Research News

The lab was a key contributor to a multi-institutional study that sheds light on how the brain prioritizes critical survival behaviors over pain and was recently published in Nature, one of the world's most-read academic journals.

Dr. Leimer’s project will investigate how specific brainstem circuits may contribute to the development and persistence of chronic low back pain, a condition affecting over 600 million people globally and the leading cause of years lived with disability.

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.

Dr. Vogt and Derrick received the first place and second place abstract awards, respectively, at the International Society for Anaesthetic Pharmacology (ISAP) 34th Annual Meeting on Friday, October 10, 2025, in San Antonio.

Dr. Vogt was chosen for the award, which recognizes exemplary commitment to student research mentorship, from a pool of more than 100 faculty mentors who supported students through the Dean’s Summer Research Program.

The interdisciplinary grant “Leveraging Inter-Individual Differences in Walking Pain and Impairment to Elucidate Whole-Person Mechanisms of Knee Osteoarthritis,” has received $4.9 million in total support and will run from September 19, 2025, through August 31, 2029.

Alex and Derrick, two exceptional second-year medical students, were selected to train in our department through the Foundation for Anesthesia Education and Research (FAER) Medical Student Anesthesia Research Fellowship program.

The featured article by Drs. Keith Vogt, et al. explores how three sedative drugs—propofol, dexmedetomidine, and fentanyl—affect memory and pain perception in healthy young adults.

The work will be led by PI Dr. Senthil Sadhasivam and includes multidisciplinary co-investigators from the University of Pittsburgh, Beth Isreal Deaconess Medical Center, and The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center.

The events took place on May 15–16, 2025, continuing a longstanding tradition of honoring the legacy of Peter Safar, MD, founding chair of the Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh, and his wife, Eva.