Hosted by UCSF's Department of Anesthesia and Perioperative Care 

As we move forward, we are confident that our collective efforts will continue to make significant contributions to the fields of pain and addiction research. Thank you for your continued dedication and support. Together, we are making a difference.

Thank you to PARC’s donors!

Our donors support our mission to accelerate the translation of research into improved patient care in the areas of pain and addiction. Their gifts provide for the PARC research fellowship annually and enable us to host research symposia and seminars on cutting edge topics. Patient needs in these areas are great and we are grateful for their generosity.

PARC FELLOW SPOTLIGHT

Tommaso Di Ianni, PhD

Departments of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences and Radiology & Biomedical Imaging

Dr. Di Ianni's research is entitled, “Circuit mechanisms of opioid-mediated responses to subanesthetic ketamine.” Sub-anesthetic ketamine has gained much recent attention as a treatment for neuropsychiatric disorders including major depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and chronic pain. However, we still lack a complete understanding of ketamine’s mechanism of action, and recent evidence links ketamine's efficacy to activation of the opioid receptors in key regions of the brain's reward system. In this project, we will use a highly sensitive neuroimaging modality, functional ultrasound imaging, to quantify brain-wide interactions between subanesthetic ketamine and opioid receptors and to determine how these interactions modulate and are modulated by the reward system in a rodent model.

2024 PARC SEMINARS

We had an incredible lineup of guest speakers last academic year. If you couldn't join us in person, check them out below. And stay tuned for the first PARC seminar of the new academic year on September 25th. If you'd like to present or have topics you'd like to see, let us know.

Patient-centered case discussion: “Interventional Cancer Pain: Pain Control WITH Preserved Mental Clarity,” Ann Cai Shah, MD, and patient (June 5, 2024)

“Pain and Opioid Complexity in Patients with Cancer: State of the Science,” Jessica Merlin, MD, PhD, MBA (May 22, 2024)

“Cancer Pain and Opioids: Pandora’s Box,” Judy Paice, PhD, RN (April 24, 2024)

“Opioid Use Disorder (OUD) in San Francisco,” Jeffrey Hom, MD, MPH (February 28, 2024)

“What Can a Safety Net Hospital Do to Engage Non-treatment Seeking Individuals with Opioid Use Disorder?: How the Entire Research, Health Care Delivery, and Financing Systems Must Change,” Andy Tompkins, MD, MHS (January 24, 2024)

“From Popping Pills to Paramedic School,” Scott Steiger, MD (December 13, 2023)

“Policy Development for the Treatment of Chronic Pain,”

Patricia Herman, PhD, ND

(November 8, 2023)

“Back Pain: Common, Complicated, and All- Consuming,” Cindy Chai, MD (September 27, 2023)