Human-Centric Molecular Pain Neuroscience

Curatolo is professor of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine at the University of Washington, endowed professor for medical education, and research and director of the interventional pain program. His expertise is in pain management, education and research. Having published over 220 publications, his research focuses on studying nociceptive processes in humans to improve the understanding of pain and facilitate the development of treatments. Curatolo was one of the initiators of the field of ultrasound-guided interventional pain procedures. With an extensive experience in university teaching and mentoring, he has been invited to hold over 300 lectures, courses and workshops in national and international meetings. He has served as reviewer for multiple high ranked scientific journals, funding agencies and external academic institutions.

Luana Colloca is an NIH-funded physician-scientist who conducted ground-breaking studies that have advanced scientific understanding of the psychoneurobiological bases of endogenous systems for pain modulation in humans including the discovery that the vasopressin system is involved in the enhancement of placebo effects with a dimorphic effect. Currently, her team conducts basic and translational research on genomics of orofacial chronic pain, brain mechanisms of expectancy - and observationally-induced hypoalgesia - and immersive virtual reality. Her research has been published in top-ranked international journals including Biological Psychiatry, Pain, Nature Neuroscience, JAMA, Lancet Neurology, Science and NEJM. The impact of her innovative work is clear from her outstanding publications, citation rate, numerous invited lectures worldwide and media featured by The National Geographic, The New Scientist, Washington Post, Boston Globe, The New Yorker, Nature, The Guardian, The Wall Street Journal, News and World Reports.