News and Past Events

UPCOMING EVENT: 

Past Lessons, Present Innovation, Future Precision: Advancing Pain Science for the Health of Our Nation

JUNE 16 at 12PM EDT

From past lessons to future breakthroughs, this webinar explores how pain science is evolving into a precision & technology-driven field. Learn how advances in the biopsychosocial framework, emerging technologies, and translational research are enabling more tailored approaches to pain care, while also addressing critical challenges along the way.

Speakers:

Amber K. Brooks, MD, MS, is a Professor of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine at Wake Forest University School of Medicine (WFUSM), specializing in the treatment of complex pain conditions through a multimodal, patient-centered approach. She is widely recognized for her contributions to clinical care, research, and healthcare executive leadership. Her research focuses on leveraging digital solutions to deliver non-pharmacologic interventions for older adults with chronic pain, supported by the National Institute on Aging, and on training the next generation of clinicians and researchers at the intersection of data science and addiction medicine, supported by the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

Previously, Dr. Brooks served as the WFUSM Vice Dean for Strategic Initiatives, where she helped guide the School of Medicine through federal policy changes and advanced enterprise-wide initiatives in Planetary Health, Community Engagement, Artificial Intelligence and Research, Innovation, and Translational Neuroscience. She currently serves as the inaugural Vice Dean for Institutional Learning and Transformation at WFUSM and Vice Chief Academic Officer for Advocate Health. In this role, she provides strategic oversight of CAPTURE (the Centralized Analytic Platform for Performance, Transparency, and Utilization in Real-time for Excellence), the School of Medicine’s integrated data dashboard, designed to deliver measurable, transparent, and scalable indicators of performance across education, research, and academically integrated clinical care.

Demario S. Overstreet, PhD, is an Assistant Professor of Surgery in the Division of Gastrointestinal Surgery at the University of Alabama at Birmingham Heersink School of Medicine, where he directs the Overstreet Pain Lab. Dr. Overstreet studies perioperative pain, with an emphasis on understanding the transition from acute to chronic postsurgical pain through a biopsychosocial, mechanistic framework. His research integrates quantitative sensory testing, inflammatory biomarkers, psychosocial factors, and social determinants of health to advance precision pain medicine in surgical populations. His work is supported by an NIH NIGMS R35 MIRA Award, which funds a multi-cohort research program examining the biological and clinical underpinnings of postoperative pain across diverse surgical contexts.

Dr. Overstreet is committed to training the next generation of clinicians and scientists in patient-oriented and translational research. Through his R35-supported research program, he mentors trainees at multiple levels, including PhD and medical students, postdoctoral fellows, and early-career faculty. He serves as an Associate Scientist with multiple centers, including the UAB Center for Clinical and Translational Science and the O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center, and collaborates across disciplines to integrate mechanistic pain science into clinical care, with the goal of improving patient outcomes and advancing precision pain management.

Register here: https://usasp.memberclicks.net/celebrating_advances