Pharmacology of Pain Management (Preclinical and Clinical Studies)

Angelika Lampert, MD, is the Director of the Institute of Neurophysiology at RWTH Aachen University, Germany. She coordinates the Sodium Channel Network Aachen and serves as speaker of the Scientific Center for Neuropathic Pain Aachen (SCNAACHEN), focusing on inherited neuropathic pain syndromes such as small fiber neuropathy linked to sodium channel mutations. Her research emphasizes translational basic science, including patient-derived stem cells, Patch-Seq, sodium channel biophysics, and pharmacology. Angelika is co-chair of the IASP Global Year 2026 on Neuropathic Pain. 

Carolyn A. Fairbanks, Ph.D., is Associate Dean for Research at the University of Minnesota College of Pharmacy, where she is Professor of Pharmaceutics, Pharmacology, and Neuroscience and co-organizer of the U of M Pain Consortium. She teaches pharmacy and graduate students about neuropharmacology, pain mechanisms, and CNS drug delivery. Her research centers on developing non-opioid analgesic medications and studying interactions between alpha2 adrenergic and opioid receptor agonists. The Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program and National Institute on Drug Abuse support this research. She also serves as Associate Editor of the Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, focusing on neuropharmacology, pain, and addiction.

Professor Katarzyna Starowicz, PhD, DSc, is a neuropharmacologist and Director of the Jerzy Maj Institute of Pharmacology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Kraków, Poland. She received her M.Sc. in Biotechnology from the Jagiellonian University and her Ph.D. in Pharmacology from Utrecht University, the Netherlands. Following postdoctoral training in the Endocannabinoid Research Group led by Professor Vincenzo Di Marzo in Italy, she established an independent research program focused on the neurobiology of chronic pain.
Her research interests include the mechanisms of chronic and neuropathic pain, endocannabinoid and endovanilloid signaling, osteoarthritis pain, and the neurobiology of pain relief and reward. Professor Starowicz serves on numerous international scientific committees and editorial boards. She served two consecutive terms as an Editor of the British Journal of Pharmacology and was President of the International Cannabinoid Research Society (ICRS) in 2025, after serving as President-Elect in 2024.
Professor Starowicz is the recipient of several prestigious awards, including the L'Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science Award, the National Science Centre Award in Biological Sciences, and the International Cannabinoid Research Society (ICRS) Mid-Career Achievement Award. Her work has been internationally recognized for advancing our understanding of the mechanisms underlying chronic pain and the therapeutic potential of the endocannabinoid system.

Jason Busse is a Professor in the Departments of Anesthesia and Health, Evidence and Impact at McMaster University, Director of the National Pain Centre, and Associate Director of the Michael G. DeGroote Centre for Medicinal Cannabis Research. He holds a CIHR Canada Research Chair in the Prevention and Management of Chronic Pain.

Vishal Eswaran is a postdoctoral researcher working in the group of Prof. Dr. Angelika Lampert at the Institute of Neurophysiology, Uniklinik RWTH Aachen. He earned his MSc in Biomedical Engineering from RWTH Aachen University in 2021 and completed his PhD in 2025 within the Research Training Group (RTG) “MultiSenses MultiScales”. His thesis focused on the biophysics and pharmacology of voltage-gated sodium channels, combining whole-cell patch clamp electrophysiology with molecular structural modelling and MD simulations. His current research is aimed at trying to uncover the mechanisms by which sodium channel variants drive pain syndromes and to establish their structure–function relationships. He is also a member of the Scientific Center for Neuropathic Pain Aachen (SCNAACHEN).