McGill front and centre at 13th World Congress on Pain

Leading international experts on pain gather in Montreal Aug. 29 - Sept. 2

Pain. From excruciating migraines to immobilizing back spasms to chronic pain, pain ranks as one of the most costly health problems in Canada. Beginning Aug. 29, more than six thousand of the world's leading experts on pain will share their thoughts, research and findings on this critical topic as the International Association for the Study of Pain's (IASP) 13th World Congress on Pain gets under way in Montreal.

McGill University, a world leader in pain research and treatment, is represented at the Congress by a number of researchers from its Alan Edwards Centre for Research on Pain (AECRP) including Dr. Jeffrey Mogil, Dept. of Psychology, who will serve as Faculty Chair at the Congress.

Among others, here are some McGill/AERCP researchers participating in the Congress who would be available as sources for Congress coverage:  

Fernando Cervero, AERCP Director and President-Elect of the IASP

• Dr. Cervero's work focuses on the mechanisms of visceral pain - pain originating from internal organs  - one of the most frequent forms of pain. His laboratory has developed new models and approaches to identify key molecules responsible for the pain that originates from the gut or the bladder. He is also studying the influence of hormones on pain conditions that are more prevalent in women.

M. Catherine Bushnell, Harold Griffith Professor of Anesthesia and Professor in Dentistry and Neurology at McGill and Treasurer-Elect of the IASP

• Dr. Bushnell's research interests include brain mechanisms of pain processing, psychological modulation of pain, and detecting - through brain scans and images - the brain changes that occur in chronic pain patients.

Terence J. Coderre, Dept. of Anesthesia

• Dr. Coderre's principal research interest is the pharmacological, neurochemical and anatomical characterization of mechanisms underlying neuroplasticity - that is, the human brain's plasticity or ability to change - in the spinal cord dorsal horn and brain, and its influence on how we perceive pain.

Celeste Johnston, McGill School of Nursing

• For the past two decades, Dr. Johnston's research has focused on pain in infants, particularly procedural pain in preterm neonates. Her current work is primarily on non-drug interventions to decrease procedural pain in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit as well as long-term outcomes of pain in this population.

Gary J. Bennett, Dept. of Anesthesia and Faculty of Dentistry

• Dr. Bennett's work focuses on the mechanisms of neuropathic pain - pain produced by nerve lesions and injuries - and the development of new painkillers for the control of neuropathic pain.

Yoram Shir, Director, Alan Edwards Pain Management Unit

• Dr. Shir's main research interest is in the prevention and treatment of chronic pain; the basic mechanisms of dietary analgesia; human pain modification by nutritional changes and in the use of opioids in acute and chronic pain conditions.

For more information on the Congress, please visit: http://bit.ly/7fmA6o

For more about the AERCP, please visit: http://painresearchcenter.mcgill.ca/