NaV1.1 in underlying the pathological pain associated with Irritable Bowel Syndrome. His recent collaborations with Industry partners identified the mechanism of pain relief of a new drug, linaclotide, in treating patient with Irritable Bowel Syndrome with Constipation (IBS-C). Linaclotide, a guanylate cyclase-C (GC-C) agonist is effective in relieving abdominal pain associated with IBS-C and is already available and registered for use by IBS-C patients in the USA and Europe.
University of Notre Dame Australia
WA Australia
Associate Professor Juli Coffin is a prominent Aboriginal researcher with research expertise in cultural security, education and research across diverse range of topics chronic diseases, nutrition, contextualising bullying, and health promotion. Dr Coffin was educated in Australia through Edith Cowan University (Western Australia) and James Cook University (Queensland). She has completed a degree in education, Masters in Public health and tropical Medicine (with distinction) and a PhD with an award in excellence. In addition to this she has also completed an orthography course of her family’s traditional Aboriginal language (Nyangumarta) and combines her education and cultural learning’s to deliver the outstanding translation of research into practise that is always of an impeccable standard. She is highly regarded by her peers and as being creative and innovative around some of the particularly controversial and complex areas in Aboriginal health and education.
Dr Coffin is an Aboriginal Western Australian who has traditional ties to her grandparents Nyangumarta country in the Pilbara region. Juli was born in Ngala, Western Australia and lived the majority of her life in the Pilbara. She is the proud mother of three children.
Northern Adelaide Palliative Service
SA Australia
Professor Greg Crawford is Senior Consultant in Palliative Medicine and Director of Research and Teaching with Northern Adelaide Palliative Service. He is a Professor of Palliative Medicine at the University of Adelaide. His basic medical degree was awarded by the University of Adelaide. He was awarded a Doctorate of Medicine by thesis from Flinders University in 2008. His major research and teaching interests include the end-of-life psychological issues for patients, carers and their clinicians; teaching of communication: professionalism and pain and other symptom management in palliative care, not only those with cancer but also for people with non-malignant disease.
Centre for Nanoscale BioPhotonics
SA Australia
Professor Mark Hutchinson is an ARC Australian Research Fellow and is the Director of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Nanoscale BioPhotonics (CNBP), he is also a Professor within the School of Medicine at the University of Adelaide. Professor Hutchinson returned to the University of Adelaide in 2009 as an NHMRC CJ Martin Research Fellow, and established the Neuroimmunopharmacology research laboratory. From 2005 to 2009 Mark worked in the world leading laboratory of Professor Linda Watkins in the Center for Neuroscience at the University of Colorado at Boulder. Here he pioneered with Professor Watkins the research which has led to the discovery of novel drug activity at innate immune receptors.
Professor Hutchinson's research has implicated the brain immune-like cells in the action of drugs of dependence and the negative side effects of pain treatments. His work has enabled the translation of compounds at the lab bench to clinical agents used at the bedside.
Professor Hutchinson has published over 100 papers in journals and refereed conference proceedings. He has now added Director of the CNBP to his roles. The CNBP is an ARC Centre of Excellence headquartered at The University of Adelaide, with nodes at Macquarie University, Sydney and the RMIT, Melbourne. They are partnered with universities and companies in Europe, the US and China, as well as other Australian institutions. The CNBP has a mission to "Discover new approaches to measure nano-scale dynamic phenomena in living systems".
University of WA
WA Australia
Dr Ivan Lin is a NHMRC Early Career Research Fellow at the Western Australian Centre for Rural Health, University of Western Australia, physiotherapist with the Geraldton Regional Aboriginal Medical Service, and holds an adjunct appointment with Curtin University, School of Physiotherapy and Exercise Science. He lives and works on Yamatji country, in Geraldton, Western Australia. Over the past 10 years a major focus of Dr Lin's research and clinical practice has been guided by the question; how can outcomes be improved for Aboriginal people with musculoskeletal pain? His work has drawn together a collaboration of Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal researchers, clinicians and community members on this issue. Currently the group are in the early stages of an implementation project aiming to improve the quality of musculoskeletal pain care in primary care and emergency care settings. Dr Lin’s other interests include remote and rural health, research translation, health disparities and communication in clinical settings.
University of Adelaide
SA Australia
Professor Alexander McFarlane (AO MB. BS. (Hons) MD. Dip. Psychother. FRANZCP) is Professor of Psychiatry and the Head of the University of Adelaide Centre for Traumatic Stress Studies. He is an international expert in the field of the impact of disasters and posttraumatic stress disorder. He is a recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award of the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies for outstanding and fundamental contributions to the field of traumatic stress studies. He has held the role of Senior Adviser in Psychiatry to the Australian Defence Force and the Department of Veterans’ Affairs. He holds the rank of Group Captain in the RAAF specialist reserve. Apart from his interest in disaster victims, military personnel and other civilian accidents, he has significant experience in the provision of care to emergency service personnel. His research is supported by the Department of Veterans’ Affairs and the NHMRC program and partnership grants.
He has published over 300 articles and chapters in various refereed journals and has co-edited three books. In 2011 he received the Officer of the Order of Australia award, which recognised his “outstanding contribution to medical research in the field of psychiatry, particularly posttraumatic stress disorders, to veterans’ mental health management, and as an author”.
Western Sydney University
NSW Australia
Dr Siobhan Schabrun received her Physiotherapy degree from the University of South Australia and holds a PhD in Neuroscience from The University of Adelaide. She is a current NHMRC Career Development Fellow at Western Sydney University and a former Fulbright Scholar. Her research seeks to understand why some people develop persistent musculoskeletal pain after injury while others do not, and to develop and test novel brain based treatments that can improve outcomes for people living with pain.
University of Adelaide
SA Australia
Professor Andrew Somogyi teaches pharmacology in undergraduate medicine, dentistry, nursing and health science programs. He has an active research program centred on elucidating the dispositional mechanisms for altered human drug response in pain, depression and transplantation therapeutics through pharmacokinetic, metabolism, pharmacodynamic and pharmacogenomic studies. He has translated his research into clinical practice by establishing a Pharmacogenetics Service at the Royal Adelaide Hospital. Pharmacogenomics and personalised healthcare is a theme of his overarching research and public health focus. He is a Honorary Fellow of the Faculty of Pain Medicine (ANZCA).
McGill University
Canada
Professor Michael Sullivan is a clinical psychologist who is currently Professor of Psychology and Medicine at McGill University (Montreal, Canada), and Honorary Professor at The University of Queensland (Brisbane, Australia). He has also held appointments in Departments of Physical and Occupational Therapy, and Neurology.
Over the past 25 years, Professor Sullivan has worked as an educator, director, consultant, clinician, and department chair. He has served as a consultant to numerous health and safety organizations, veterans’ administration organizations, insurance groups as well as social policy and research institutes. Most recently, he was Director of Recover Injury Centre in Queensland, Australia. In 2011, he received the Award for Distinguished Contributions to Psychology as a Profession by the Canadian Psychological Association.
He is best known for his research on psychosocial risk factors for pain-related disability, and for the development of risk-targeted interventions designed to foster occupational re-engagement following injury. One such intervention, the Progressive Goal Attainment Program (PGAP), was included in the 18th edition of the Official Disability Guidelines (Work Loss Data Institute, 2013) as an evidenced-based approach to the management of work-disability. Professor Sullivan developed the Pain Catastrophizing Scale (PCS) and the Injustice Experiences Questionnaire (IEQ). The PCS has been used in more than 3000 scientific studies. The PCS has been translated into 25 languages and is currently the most widely used measure of catastrophic thinking related to pain. Professor Sullivan has published more than 180 peer reviewed scientific articles, 2 books and 23 book chapters.