“March on Washington” for Pain Research

USASP, Fibromyalgia Association sponsor call to action

Ann Arbor, MI— August 6, 2025 — Pain research advocates will march on Wednesday, August 6 to raise awareness of the urgent need to protect research funding and infrastructure.

Researchers, clinicians and people living with chronic pain will participate in the march beginning on Washington Street at the campus of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor on Wednesday at 1:00 pm. The march for Pain Research aims to bring awareness to the urgent need to maintain funding for pain research at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) that is critical for new treatments. Loss of NIH funding dollars and proposed changes to NIH infrastructure would be devastating to pain research across the U.S. and the U.S. biomedical research endeavor as whole.

“Through research, we have made tremendous gains toward understanding chronic pain,” said Dan Clauw, MD, Professor of Anesthesiology, Rheumatology, and Psychiatry at the University of Michigan, an organizer of the event. “This is no time to ease up on funding the critical research that will lead to improved treatments for pain.”

The event is sponsored by the Fibromyalgia Association and the U.S. Association for the Study of Pain (USASP), the largest pain research organization in the country. The march builds on extensive research advocacy work by the USASP. For more information, visit the USASP’s Call to Action page.

This press release was provided by Stephani Sutherland