2016 Sunderland Lecture: Professor Frank Birklein
Background:
The Sir Sydney Sunderland Named Lecture is offered to an international guest speaker.
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. We hope that you will accept this honour.
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. There is a brief synopsis of Sir Sydney’s life and achievements on the Australian Academy of Science website.
2016 Sunderland Lecture:
Prof Frank Birklein
Professor Frank Birklein will be presenting the Sunderland Lecture, discussing Painful neuropathies – An attempt to read the pain for a better treatment, and he will also be hosting a plenary session on day 2 on Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS) – what we know and what we are looking for.
Professor Birklein has been head of Peripheral Nerve Disorders, and Pain Research and Treatment at the Department of Neurology, University Medical Centre Mainz, Germany since 2001.
His research focuses on the mechanisms of neuropathic pain, particularly CRPS, and on mechanisms of autonomic nervous system regulation. He is the leading author of the German guidelines for CRPS diagnosis and treatment, has been widely published in his research fields and has been awarded numerous scientific grants. His main interest now is the immune system contribution to posttraumatic pain.
Professor Birklein will also be our special guest at the Meet the Speakers breakfast session that has been offered to junior researchers, PhD students and post doctorate fellows. The aim of this session is to give younger scientists and clinicians an opportunity to ascertain career advice and guidance from the APS 2016 international plenary speakers.
2016 Tess Cramond Lecture: Professor Benedict Wand
Background:
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.
Professor Cramond held many significant positions, including Dean of the Faculty of Anaesthetists and President of the Queensland branch of the Australian Medical Association (AMAQ). She received many accolades, including the Gilbert Brown Prize, an OBE and an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO), an Advance Australia Award, a Red Cross Long Service Award and the AMA Women in Medicine Award.
Sadly, Professor Cramond passed away in late 2015. A tribute to her amazing life and achievements can be found on our blog.
2016 Tess Cramond Lecture:
Professor Ben Wand is the 2016 Tess Cramond Lecturer and will discuss Chronic low back 
pain: A problem of perception? when he presents in plenary session 3 on day 2 of the conference.
Ben is currently the coordinator of musculoskeletal studies for the Physiotherapy program at the University of Notre Dame Australia. He completed his original physiotherapy degree, as well as post graduate qualifications in sports science and manipulative physiotherapy in Sydney. He undertook his PhD at Brunel University in London on physiotherapy management of low back pain. His current research interests include the role of central nervous system dysfunction in chronic low back pain and physiotherapy management of chronic spinal pain.
2016 Bonica Lecture: Dr Chris Vaughan
Background:
The John Bonica Named Lecture is offered to an Australian guest speaker.
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.
2016 Bonica Lecture:
Dr Chris Vaughan is the 2016 Bonica Lecturer and will present Cannabinoids in neuropathic 
pain (models) in plenary session 6 on day 3 of the conference.
Chris is head of the Cellular Research Group at the Pain Management Research Institute, University of Sydney. Dr Vaughan’s research has focussed on the mechanisms underlying chronic pain and the actions of pain relieving drugs. A key aim of this work is to identify novel drug therapies for the treatment of chronic pain. Much of this work has been focussed on developing pharmacotherapies, based upon the plant Cannabis sativa, which might be used to engage the body’s own cannabis-like neurotransmitter system.
We are delighted to have Professor Birklein, Professor Wand and Dr Vaughan as our Named Lecturers for APS 2016, we hope you will be able to attend and enjoy everything this conference has to offer.
Register for the 2016 Australian Pain Society 36th Annual Scientific Meeting.
Australian Pain Society 