Pain research at McGill University is conducted at the Alan Edwards Centre for Research on Pain. The centre comprises researchers from the Faculties of Medicine, Dentistry and Science. Its main goal is to bring together the McGill community of basic and clinical pain researchers to promote research that will result in cures for chronic pain. Through activities and international collaborations, the Centre focuses on new discoveries and their clinical applications that will improve the prevention and treatment of chronic pain.

If rollercoasters and rock concerts sound fun but leave you with a headache, a drug-free sugar pill might be all that's needed to soothe you.

Sufferers visit gynecologists, urologists and naturopaths in search of relief - only to be told it's 'all in their heads.' But chronic vulvar pain is real, medical researchers say, and it may affect one in six women.

Dr. Ronald Melzack O.C., a McGill University psychologist who revolutionized the study and treatment of pain from the 1960s onward, has been inducted into the Canadian Medical Hall of Fame. He and his four fellow 2009 inductees from across Canada join 71 existing Hall of Fame laureates who “brought distinction to Canada through their outstanding contributions to medical science and the improved health and well-being of people everywhere.”

Dr. Gary J. Bennett, a professor at McGill University’s Department of Anesthesia, has been awarded a scientific research grant by The Neuropathy Association, a U.S. patient-based non-profit organization headquartered in New York City. Peripheral neuropathy results from injury to the peripheral nervous system, disrupting the body’s ability to communicate with its muscles, organs and tissues.

Using hormone replacement therapy to alleviate painful sexual intercourse in post-menopausal women is not effective for a significant proportion of sufferers, according to a review study by McGill doctoral candidate Alina Kao, a student of Professor Irv Binik's Laboratory for the Biopsychosocial Study of Sexuality.

-July 2008--[WARM-SPARK] Dr Yoram Shir wants diet to become part of the anti-pain arsenal. Ask Dr Yoram Shir about pain and he'll tell you about the pounding headaches he gets when he eats burnt potato chips. He sees this surprising food-pain association in his work at the MUHC Pain Centre, too: several of his patients experience intense facial pain and headaches after eating raw onions or chili peppers.

-Jun. 16, 2008-- Researchers at the McGill University Health Centre (MUHC), McGill University and the University of British Columbia (UBC) determined that medical use of cannabinoids do not cause an increase in serious adverse events, but are associated with an increase in some non-serious adverse events.

Congratulation to Dr. Gary Bennett who has been selected to receive the 2010 Elizabeth Narcessian Award for Outstanding Educational Achievements.  The award, which recognizes outstanding educational achievements in the field of pain, will be presented to Dr. Bennett during the American Pain Society's Centers of Excellence Gala Dinner and Awards ceremony in May 2010.

-Jun. 11, 2008-- Eight McGill University researchers exploring issues from pain control to child welfare to systems biology are among the 127 recently appointed Canada Research Chairs announced June 10 by the Honourable John Baird, Minister of the Environment, on behalf of the Honourable Jim Prentice, Minister of Industry and minister responsible for the Canada Research Chairs Program.