SUNDERLAND LECTURE
Sir Sydney Sunderland was an Australian neuro-anatomist who spent much of his career at the University of Melbourne. His major contribution to the research field was the description of recovery following peripheral nerve injury.
The Sunderland Lecture was instituted at the 1987 meeting of the Australian Pain Society in recognition of Sir Sydney Sunderland’s contribution to the understanding of neuropathic pain.
This years Sunderland Lecture, Brain circuits mediating pain and its relief, is being presented by Dr Frank Porreca, Professor of Pharmacology and Anesthesiology at the University of Arizona College of Medicine in Tucson, AZ. Dr Porreca is widely published in research addressing mechanisms of chronic pain and its treatment, and the adaptive nature of brain pain modulatory circuits following injury.
Dr Porreca’s current research interests include exploration of the intersection between pain and reward pathways and discovery of molecules that can modulate these circuits for pain relief.
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TESS CRAMOND LECTURE
The Professor Tess Cramond Named Lecture is offered to an Australian researcher in the early part of their career. The Lecture is a relatively recent initiative of the Australian Pain Society, having first been presented at the 2007 Scientific Meeting.
Tess Cramond AO OBE commenced work as an anaesthetist in the early 1950s. In the fifty years that followed she was committed to and gained international recognition for the improvement of anaesthesia, resuscitation and pain medicine. She had a specific interest in the relief of cancer pain and supported the development of palliative care services.
She established the Multidisciplinary Pain Clinic (now the Professor Tess Cramond Multidisciplinary Pain Centre) at the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital, Queensland in 1967.
This years Tess Cramond lecture, Central changes in chronic pain, is being presented by Associate Professor Luke Henderson of the Sydney Medical School at the University of Sydney. For the past 15 years, Dr Henderson has led the Neural Imaging Laboratory which uses human brain imaging techniques to explore central changes associated with acute and chronic pain. Dr Henderson’s current research interests include exploration of the brainstem mechanisms responsible for endogenous analgesia, as well as altered thalamocortical rhythm in chronic neuropathic pain.
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BONICA LECTURE
The Bonica lecture has been a feature of the Australian Pain Society scientific meeting since 1984. John Bonica himself presented the first lecture, and generally the honour is bestowed on an Australian scientist/pain clinician.
Dr. Bonica’s vision was to provide an egalitarian, interdisciplinary, and international forum to improve knowledge about pain, improve the education of health-care providers, and improve the care of patients. Widely regarded as the Founding Father of Pain Medicine, his passion lead to the incorporation of the International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP) in May 1974.
This years Bonica lecture, Integrated multidisciplinary pain management: How’s the evidence looking? is being presented by Professor Michael Nicholas who directs pain education and pain management programs at the Pain Management Research Institute. He maintains an active clinical role at the hospital alongside his extensive research and educational roles. He has an international reputation in this field with over 140 publications in scientific journals and books on psychological aspects of pain and multidisciplinary pain management.
Australian Pain Society 