Dr. Mogil has made seminal contributions to the field of pain genetics and is the author of numerous major reviews of the subject including an edited book, The Genetics of Pain (IASP Press, 2004). He is also a recognized authority in the fields of sex differences in pain and analgesia, and pain testing methods in the laboratory mouse. He currently serves as a Section Editor (Neurobiology) at the journal, Pain, and is the chair of the Scientific Program Committee of the upcoming 13th World Congress on Pain.
Dr. John Xavier Pereira,
Clinical Assistant Professor of Family Medicine, University of Calgary
Subject: A preliminary study of serum omega-6 to omega-3 fatty acid ratios in patients with chronic pain.
Dr. Pereira plans to conduct a preliminary study of serum omega-6 to omega-3 fatty acid ratios in patients with chronic pain. The results of this study will open up new avenues of research including dietary modification as well as the development of new pharmaceutical agents to aid in changing patients' fatty acid composition.
Dr. John Xavier Pereira is the Pfizer Canada Scholar in Persistent and Neuropathic Pain at the Calgary Chronic Pain Centre of Alberta Health Services. He is a past Ronald Melzack Clinical and Research Fellow of the McGill Pain Centre at the Montreal General Hospital. His interest in the field was fueled by medical school and residency pain management rotations at the Massachusetts General Hospital, McGill Pain Center, UCSF Pain Clinic, Brigham and Women's Hospital and the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario. Following his residency training in family medicine in Ottawa, he began his fellowship at McGill.
Dr. Patrick J. Whelan, Associate Professor at the Department of Physiology and Biophysics, and member of the Hotchkiss Brain Institute, Faculty of Medicine and Associate Professor at the Department of Comparative Biology and Experimental Medicine, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Calgary
Subject: Role of kinins in modulating pathological activation of spinal motor circuits by pain afferents during early development.
Dr. Whelan's research explores the role of kinins in modulating pathological activation of spinal motor circuits by pain afferents during early development. These research results are valuable as pain pathways are functional as early as 24 weeks of gestation, yet despite this pediatric pain remain under diagnosed and often left untreated.
Dr. Whelan has been involved in spinal cord research for nearly 20 years. His main interest is the organization and function of spinal cord networks that produce locomotion. These networks are essential for recovery of function following spinal cord injury. Part of Dr. Whelan's research interests lies in understanding how motor network are organized and respond to descending stimuli. Over the past few years Dr. Whelan has begun to examine the role of nociceptive input in the control of locomotion. This is an area which has received little research attention but is of major importance to those suffering from SCI since up to 80% of these individuals report having recurring neuropathic pain.
Source: PFIZER CANADA INC.