More than 100 million Americans suffer from migraines, arthritis and
other chronic pain conditions with an annual economic toll of nearly
$600 billion in medical bills and lost productivity. To help address
this problem, Congress directed the U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services, through the Affordable Care Act, to create a new Interagency
Pain Research Coordinating Committee. Its members, announced today by
the National Institutes of Health, include biomedical researchers, representatives
from nonprofit public advocacy organizations, and representatives of
seven federal government organizations that deal with pain research and
patient care.
The committee will work to identify critical gaps in basic and clinical
research on the symptoms, causes, and treatment of pain and will recommend
federal research programs in these areas. The focus will be to coordinate
pain research activities across the federal government with the goals
of stimulating pain research collaboration, fully leveraging the government
resources dedicated to supporting pain research, and providing an important
avenue for public involvement. The committee will explore public-private
partnerships to broaden collaborative, cross-cutting research and consider
best practices in disseminating information about pain to public and
professional audiences.
“Pain is a universal condition, a serious and costly public health
issue, and a challenge for family, friends, and health care providers,” said
Story Landis, Ph.D., director of NIH’s National Institute of Neurological
Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) and the committee chair. “This committee
will play an important role working with federal agencies spearheading
pain research. I am pleased that its membership reflects a great depth
and wide range of both scientific expertise and effective public advocacy.”
The committee appointees include leading federal officials together
with six non-federal scientists, physicians, and other health professionals,
as well as six members of the general public who are representatives
of leading research, advocacy and service organizations.
After tracking the work of several government agencies that conduct
and support pain research, the committee will develop a report on scientific
advances in the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of chronic and acute
pain
In addition to Dr. Landis, the following federal agency representatives
will serve on the committee:
- Martha J. Somerman, D.D.S., Ph.D., is director of the National Institute
of Dental and Craniofacial Research, part of the NIH. - Charles G. Helmick III, M.D., is a senior medical epidemiologist
with the Arthritis Program at the National Center for Chronic Disease
Prevention and Health Promotion, part of the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention. - Audrey N. Kusiak, Ph.D., is a portfolio manager in the Rehabilitation
Research and Development Service at the Department of Veterans Affairs,
Office of Research and Development, where her portfolio includes research
on spinal cord injury, pain, regenerative medicine and translational
neural repair. - Bob Andrew Rappaport, M.D., is director of the Division of Anesthesia,
Analgesia, and Addiction Products in the Center for Drug Evaluation
and Research of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. - Richard Ricciardi, Ph.D., N.P., is a health scientist in the Center
for Primary Care, Prevention, and Clinical Partnerships at HHS’ Agency
for Healthcare Research and Quality, and a pediatric and family nurse
practitioner. - Maj. Gen. Richard W. Thomas, M.D., D.D.S., most recently served as
the U.S. Forces-Afghanistan Surgeon General. His current assignment
is commanding general, Western Region Medical Command.
Non-federal researchers appointed to the committee:
- Ronald Dubner, D.D.S., Ph.D., is a professor at the University of
Maryland School of Dentistry, Baltimore, where he chaired the Department
of Biomedical Sciences from 1995 to 2003. He conducts research on pain
mechanisms and the development of new pharmacological strategies for
acute and chronic pain. Dr. Dubner was previously president of the
American Pain Society and chief editor of the international journal Pain. - Carmen R. Green, M.D., is professor of anesthesiology, obstetrics
and gynecology, and health management and policy at the University
of Michigan’s schools of Medicine and Public Health, Ann Arbor. Her
research agenda focuses on access to health and pain care, pain assessment,
management and outcomes, minority and women’s health, clinician decision
making and health policy. She also conducts studies on health and pain
disparities due to age, race/ethnicity, gender, class and geography. - Sean Mackey, M.D., Ph.D., is chief of the Division of Pain Management
and associate professor of anesthesiology, neurosciences and neurology
at Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, Calif. His studies
integrate advanced neurobehavioral, psychophysical and neuroimaging
techniques to elucidate and characterize the underlying mechanisms
of pain. - Christine A. Miaskowski, R.N., Ph.D., is an American Cancer Society
clinical research professor and the associate dean for academic affairs
at the University of California, San Francisco School of Nursing. She
also is the Sharon A. Lamb Endowed Chair in Symptom Management Research
in the Department of Physiological Nursing. Her research focuses on
the evaluation of the harmful effects of unrelieved pain and the development
of strategies to improve pain management. - Michael A. Moskowitz, M.D., is professor of neurology at Harvard
Medical School affiliated with the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Science
and Technology, Boston. His laboratory in the Neuroscience Center at
Massachusetts General Hospital conducts studies related to migraine,
stroke and traumatic brain injury. Dr. Moskowitz also is a past president
of the International Headache Society and the Society for Cerebral
Blood Flow and Metabolism. - Wally R. Smith, M.D., is professor and chairman of the Division of
Quality Health Care and scientific director for the Center on Health
Disparities at Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, where he
is also vice chair for research in the Division of General Internal
Medicine. His research interests include pain in sickle cell disease
and studies centered on health disparities, health services, physician
decision making and managed care quality.
Appointees from public advocacy organizations:
- Terrie Cowley is president and co-founder of the TMJ Association,
Milwaukee, Wis., a nonprofit organization established in 1989. Ms.
Cowley has worked as a patient representative with several government
agencies, including the Institute of Medicine, the NIH and the FDA. - Elizabeth B. Gilbertson is chief of strategy for Unite Here Health,
Aurora, Ill., and serves on the board of directors for the nonprofit
National Committee for Quality Assurance, Washington, D.C. She is a
past president of the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees International
Union Welfare Fund. - Tamara K. Liller is president of the National Fibromyalgia Partnership,
Linden, Va., a nonprofit organization established in 1992 and dedicated
to disseminating medically accurate, quality resource information on
fibromyalgia to patients, health care professionals and the general
public. - Tina M. Tockarshewsky is president and chief executive officer of
The Neuropathy Association, New York City, a nonprofit organization
providing patient support, neuropathy education, awareness and advocacy
as well as promoting research into the causes of and cures for peripheral
neuropathies. - Mary Vargas, J.D., is chair of the board of directors for the American
Pain Foundation, Baltimore, and partner at Stein & Vargas, LLP,
Baltimore, a national law firm focusing on discrimination on the basis
of disability. - Christin Veasley is executive director for the National Vulvodynia
Association, Silver Spring, Md., a nonprofit organization that serves
women with chronic vulvar pain and related pain disorders, as well
as medical professionals and scientists interested in research on vulvodynia.
The committee is expected to meet at least once a year, with members
slated to serve overlapping three-year terms. The first meeting will
be held March 27, 2012.
NINDS is the nation’s leading funder
of research on the brain and nervous system. The NINDS mission is to
reduce the burden of neurological disease ? a burden borne by every age
group, by every segment of society, by people all over the world.
