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2025 Annual Scientific Meeting

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Save your spot at the 2024 USASP Annual Conference in Chicago, IL

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Make the most of our event by securing your accommodations.

Advancing Pain Research: Innovations to Enhance Care

April 29 to May 2, 2025 in Chicago, IL

Cameron Young

Cameron is a college freshman who has experienced chronic pain for his entire life. In the past few years, he’s become an outspoken advocate for the disabled community, and he is very passionate about disability and LGBTQ rights and the intersections between them. Guided by his experiences as a disabled person and what he’s learned from years of advocacy within the disabled community, he is excited to speak at this conference and share what he’s learned with you all.

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Theodore Price, PhD

Ted works at The Center for Advanced Pain Studies, UT Dallas and Ashbel Smith Professor in the Department of Neuroscience at University of Texas at Dallas where is the Director of the Center for Advanced Pain Studies. Ted did his PhD with Ken Hargreaves at UT Health San Antonio and his postdoc with Fernando Cervero at McGill. Ted started his independent lab in 2007 at University of Arizona and moved to UT Dallas in 2014. Ted’s lab’s goal is to identify molecular mechanisms causing chronic pain with emphasis on developing new drugs to treat pain. His lab’s focus is on human molecular neuroscience with specialization on dorsal root ganglion and spinal dorsal horn. Ted has published more than 200 peer reviewed studies, and has been continuously funded by NIH for more than 15 years. He is co-founder of many companies, including 4E Therapeutics.

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Beth Darnall, PhD

Beth is a Professor of Anesthesiology, Perioperative, and Pain Medicine at Stanford University School of Medicine and Director of the Stanford Pain Relief Innovations Lab. A psychologist-scientist, she leads NIH and PCORI-funded national studies that on scalable behavioral analgesic interventions and patient-centered opioid reduction. Her work centers on developing, investigating and disseminating solutions that offer more equitable access to evidence-based behavioral pain care for diverse and underserved populations. She created Empowered Relief® a 1-session group intervention that rapidly equips individuals with effective pain relief skills for acute, chronic, and post-surgical pain. Empowered Relief® is being delivered by certified instructors in 29 countries and in 8 languages. She has three times briefed the U.S. Congress and the FDA on patient-centered pain care and opioid stewardship. She is a scientific member of the NIH Interagency Pain Research Coordinating Committee, served on the CDC Opioid Workgroup (2021), is Chief Science Advisor for AppliedVR, and is author of four books for patients and clinicians. She has keynoted national pain society conferences in Australia, New Zealand, The Netherlands, Switzerland and the U.K. In 2018 she spoke on the psychology of pain relief at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Stanford Faculty Profile and full CV: https://profiles.stanford.edu/beth-darnall Twitter: @bethdarnall

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Luana Colloca, MD, PhD

Luana is a Power Distinguished Professor at the University of Maryland, Baltimore, and the Director of the Placebo Beyond Opinion Center at the University of Maryland School of Nursing. Dr. Colloca holds an MD, a Master’s degree in Bioethics, and a PhD in Neuroscience. She completed her postdoctoral training at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, and a senior research fellowship at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, USA. Dr. Colloca has conducted studies on the behavioral, neural, and pharmacological mechanisms of pain modulation related to placebo and nocebo effects. Her lab has also developed an interest in virtual reality as a non-pharmacological approach to relieving pain and other symptoms. She has published in top-ranked international journals, including Biological Psychiatry, Annual Reviews of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Nature Reviews Rheumatology, Pain, Nature Neuroscience, JAMA, The Lancet Neurology, Science, and The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM). Her research has been cited over 19,200 times (H-index 64) and has been featured in National Geographic, The New Scientist, The Washington Post, Science Daily, The Boston Globe, The New Yorker, Nature, The Guardian, The Wall Street Journal, U.S. News & World Report, and USA Today. Dr. Colloca has received the Dubner and Patrick Wall awards from the International Association for the Study of Pain and the UMB 2024 Researcher of the Year award, among others. She is committed to science dissemination, including podcasts (one with Jason Alexander of Seinfeld) and a TEDx talk.

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Plenary Speakers

Discussing current information related to pain mechanisms, pain prevention an intervention, alongside other supporting topics. 

Your Stay at The Radisson Blu Aqua Hotel

Getting Here

The Radisson, Blu Aqua Hotel

221 N Columbus Dr

Chicago, IL 60601

+1 312-638-6686

Our Conference Hotel Room Block

Secure your accommodations within the conference hotel block. If you are booking outside of the site, use booking code LH72G7.

Parking at the Hotel

Covered Parking

Valet Parking

Public Parking around the Hotel

Virtual Attendance

Symposia and plenary sessions will be streamed through Zoom, with select presentations being recorded.  More information to come when we open virtual attendance closer to our meeting.

Agenda

Pre-Conference Workshops:  April 29, 2025

Early Career Forum:  April 29, 2025

Main Conference:  April 30-May 2, 2025

Session A

Monday, April 15th, 10:00-11:15 am

Session B

Monday, April 15th, 2:00 - 3:15 pm

Session C

Tuesday, April 16th 10:00- 11:15 am

Session D

Tuesday, April 16th 2:00 - 3:15 pm

Updated Essentials of Primary Care Pain Management

 OUR ACCREDITATION STATEMENT 

 

Sunday, April 14th, 2024 — $100USD

Brett Stacey, MD (University of Washington)

Scott Fishman, MD (University of California, Davis)

Target pressing pain management topics with didactic presentations, in-person discussions, and demonstration sessions. The learner objectives include understanding effective evaluation and diagnosis of the patient in pain and implementing evidence-based treatment options for pain. This program will offer CMEs for eligible participants. In-person attendance only features complimentary coffee, lunch arrangements are at your discretion.

Optimizing Mentorship to Ensure a Bright Future for Pain Research

Pre-Conference Workshop — Sunday, April 14th, 2024 — $100USD

Dr. Roger Fillingim (University of Florida) and Dr. Tonya Palermo (Seattle Children’s)

Mentorship is critical to the success, persistence, and satisfaction of trainees and early career investigators. In pain research specifically, workforce and lack of pipeline have been raised as limiting factors, particularly in clinical pain research. The intended audience includes early and mid-career faculty who are actively engaged in mentoring (or want to be) and are interested in optimizing their mentoring relationships. The co-facilitators have extensive experience in mentorship and mentor development across the spectrum of training from undergraduate students to early career faculty in pain science. The workshop will apply a facilitative learning process to promote interaction, discussion, and self-reflection. Attendees will leave with a set of tools and strategies they can implement to enhance their mentorship with pain research mentees.  This program will offer CMEs for eligible participants. In-person attendance only features complimentary coffee, lunch arrangements are at your discretion.

2024 USASP Early Career Forum and Lunch

Forum — Sunday, April 14th — FREE

The USASP’s annual information and networking session specifically designed for trainees and early-stage investigators (individuals who completed their training <5 years prior). The event will close with a reception open to all USASP Meeting registrants. The Early Career Forum is the perfect way to kick off the 2024 meeting – low-pressure networking with individuals who you’ll likely see at this meeting for years to come!  In-person attendance only, free with registration.  Please select this even when registering.

Explore our Full Conference Agenda Here

Join us at the forefront of innovation as we collectively contribute to the evolving landscape of pain research.

Workshops and Forums

Leading pain experts, researchers, and practitioners covering a spectrum of topics, from the latest advancements in pain research to innovative approaches.

Refund requests for cancellations will not be accepted after Friday, March 28th, 2025.

For any other requests please contact us.

Empowering Pain Research: Leveraging PCORI for Funding and Stakeholder Engagement

Join Drs. Mark Bicket and Erin Krebs for a unique pre-conference workshop to help our members learn about the funding process from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI).  "Empowering Pain Research: Leveraging PCORI for Funding and Stakeholder Engagement" is crafted specifically to help researchers including but not limited to mid-career and senior researchers unlock the full potential of their work to make a bigger impact in the field of pain management. 

2025 Updated Essentials of Primary Care Management 

Updated Essentials of Primary Care Pain Management is a one-day course offered for physicians, NP/PAs, nurses, and other clinicians interested in education by expert faculty regarding the management of patients with complex pain conditions. The course will target pressing topics related to pain management with didactic presentations and in-person discussion and demonstration sessions. The learner objectives include understanding effective evaluation and diagnosis of the patient in pain as well as implementation of evidence-based treatment options for pain. This program will offer CMEs for eligible participants.

Sickle Cell Disease Pain Analgesia and Integrative Network (SCDPAIN)

A new NCCIH-funded U24, Sickle Cell Disease Pain Analgesia and Integrative Network (SCDPAIN) is planning a pre-conference workshop at USASP. This multidisciplinary network aims to fulfill critical unmet needs of SCD pain mechanisms by engaging investigators with diverse expertise, incentivizing novel initiatives through pilot funds and sabbaticals, catalyzing the future generation of scientists to accelerate SCD pain research through summer workshops, promoting diversity and equity and disseminating findings to the investigators, community and caregivers through meetings, publications and networking.

2025 Pre-Conference Workshops

We are looking forward to connecting with you!

Subscribe and Stay in the Know.

2025 Travel Award

Seize the opportunity to present your research and secure funding to present your innovations at our annual meeting.

USASP Fellows

The highest class of membership within the US Association for the Study of Pain (USASP) — is an acknowledgment of outstanding and continuing work in the field of pain.

Gold-Haythornthwaite Lifetime Achievement Award

Celebrating exceptional contributions to the realm of pain research and clinical practice.

Awards and Grants for our 2025 Annual Meeting

Symposia Proposals

Share your groundbreaking research and innovative ideas by submitting a proposal and contribute to the expansion of pain science.  Submissions close on October 15, 2024 with accepted abstracts being notified in early December.

Poster Abstracts

Showcase your research and engage in insightful conversations with members of the field. We encourage submissions on all aspects of pain research, including clinical and basic science.  Submissions close on December 2, 2024 at 11:59 pm EST.

Submit your Symposia and Poster Abstracts

Empowering Pain Research: Leveraging PCORI for Funding and Stakeholder Engagement

Join Drs. Mark Bicket and Erin Krebs for a unique pre-conference workshop to help our members learn about the funding process from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI).  "Empowering Pain Research: Leveraging PCORI for Funding and Stakeholder Engagement" is crafted specifically to help researchers including but not limited to mid-career and senior researchers unlock the full potential of their work to make a bigger impact in the field of pain management.  Learn More Here

2025 Updated Essentials of Primary Care Management 

Updated Essentials of Primary Care Pain Management is a one-day course offered for physicians, NP/PAs, nurses, and other clinicians interested in education by expert faculty regarding the management of patients with complex pain conditions. The course will target pressing topics related to pain management with didactic presentations and in-person discussion and demonstration sessions. The learner objectives include understanding effective evaluation and diagnosis of the patient in pain as well as implementation of evidence-based treatment options for pain. This program will offer CMEs for eligible participants.  Learn More Here

Sickle Cell Disease Pain Analgesia and Integrative Network (SCDPAIN)

A new NCCIH-funded U24, Sickle Cell Disease Pain Analgesia and Integrative Network (SCDPAIN) is planning a pre-conference workshop at USASP. This multidisciplinary network aims to fulfill critical unmet needs of SCD pain mechanisms by engaging investigators with diverse expertise, incentivizing novel initiatives through pilot funds and sabbaticals, catalyzing the future generation of scientists to accelerate SCD pain research through summer workshops, promoting diversity and equity and disseminating findings to the investigators, community and caregivers through meetings, publications and networking. Learn More Here

2025 Pre-Conference Workshops

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