The Pittsburgh Pain Consortium (PPC) hosted its inaugural Pain Day on May 7, 2025, at the University of Pittsburgh’s historic Alumni Hall. 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 (Pitt), Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), and Duquesne University.
Organized around the PPC’s mission to promote and unify scholarship, innovation, and community engagement in pain research and care, Pain Day 2025 featured a full day of lectures, poster sessions, and a keynote address by renowned Nobel Laureate David Julius, PhD.
Opening remarks were delivered by PPC’s Benedict Alter, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor and Director of Translational Pain Research in the Department of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine, and Rebecca Seal, PhD, Professor in the Department of Neurobiology. They were followed by presentations from directors of the four centers that make up the PPC: Sarah Ross, PhD, Pittsburgh Center for Pain Research (PCPR), Ajay Wasan, MD, MSc, MA, Center for Innovation in Pain Care (CIPC), Jessica Merlin, MD, PhD, MBA, Challenges in Managing and Preventing Pain (CHAMPP), and Gwen Sowa, MD, PhD, Pittsburgh LB3P. University of Pittsburgh Senior Vice Chancellor for the Health Sciences and Dean of the School of Medicine, Anantha Shekhar, MD, PhD, also addressed the audience.
Throughout the day, attendees heard from leading pain researchers, including:
- Benedict Alter, MD, PhD, on endogenous pain modulation in musculoskeletal pain
- Jelena M Janjic, PhD (Duquesne University) on pain nanomedicine
- Sean Farris, PhD (Pitt, PCPR) on the intersection of addiction and pain
- Nam Vo, PhD (Pitt, HEAL Pittsburgh LB3P) on biomarker profiling in chronic low back pain
- Olubusola Bolaji Oluwole, MD (Pitt, CHAMPP) on behavioral interventions for sickle cell pain
- Bin He, PhD (CMU) on focused ultrasound neuromodulation for pain in sickle cell disease
A midday luncheon in the Connolly Ballroom gave attendees an opportunity to network and connect, followed by the announcement of the 2025 Virginia Kaufman Pain Research Challenge winners. Michael Gold, PhD, and Ben Alter, MD, PhD, each received $75,000 to support their pain research projects.
The day’s highlight was the keynote lecture by David Julius, PhD, Professor at UCSF and recipient of the 2021 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. His talk, “Gut Feelings: Probing Mechanisms of Visceral Pain,” drew a packed audience and concluded with an exceptionally engaging Q&A session. So enthusiastic was the audience that the discussion had to be cut short, with many attendees still eager to ask questions—a testament to the impact and inspiration of Dr. Julius’s work.
The event concluded with a poster session and reception featuring over 90 posters. Four outstanding poster presentations were recognized with awards in the following categories:
- Pre-Clinical Research / Pre-Doctoral: Andre Martel Matos, BS (Pitt Neurobiology), “Sympathetic Neurotransmission Contributes to Oral Cancer-Induced Spontaneous Pain."
- Pre-Clinical Research / Post-Doctoral: Min Gon Kim, PhD (CMU Biomedical Engineering), “Modulating Pain-Associated Behaviors in Sickle Mice Using Low-Intensity Transcranial Focused Ultrasound.”
- Clinical Research / Pre-Doctoral: Simran Kulkarni, BS (Pitt Bioengineering), “A Comparison of Normal- And Low-Frequency Extension Accelerometry Data in Persons with Chronic Low Back Pain."
- Clinical Research / Post-Doctoral: Michael Marks, PhD (Pitt Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine), “Opioid-Free Surgery in Non-Cardiac Patients.”
With its dynamic programming and participation, Pain Day 2025 marked a successful launch of what promises to be a valuable annual forum for advancing pain science and care in Pittsburgh and beyond.