Media Advisory

Monday, October 31, 2011

Stanford researcher to speak at NIH on the role of neuroimaging in understanding pain

NCCAM presents Opening Windows to the Brain: Lessons Learned in the Neuroimaging of Pain.

What

Sean Mackey, M.D., Ph.D., chief of the Pain Management Division and associate professor of anesthesia and pain management at the Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, Calif., will be the featured speaker for the third annual Stephen E. Straus Distinguished Lecture in the Science of Complementary and Alternative Medicine. Dr. Mackey’s lecture is entitled Opening Windows to the Brain: Lessons Learned in the Neuroimaging of Pain.

Why

Millions of Americans suffer from pain that is chronic, severe, and not easily managed. People who suffer from chronic pain may take various prescription and non-prescription medications; these do not always provide adequate relief and may have unwanted side effects. As a result, people sometimes turn to non-pharmacological strategies for pain management. Dr. Mackey will discuss the role of neuroimaging and how it provides a picture for the principal mechanisms involved in pain processing, perception, and plasticity. He will also discuss the role of neural (brain) reward systems in regulating pain, and the potential future for non-pharmacological strategies to reduce the experience of pain.

When

Monday, Nov. 7, 2011, 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. EST

Where

National Institutes of Health, Building 10, 10 Center Drive, Bethesda, Md. Lecture: Lipsett Amphitheater. It will also be videocast at http://videocast.nih.gov when the event is live.

More Information

Details are available on NCCAM’s website at http://nccam.nih.gov. Sign language interpretation will be provided; for other reasonable accommodation call Prachi Patel at 301-594-1030.

Who Should Attend

The event is free and open to the public.

Hosts

Presented by NCCAM and supported by the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health with a generous gift from Bernard and Barbro Osher.

About the National Institutes of Health (NIH): NIH, the nation's medical research agency, includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIH is the primary federal agency conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and is investigating the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit www.nih.gov.

NIH…Turning Discovery Into Health^®

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