Interdisciplinary Research Themes: kNOw-PAIN: How do we know the pain of another person?
Pain is the leading cause of disability worldwide, is worsening in our aging population, and is compounded by side effects of pain medications contributing to parallel public health crises like the opioid epidemic. Western has expertise across campus representing all pillars of health research, from basic science to population health. London is also home to some of Canada's most recognized and well-respected pain clinicians in both the medical and non-medical fields who have previously made clear their desire to engage in knowledge creation and dissemination.
We can measure distal proxies of pain through various means, but the 'true' pain experience is personal and subjective, influenced by sensory, cognitive, emotional, and social factors. Issues of pain also permeate all axes of academia, from research through to teaching and community service. Under a unified theme, this group will create new patient-partnered research teams and develop methods to solve the mysteries of pain.
Our Western pain research group will examine ways to improve our understanding of another's pain. As pain is well-recognized as an experience that crossed biological, psychological, social, and spiritual domains, this goal requires an interdisciplinary approach to pain research.
We also aim to develop a chronic pain patient registry unique to Southwestern Ontario, which will be a transformative endeavour for the interdisciplinary research group. Collaborating with local healthcare institutions, pain clinics, and community health centres, we hope to gather comprehensive data encompassing diverse chronic pain conditions.
Team Leads
Dr. David Seminowicz
Dr. Seminowicz has conducted pain research since 2002. Over those years, he has been involved in pain centers at the University of Toronto, McGill University, the University of Maryland Baltimore (executive committee), and Neuroscience Research Australia (co-director). His work focuses on understanding the brain mechanisms of acute and chronic pain using neuroimaging techniques such as functional MRI and electroencephalography.
Dr. Dave Walton
Dr. Walton is a transdisciplinary researcher with a home faculty of Health Sciences (Physical Therapy) and a cross-appointment to the Department of Psychiatry. He is a critical measurement scholar and theorist with internationally recognized expertise in spinal musculoskeletal pain. He is a developer and Field Lead for the Interprofessional Pain Management field of Western's Advanced Health Care Practice master's-level degree program, currently the only interdisciplinary pain degree program in Canada.
Dr. Siobhan Schabrun
Dr. Schabrun is a translational pain researcher with expertise in musculoskeletal and orofacial pain and experimental techniques including non-invasive brain stimulation to understand pain related neuroplasticity.
Our vision
Our mission
Our goals
Collaborators
The group's disciplines span the clinical domains of;
Neuropathic pain. Dwight Moulin is an expert in the role of opioid analgesics in the management of chronic pain, long term outcomes of management of neuropathic pain, a recipient of the Distinguished Career Award from the Canadian Pain Society, and founding member of Pain Medicine at the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada.
Musculoskeletal pain. Tom Appleton is a rheumatologist with a clinical research program focused on the role of synovium in the onset and progression of osteoarthritis, with expertise in innate immune inflammation, synovitis, ultrasound imaging, bioinformatics and single cell technologies, and tissue histopathology.
Headache/migraine. Tommy Chan is a headache specialist and the Director of the John H. Kreeft Headache Clinic at Victoria Hospital.
Other pain conditions. Geoff Bellingham is an Anesthetist and pain medicine subspecialist, focusing on chronic pain management combining pharmacologic and interventional techniques. Jonathan Lau is a neurosurgeon with a focus on minimally invasive and hybrid surgical approaches for personalized treatment of disorders of the nervous system, including chronic post-stroke pain and orofacial pain.
Other clinical areas. Naveen Poonai is a Paediatrician, a clinical trialist in acute pain management in children and he is the Vice-Chair of the Paediatric Emergency Research Canada Network. Emma Duerden conducts research on pain and early life stress in infants born critically ill and children with neurodevelopmental disorders. Eldon Loh is a physiatrist and interventional pain physician with a research focus on improving interventional pain procedures using an anatomical model. Swati Mehta conducts research on online wellbeing programs for those with neurological conditions and comorbid chronic pain using adaptive study designs and a knowledge implementation framework.
And the basic research domains of:
Neuroscience. Jibran Khokhar is an expert in animal models of neuropsychiatric, addictive, and pain-related conditions with pre-clinical neuroimaging, electrophyiology and pharmacology. Rithwik Ramachandran is a molecular pharmacologist with expertise in GPCR and ion channel signaling as it relates to inflammation and pain. Andrew Pruszynski focuses on neural control of reaching, grasping, and object manipulation in humans and non-human primates, with a core interest related to hand use following peripheral nerve injury where pain is a major determinant of positive outcomes.
Psychology. Heather Getty is a clinical, health, and rehabilitation psychologist with over 20 years of experience providing comprehensive assessment and treatment services to adults with chronic pain conditions.
Kinesiology. David Howe is an ethnographic researcher focused on unpacking the embodied socio-cultural milieu surrounding inclusive physical activity and disability sport including the lifeworld consequences of pain and injury.
Imaging. Matthew Teeter focuses on enhancing patient mobility and quality of life after joint replacement through the development and application of medical imaging and digital technologies. Dave Seminowicz studies acute and chronic pain in human and animal models with structural and functional MRI, EEG, and simultaneous EEG-fMRI. Siobhan Schabrun maps brain function associated with prlonged muscle pain models and chornic pain using TMS.
Sociology. Anna Zajacova is a researcher with expertise in demography, sociology, and social epidemiology of chronic pain from a population health perspective.
Biostatistics and Data Science. Joel Gagnier is a clinical and methodological researcher with a focus on musculoskeletal pain conditions. His inclusion ensures meticulous study designs and data analysis, strengthening the scientific rigour of our inquiries.
Current Opportunities
Please contact us for more information about the following available positions:
Graduate Student
Summer Undergraduate/Medical/Dental Students
Patient Partners
