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Jianren Mao, M.D., Ph.D. Director,
MGH Center for Translational Pain Research

Translational Pain Research PDF

Richard J. Kitz Professor of Anaesthesia Research, Harvard Medical School

Dr. Mao is a Board Certified Anesthesiologist and Pain Medicine Specialist.  He received his MD degree from Suzhou Medical College in 1983.  He received a PhD degree in neuroscience from the Medical College of Virginia in 1992.  His anesthesia residency was completed at the Medical College of Virginia in 1999, and pain management fellowship at the Massachusetts General Hospital in 2000. 

Dr. Mao has been the Principal Investigator of four RO1 grants awarded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and of several other research grants and clinical research projects.  He also served as co-investigator on NIH RO1 grant and industry-sponsored grant.  In addition to a full research schedule, Dr. Mao sees outpatients in the MGH Pain Center clinic two days per week.

Dr. Mao has been actively involved in both preclinical and clinical pain research, including:

• neural and molecular mechanisms of neuropathic pain, opioid tolerance and dependence
• interactions between the cellular mechanisms of neuropathic pain and opioid tolerance
• opioid-induced pain sensitivity and its clinical implications
• role of cannabinoids in the modulation of neuropathic pain
• role of central glucocorticoid receptors in the neural and molecular mechanisms of  pain and opioid tolerance.

Dr. Mao serves as a regular reviewer for some twenty professional journals and is on the editorial board of Journal of Pain, Pain Medicine, Molecular Pain, and Journal of Neuropathic Pain.  He also serves as a reviewer for grant-awarding institutes including NIH.  He has authored or co-authored over 100 original articles, book chapters, and abstracts. 

Dr. Mao is a member of the American Society for Neuroscience, the International Association for the Study of Pain, the American Pain Society, and the American Society of Anesthesiologists.  In 1997, he received the Early Career Scholar Award from the American Pain Society, and in 1999, the Academic Achievement Award from the Medical College of Virginia.  He was elected to the Association of University Anesthesiologists in 2005.

Dr. Mao’s Selected Bibliography

Research Interest

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Lucy Chen, M.D., Clinical Investigator

MGH Center for Translational Pain Research

Assistant in Anesthesia, Department of Anesthesia and Critical Care
Instructor, Harvard Medical School

Dr. Lucy Chen is a Board Certified Anesthesiologist and Pain Medicine Specialist.  She is also trained in acupuncture technique.  Dr. Chen practices both conventional pain medicine and acupuncture treatment for pain in the Massachusetts General Hospital Pain Clinic.

Dr. Chen serves as the Director of the MGH Pediatric Pain Service, the MGH Pain Center Resident Education Program, and the MGH Pain Center’s Quality Assurance Committee.

In her role as Clinical Investigator in the MGH Center for Translational Pain Research, Dr. Chen shares her study of pain science to help translate this knowledge to the benefit of pain patients.  Dr. Chen’s recent research projects include investigating the benefit of acupuncture for fibromyalgia and surveying opioid use in clinical pain management.

Dr. Chen is a Harvard Medical School appointed faculty member and teaches medical students, residents, and fellows in the practice of pain medicine.  She has lectured to the medical community on topics of pediatric pain management and acupuncture.

Dr. Chen ’s Selected Bibliography

Research Interest

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