Center for Innovation in Pain Care News

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette spotlighted work led by Jacques E. Chelly, MD, PhD, MBA, showing that preoperative aromatherapy significantly reduced anxiety and halved opioid use in hip replacement patients, highlighting scent as a promising tool in multimodal pain and anxiety management.

Held during the AAPM’s PainConnect 2025 meeting, the challenge invited innovators from around the world to present cutting-edge solutions aimed at transforming pain care.

With more than 200 attendees from across the region, the event was a celebration of interdisciplinary collaboration and innovation in pain research, showcasing basic and clinical scientific work from researchers at the University of Pittsburgh, Carnegie Mellon University, and Duquesne University.

Dr. Ajay Wasan leads innovative, multimodal treatments for chronic pain. Now, through Glimmer Health, a new company launched from UPMC Enterprises and Redesign Health, he’s helping scale this proven model using a digital-first approach.

The poster “Patient-Driven Opioid-Free Approach to Cancer Surgery,” presented by Heather Margonari, DNP, FNP-BC, won first place in the poster competition at the Advancements in Translational Science for Pain Management in Cancer Care Symposium, held at MD Anderson Cancer Center on May 9, 2025.

David Julius, PhD, 2021 Winner of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, will give the Keynote Presentation “Gut Feelings: Probing Mechanisms of Visceral Pain” at the first Pain Day on May 7, 2025, an event co-organized by department investigators.

The project, led by principal investigator Keith M. Vogt, MD, PhD, FASA, aims to uncover the brain mechanisms underlying auriculotherapy’s effects on chronic low back pain.

Voices for Non-Opioid Choices is dedicated to advancing patient access to innovative and effective non-opioid pain management treatments.

Spearheaded by principal investigator Heather Margonari, DNP, FNP-BC, the project will be conducted in collaboration with Drs. Jacques Chelly and Shiv Goel.

The program, the first of its kind in Western Pennsylvania and among all UPMC hospitals, offers an alternative for surgical patients seeking to manage pain without opioids and addresses the numerous risks associated with perioperative opioid use.