Pittsburgh Center for Pain Research Recruitment of a New Faculty Member

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Pain is the principal reason for seeking medical attention. Aim is not restricted to a single disease or medical discipline. Pain is, instead, distributed across the span of life, is experienced by all persons irrespective of status (economic, educational, etc.) or gender and arises from all tissues of the body. While acute episodes of pain typically resolve, many tissue insults lead to chronic pain states, and some pain syndromes are not associated with demonstrable pathology. The mechanisms that lead to tissue hypersensitivity and chronic pain, which negatively impacts quality of life, workplace productivity, interpersonal relationships, etc. at enormous cost, are poorly understood. Study of these mechanisms is the principal focus of research in the Pittsburgh Center for Pain Research (Center). Core faculty in the Center include those with a focus on transduction and signaling in nociceptors innervating superficial as well as deep tissues (e.g., muscle and viscera), circuitry and modulation of nociceptive input in the medullary and spinal dorsal horn, genetic mechanisms of individual variability in pain traits, and mechanisms that underlie sensory neuron development, differentiation and function in the adult nervous system. The Aim of the PROGRAM PLAN that is the basis of this application is to expand the breadth and depth of research expertise and research programs in the Center by recruitment through this RFA of a new junior faculty member into the Center. Core faculty has identified two broad areas of research important for growth of the Center: Translational Research, specifically epidemiology, clinical psychology, brain imaging or microneurography. Immunology or Molecular Biology We have identified areas for recruitment that will make the Center a better research and training environment and, because of our commitment to research excellence and collegiality; will enhance the research program and career development of the recruit as well. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: Given the magnitude of personal and societal costs associated with ersistent pain states, its indiscriminate expression and the inability of the medical community to effectively manage many pain states, investing in the growth and breadth of a group of interactive, collaborative investigators in the Center - as requested in this application - addresses a fundamentally important public health issue.