Email
catherine.bushnell-at-mcgill.ca

M. Catherine Bushnell, Ph.D.
Alan Edwards Centre for Research on Pain
McGill University
3640 University Street, Room M19
Montreal, Quebec H3A 2B2

Tel: 514-398-3493
Fax: 514-398-7464

Dr. Bushnell is the Harold Griffith Professor of Anesthesia and Professor in Dentistry and Neurology at McGill University. She is President-Elect of the Canadian Pain Society and Editor-in-Chief of IASP Press. She was Director of the Alan Edwards Centre for Research on Pain from 2003-2009. Dr. Bushnell won the Frederick Kerr Award for Basic Research in Pain from the American Pain Society in 2003 and the Distinguished Career Award from the Canadian Pain Society in 2002. In 2009, she was awarded a senior Canadian Research Chair in Clinical Pain.

Dr. Bushnell received a PhD. in Experimental Psychology from the American University in Washington, D.C. in 1977 and postdoctoral training in neurophysiology at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland. Her research interests include forebrain mechanisms of pain processing, psychological modulation of pain, and neural alternations in chronic pain patients. Current research projects utilize brain imaging and psychophysical testing to study the neural basis of pain processing in humans, as well as rodent behavioral testing and rodent brain imaging. Both normal pain processing and aberrant processing after nervous system damage are addressed.

RECENT PUBLICATIONS

Strigo, I.A., Duncan, G.H., Bushnell, M.C., Wainer, I., Rosas, M.E.R., Boivin, M. and Persson, J. The effects of racemic ketamine on painful stimulation of skin and viscera. Pain 113: 255-264, 2005.

Pukall, C.V., Strigo, I.A., Binik, Y.M., Amsil, R., Khalife, S., Bushnell, M.C. Neural correlates of painful genital touch in women with vulvar vestibulitis syndrome. Pain, 115: 118-127, 2005.

Backlund, H., Morin, C., Ptito, A., Bushnell, M.C., Olausson, H. Tactile functions after cerebral hemispherectomy. Neuropsychologia, 43:332-339, 2005.

Strigo, I.A., Albanese, M.C., Bushnell, M.C., Duncan, G.H. Visceral and cutaneous pain representation in the parasylvian cortex. Neurosci. Letts. 384: 55-59, 2005.

Apkarian, A.V., Bushnell, M.C., Treede, R.-D. and Zubieta, J.-K. Human brain mechanisms of pain perception and regulation (in health and disease): Scientific Review. Eur. J. Pain, 9: 463-484, 2005.

Bushnell, M.C. Brain imaging of pain: A 30-year perspective. In: Paths of Pain, IASP Press, 285-297, 2005.

Hofbauer, R.K., Olausson, H. and Bushnell, M.C. Peripheral and central mechanisms underlying tactile allodynia in a nerve-injured patient. Clin. J. Pain 22: 104-108, 2006.

Olausson, H., Charron, J., Marchand, S., Villemure, C., Strigo. I., Bushnell, M.C. Feelings of warmth correlate with activity in anterior insular cortex. Neurosci. Letts. 389: 1-5, 2005.

Bushnell, M.C. Brain imaging as a surrogate measure of pain: Human and animal studies. In: Emerging Strategies for the Treatment of Neuropathic Pain, IASP Press, 383-405, 2006.

Flor, H. and Bushnell, M.C. Central Imaging of Pain. In: The Neurobiology of Pain, S.P Hunt & M. Koltzenburg, editors, Oxford University Press, 2005.

Bushnell, M.C. and Apkarian, A.V. Representation of pain in the brain. In: Textbook of Pain, 5th Edition, 2005.

Villemure, C., Wassimi, S., Bennett, G.J., Shir, Y., Bushnell, M.C. Unpleasant odors increase pain processing in a patient with neuropathic pain: Psychophysical and fMRI investigation. Pain. 120: 213-220, 2006.

Cole J, Bushnell MC, McGlone F, Elam M, Lamarre Y, Vallbo A, Olausson H. Unmyelinated tactile afferents underpin detection of low force monofilaments. Muscle and Nerve, 34: 105-107, 2006.

Villemure, C. and Bushnell, M.C. Comments on Pud and Sapir study. Pain 122: 326, 2006.

Villemure, C. and Bushnell, M.C. The effects of the steroid androstadienone and pleasant odorants on the mood and pain perception of men and women. Eur. J. Pain 11: 181-191, 2007.

Wood PB, Schweinhardt P, Bushnell MC, Jaeger E, Dagher A, Hakyemez H, Rabiner EA, Chizh BA. Fibromyalgia patients show an abnormal dopamine response to pain. Eur. J. Neuroscience, 25: 3576-3582, 2007.

Kuchinad A, Schweinhardt P, Seminowicz DA, Wood P, Chizh BA, Bushnell MC. Accelerated brain gray-matter loss in fibromyalgia patients: Premature aging of the brain? J. Neuroscience, 27:4004-4007, 2007.

Olausson H, Cole J, Rylander K, Vallbo A, McGlone F, Lamarre Y, Wallin BG, Cramer H, Wessberg J, Elam M, Bushnell MC, Vallbo A. Functional role of unmyelinated tactile afferents in human hairy skin: sympathetic response and perceptual localization. Experimental Brain Research, 184(1):135-40, 2008.

Loggio ML, Mogil JS, Bushnell MC. Empathy hurts: Compassion for another increases both sensory and affective components of pain perception, Pain, 136: 168-176, 2008.

Olausson HW, Cole J, Vallbo A, McGlone F, Elam M, Krämer HH, Rylander K, Wessberg J, Bushnell MC. Unmyelinated tactile afferents have opposite effects on insular and somatosensory cortical processing, Neuroscience Letters, 436: 128-132, 2008.

Bushnell MC and Basbaum AI, Volume Editors. The Senses: A Comprehensive Reference, Volume 5 Pain. Elsevier 2008.

Schweinhardt P, Saura KM, Bushnell MC. Fibromyalgia: A disorder of the brain? The Neuroscientist, 14: 415-421, 2008.

Schweinhardt P, Loggia ML, Villemure C, Bushnell MC. Psychological state and pain perception. In: Orofacial Pain (editors BJ Sessle, G Lavigne, JP Lund, R Dubner), Quintessence Publishing Company, 2008.

Loggia ML, Mogil JS, Bushnell MC. Mood-related changes in pain unpleasantness: A phenomenon independent of mood induction technique. The Journal of Pain, 9:784-791, 2008.

Loggia ML, Schweinhardt P, Villemure C, Bushnell MC. Effects of psychological state on pain perception in the dental environment. Journal of the Canadian Dental Association, 74: 651-656, 2008.

Basbaum AI, Bushnell MC. Pain: Basic mechanisms. In: IASP Refresher Course 2008.

Gramigni E, Schweinhardt P, Baldini G, Clemente A, Bushnell M , Carli F. Propanolol decreases pain perception in healthy volunteers. Can J Anaesth. 2008 Suppl 1:474981.

Schweinhardt P, Saura KM, Bushnell MC. Fibromyalgia: A disorder of the brain? The Neuroscientist, 14: 415-421, 2008.

Schweinhardt P, Kuchinad A, Pukall CF, Bushnell MC. Increased gray matter density in young women with chronic vulvar pain. Pain, 140: 411-419, 2008.

Villemure C and Bushnell MC. Mood and attention influence supra-spinal pain processing differently. J. Neuroscience, 29: 705-715, 2009.

Loggia ML, Bushnell MC, Tetreault M, Thiffault, I, Bherer C, Mohammed N, Kuchinad A, Laferriere A, Dicaire, Marie-Hosee, Loisel L, Mogil JS, Brais B. Carriers of recessive WKN1/HSN2 mutations for hereditary sensory and autonomic neuropathy type 2 (HSAN2) are more sensitive to thermal stimuli. J. Neuroscience. 29: 2162-2166, 2009.

Schweinhardt P, Semonowicz DA, Jaeger E, Duncan GH, Bushnell MC. The anatomy of the mesolimbic reward system: a link between personality and the placebo analgesic response. J. Neuroscience, 29: 4882-4887, 2009.

Seminowicz DA., Laferriere AL, Millecamps M, Yu JSC, Coderre TJ, Bushnell MC. MRI structural brain changes associated with sensory and emotional function in a rat model of long-term neuropathic pain. NeuroImage, 47(3):1007-14, 2009.

Mayer EA and Bushnell MC. Functional Pain Syndromes: Presentation and Pathophysiology. IASP Press: Seattle, 2009.