Our Pain Across the Lifespan lab includes a multidisciplinary team and fosters collaborations between physicians, psychologists, physiotherapists, and basic scientists to better understand chronic pain mechanisms.
Sex differences
Sex differences in pain are profound, with females experiencing a higher prevalence of various chronic pain syndromes such as migraine, irritable bowel syndrome, and fibromyalgia. A special interest of the lab is to explore how sex, gender, and sex hormone levels affect pain sensitivity and chronic pain expression, especially during critical periods in life involving extensive changes in sex hormone levels, such as puberty, pregnancy, and menopause, or after sex hormone therapy.
Migraine & Headaches
Migraine is a disabling neurological disorder that affects about 15% of the population and is manifested as recurrent headaches. We seek to better understand migraine mechanisms by examining the role of sex hormone levels, brain function, pain sensitivity, depression, anxiety, and sleep on migraine severity in both adolescents and adults.