We are honoured to introduce to you the International Keynote Speakers for 2017 Australian Pain Society 37th Annual Scientific Meeting.
Professor Stephen Hunt
Professor Stephen Hunt has been Professor of Molecular Neuroscience at University College London since 1998. Before that he was at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge where he pioneered research into the rapid neuronal gene expression that promotes chronic pain states. He has worked extensively on the molecular neurobiology of Pain and Addiction and gave the Pat Wall Lecture at the British Pain Society in 2016.
Professor Hunt will be presenting New treatments for chronic pain: rethinking the problem, along with Epigenetics and the challenge of chronic pain.
Dr Sean Mackey
Dr Sean Mackey, M.D., Ph.D, is Chief of the Division of Pain Medicine, Redlich Professor of Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine, Neurosciences and Neurology (by courtesy) and Director of the Systems Neuroscience and Pain Laboratory (SNAPL) at Stanford University. He is the Immediate Past President of the American Academy of Pain Medicine. Dr. Mackey received his BSE and MSE in Bioengineering from University of Pennsylvania and his PhD in Electrical and Computer Engineering as well as MD from University of Arizona. Dr. Mackey is author of over 200 journal articles, book chapters, abstracts, and popular press pieces in addition to numerous national and international lectures.
Under Dr Mackey’s leadership, the Stanford Pain Management Center has been designated a Center of Excellence by the American Pain Society, one of only two centers to receive this honor twice. In 2011 he was a member of the Institutes of Medicine committee that issued the report on Relieving Pain in America. He is currently Co-Chair of the Oversight Committee for the NIH/Health and Human Services National Pain Strategy, an effort to establish a national health strategy for pain care, education and research.
Under Dr Mackey’s leadership, researchers at the Stanford Pain Management Center and the Stanford Systems Neuroscience and Pain Laboratory have made major advances in the understanding of chronic pain as a disease in its own right, one that fundamentally alters the nervous system. Dr Mackey has overseen efforts to map the specific brain and spinal cord regions that perceive and process pain, which has led to the development of a multidisciplinary treatment model that translates basic science research into innovative therapies to provide more effective, personalized treatments for patients with chronic pain.
Dr Mackey will present in two plenary sessions. Stay tuned for the official titles of his presentations.
Dr Judith Turner
Dr Judith Turner is Professor of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences and Rehabilitation Medicine at the University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, Washington, USA. She received a Ph.D. in clinical psychology from UCLA and has worked in the University of Washington multidisciplinary pain center since 1980. Dr Turner has been active in leadership of the International Association for the Study of Pain and is President for 2016-2018. She has published over 200 journal articles, and received the Wilbert E. Fordyce Clinical Investigator award from the American Pain Society and the International Society for the Study of the Lumbar Spine prize for clinical pain research. Her current research interests include chronic opioid therapy, predictors and mediators of pain treatment outcomes, and randomized trials of cognitive-behavioral therapy for chronic pain.
Dr Turner will be presenting the Sunderland Lecture, discussing Cognitive-behavioural treatments for chronic pain: Recent innovation, new insights, and future directions. You can also see Dr Turner present Opioids, chronic pain and function: Recent findings and clinical perspective.
We are delighted to share the knowledge and expertise of each International Keynote Speaker at APS 2017. We hope you will be able to attend and enjoy everything the conference has to offer. Registrations are now open.
Australian Pain Society 