Research
Pain research at McGill is ranked amongst the best in the world based on its critical mass of exceptional pain researchers and on a tradition of outstanding accomplishments in the neurosciences. The legacy of Ron Melzack’s 1965 gate-control theory of pain continues to this day with McGill pain studies researchers publishing in the most influential international journals.
Knowledge translation goals
- Help in understanding the physiological basis of a number of unexplained chronic pain conditions;
- Provide new therapies for chronic and acute pain conditions;
- Provide novel animal models for pain conditions such as neuropathic pain, migraines, complex regional pain syndrome, functional abdominal pain, interstitial cystitis, back pain, fibromyalgia, and vulvodynia;
- Help explain the influence of genetic, environmental, and dietary factors in the development of chronic pain;
- Understand the influence of psychological factors on pain.
Tenured and Tenure-Track Researchers

Luda Diatchenko
- Pain Genetics
- Human Molecular Genetics
- Chronic Pain Condition

Richard Hovey
- Qualitative research
- Patient centred care
- Chronic illness
- Medical Education / Communication

Arkady Khoutorsky
- Dysregulation of translational control and the development of chronic pain
- Extracellular matrix (ECM) and matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) in the regulation of spinal cord plasticity
- Dysregulation of integrated stress response (ISR) pathway and pathophysiology of Fragile X syndrome

Emerson Krock
- Autoantibodies and pain
- Pain neuroimmunolgy
- Satellite glia cells
- Extracellular matrix remodeling
- Arthritis and pain

Marc-Olivier Martel
- Acute pain
- Chronic pain
- Prescription opioid misuse & addiction
- Biopsychosocial factors

Carolina Meloto
- Orofacial pain
- Pain genetics
- Translational research
- Randomized clinical trials

Étienne Vachon-Presseau
- Brain imaging
- Chronic pain
- Machine learning

Ji Zhang
- Glial cell biology
- Nervous system
- Immune response
- Pain
- Behaviour
Contract Academic Staff Researchers

Zovinar Der Khatchadourian
- Temporomandibular disorders
- Neuropathic pain

Gilles Lavigne
- Oral medicine
- Orofacial pain and dental sleep medicine
- Sleep and pain

Ana Velly
- Pain
- Acute to chronic pain transition
- Biomarkers
- Opioids
- Epidemiology
- Randomized clinical trials
- Pharmacoepidemiology
- Statistical Analysis