URMC Team Pioneers Multidisciplinary Approach to Chronic Pain, Building on Decades of Research
Rochester, NY - Researchers at the University of Rochester Medical Center (URMC) are making significant strides in understanding and treating chronic pain, fueled by a collaborative, multidisciplinary approach refined over the last five decades.Led by Robert Dworkin, PhD, professor of anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine, the team’s work builds upon a foundational biopsychosocial model of pain management originating at URMC in the 1970s.
Dworkin and his colleagues – including Janet Pennella-Vaughan, MS, NP, senior nurse practitioner, Pain Services; Tammy Ortiz, senior grants management specialist; Rajbala Thakur, MD, and Mark Williams, MD, both in Anesthesiology and perioperative Medicine – have conducted numerous clinical trials over the past three decades, enrolling patients from the URMC Pain Treatment Center. They collaborate with Michael mcdermott, PhD, professor of Biostatistics, to advance evidence-based pharmacological treatments and preventative interventions for chronic pain stemming from acute conditions.
“The one very significant consistency over all these years is that state-of-the-art treatment for chronic pain is multidisciplinary, typically including physicians, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, psychologists, physical therapists, and others,” Dworkin explains. “This treatment approach reflects the fact that chronic pain is almost always a truly biopsychosocial condition.”
this multidisciplinary beliefs stems from the work of George Engel, MD, an internist and psychiatrist who, in the 1970s, conceptualized the biopsychosocial model – the idea that understanding a patient’s medical condition requires considering biological, psychological, and social factors.
Paul Geha,MD,highlights the unique environment at URMC that fosters this collaborative spirit. “Rochester is well placed to study pain…There is a very good intermixing between preclinical or clinical research and the hospital itself.You’ve got anesthesia, Eastman Dental, neuroscience, psychiatry, orthopedics, neurosurgery, and neurology. All these departments have been talking for a long time about collaborating and promoting research at the University.”
The department chair, Hochang B. Lee, MD, has also been a strong advocate for integrating psychiatric perspectives into chronic pain care, continuing a tradition established by Dr.Engel. This interconnectedness, researchers say, is crucial for continued progress in the field.
“Science… will always change the world,” Geha stated.
