We are honoured to introduce the International Keynote Speakers for the
2021 Australian Pain Society 41st Annual Scientific Meeting.
All 3 speakers will be joining us live for interactive sessions that will include time for Q&A with delegates.
Professor Allan Basbaum
Please give a warm welcome to Professor Allan Basbaum.
Professor Basbaum will be presenting on:
- What does the basic science crystal ball say about the future of chronic pain management?
- Imaging cortical activity during general anesthesia: Preclinical insights into cortical pain processing
Born in Montreal, Quebec, Allan Basbaum received his BSc from McGill University and his PhD from the University of Pennsylvania. After postdoctoral research at the University College London and then at the University California San Francisco he was appointed to the faculty of UCSF, where he is presently professor and Chair of the Department of Anatomy.
His research addresses the molecular mechanisms that underlie the generation of persistent pain after tissue or nerve injury. Most recently, his laboratory has focused on novel approaches to overcoming the neurological consequences of peripheral nerve damage, by transplanting embryonic cortical inhibitory precursor cells into the spinal cord. He has served as Editor-in-Chief of PAIN, the journal of the International Association for the Study of Pain and was recently appointed a member of the Council of the National Institute of Neurological Diseases and Stroke.
He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the National Academy of Medicine, the National Academy of Sciences and is a fellow of the Royal Society in the United Kingdom.
A/ Professor Amanda C de C Williams
We are delighted to have A/ Professor Amanda C de C Williams presenting on the following topics at APS 2021:
- Where does the evidence on pain management lead us?
- Why does an evolutionary perspective matter in pain?
Amanda C de C Williams is a Reader (Associate Professor) in clinical health psychology at University College London, and a consultant clinical psychologist at the Pain Management Centre, University College London Hospital, UK. She also works for the International Centre for Health and Human Rights, and is Section Editor for Psychology on PAIN.
After qualifying in 1985, she was a full-time clinician in an inpatient and outpatient pain management programme for many years, with research interests concerning the programme. After obtaining her PhD in 1996, she moved increasingly into academic posts, joining University College London in 2004. She still works half a day a week as a clinician in chronic pain management and developing multidisciplinary pain services in an acute hospital. For several years she worked for a torture survivor charity in the UK.
Amanda’s particular interests are application of evidence-based medicine to pain, including evaluation of psychologically-based treatments by systematic review and meta-analyses; developing evolutionary perspectives to pain and behaviour associated with pain, in humans and in other animals; behavioural expression of pain and its interpretation by clinicians; pain from torture and its better recognition and treatment; and the use of responsive wearable technology to extend healthcare into patients’ own environments. She has written over 250 papers and chapters on pain and psychology, and presents at national and international pain meetings; publications can be found on UCL website.
Professor Siri Leknes
Please give a warm welcome to Professor Siri Leknes.
Register today to hear Professor Leknes present on:
- How opioids shape our feelings: Sorting facts from myths
- Pain and anhedonia
Siri Leknes is a Professor of Social and Affective Neuroscience at the University of Oslo, Norway and a Senior Researcher at Oslo University Hospital. Her lab, the Leknes Affective Brain lab (LAB lab) studies how the brain and body give rise to pleasurable and painful feelings, and how these feelings are connected to decisions and behaviour. One interdisciplinary project centred on benefits of acute pain and was awarded The Daniel M. Wegner Theoretical Innovation Prize in social/personality psychology.
LAB lab’s main methodology is experimental psychopharmacology in healthy humans, often centred on understanding how opioids modulate pain and pleasure. In addition, LAB lab studies modulation of pleasure and pain in opioid-treated clinical populations with and without chronic pain and substance use disorder. LAB lab is currently funded by an ERC grant to study state-dependent effects of opioids and their relation to social support, stress and dopamine, as well as Regional Health Authority funding for clinical studies.
We are honoured to have Professor Allan Basbaum, Associate Professor Amanda C de C Williams and Professor Siri Leknes as a speakers in APS 2021, we hope you will be able to attend and enjoy everything this ASM has to offer.
Registrations are now open. Visit the APS 2021 website for more updates.
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