The Pain Relief Foundation Annual Lecture Series

The Pain Relief Foundation started the Annual Lecture a few years ago as a Millennium project. Each year an eminent pain physician or scientist is invited to lecture on a topic currently of interest, in pain research or management. The lecture is given each year in honour of a person who contributed much to the field of pain treatment or research during his or her career. A short presentation about their life and work is given before the lecture by a fellow academic or clinician.

The inaugural lecture was given by Russell Portenoy in the year 2000.

2007

Persistent Pain Mechanisms: Molecular mechanisms as a basis for therapy

Allan Basbaum, University of California San Francisco, USA
In honour of John Lloyd, Oxford, UK

Professor Allan Basbaum is a Neuroscientist and Chairman of the Department of Anatomy at the University of California at San Francisco. His research interests are in the area of the neurobiology of pain and its control. He is Editor-in-Chief of the journal Pain. He was elected to the Institute of Medicine in 2005 and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2003. In 2006 he was made a Fellow of the Royal Society.

Dr John Lloyd was the founder of the Pain Relief Unit in Oxford. Together with colleagues he published several papers on cryoanalgesia for pain relief using a cryosurgical probe. He was an Honorary Member of the International Association for the Study of Pain and Past President of the British Pain Society.

A short appreciation of the life and work of John Lloyd will be given by Henry McQuay, Nuffield Professor of Clinical Anaesthetics, University of Oxford and The Pain Relief Unit at Churchill Hospital, Oxford.

2006

Prediction and Prevention of Disability in Chronic Pain

Steven Linton, Örebro University, Sweden
In honour of Dame Cicely Saunders, London, UK

Professor Steven J Linton is professor of clinical psychology at Örebro University in Sweden. He is director of the Center for Health and Medical Psychology (CHAMP). After studying experimental psychology in the US he completed his doctorate at Uppsala University. His current research interests revolve around pain, stress and insomnia. He is interested in the effectiveness of early psychological interventions.

Dame Cicely Saunders died in 2005 aged 87. She was the founder of the modern hospice movement. She was deeply religious and worked in various charitable homes for the dying from the late 1940s. She eventually studied medicine at St Thomas's in London. She founded St Christopher's Hospice in 1967 where she eventually died. Her books include Care of the Dying (1960); The Living Idea (1981) and Watch with Me (2003).

A short appreciation of the life and work of Dame Cicely Saunders will be given by Geoffrey Hanks , Professor of Palliative Medicine at the University of Bristol.

2005

The Future of Pain Medicine

Sir Michael Bond, University of Glasgow, UK
In honour of Hans Kosterlitz, Aberdeen University, UK

Professor Sir Michael Bond is an emeritus professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Glasgow. He is a past president of the International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP). His research interests are in the field of psychological and social factors in the generation and maintenance of pain.
Professor Bond is a former Vice President and Administrative Dean for the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Glasgow. In 1995 he was made Knight Bachelor for his services to medicine. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE).

Professor Hans Kosterlitz died in 1996 at the age of 93. He was educated in Germany where he studied medicine. In 1933, with the advent of the Nazis, he came to Britain and joined the staff of Aberdeen University. He became Professor of Pharmacology and Chemistry there in 1968. In 1975 in collaboration with John Hughes, he discovered endogenous opiates, previously discussed by Solomon Snyder. They named these opiates enkephalins.
(Hughes J et al. Identification of two related pentapeptides from the brain with potent opiate agonist activity. Nature 258(5536): 577-80, 1975)

A short appreciation of the life and work of Hans Kosterlitz will be given by Dr Alexander McKnight who worked with Dr Kosterlitz in Aberdeen.

2004

Phantom Limbs and Body Image

V S Ramachandran, University of California San Diego, USA
In honour of Denise Albe-Fessard, Paris, France

Professor V S Ramachandran is Director of the Center for Brain & Cognition and professor in the Psychology Department & Neurosciences Program at the University of California, San Diego. His research interests lay in neural mechanisms underlying human perception, cognition and emotions. He is a fellow of the Neurosciences Institute in La Jolla, California & a Fellow of the Institute for Advanced Studies in Behavioural Sciences at Stanford University, California. He gave the BBC Reith Lecture in 2003. He is co-author of the critically acclaimed book "Phantoms in the Brain".

Dr Denise Albe-Fessard died in May 2003 at the age of 87. She was the first President of the International Association for the Study of Pain. She was a Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur and an Officier de l'Ordre National du Mérite in her native France.

A short appreciation of the life and work of Dr Albe-Fessard was given by Dr David Bowsher from the Pain Research Institute in Liverpool.

2003

Pain & Central Nervous System Reorganisation

Troels Jensen, University of Aarhus, Denmark
In honour of Peter Nathan, London, UK

Professor Troels Jensen was a professor in the Department of Neurology and the Danish Pain Research Center at the University of Aarhus. His research interests are in the field of neuropathic pain mechanisms and treatment. He was President-Elect of the IASP.

Dr Peter Nathan was an eminent neurologist. He worked for many years at the National Hospital for Nervous Diseases in Queen Square in London. His main research interest was in the spinal cord and pain, in particular cordotomy. He was a founding member of the IASP and the Pain Society of Britain. He died in 2002 aged 88.

An appreciation of his life and work will be given by Dr Geoffrey Schott from the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, Queen Square London.

2002

Neural Mechanisms of Persistent Pain

Marshall Devor, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel
In honour of Pat Wall, University College, London, UK

Professor Marshall Devor is Chairman of the Department of Cell and Aniaml Biology at the Institute of Life Sciences at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in Israel. His research interests are in the neurobiological basis of neuropathic pain.

Professor Patrick Wall, FRS, was a Founding Member of the IASP & the Brain Research Association and Founding Editor of the Journal, Pain. Pat Wall published "The Gate Control Theory of Pain" with Ronald Melzack in the 1960's. He also edited "The Textbook of Pain " with Ron Melzack. In 1989 he was made a Fellow of the Royal Society. He was Emeritus Professor at Guys and St Thomas' Hospital until his death in August 2001 aged 76.

An appreciation of his life and work was given by Professor Maria Fitzgerald, from UCL, who worked for many years with Pat Wall in London.

2001

Evidence Matters

Henry McQuay, Oxford Pain Relief Unit and Oxford University, UK
In honour of John J Bonica, University of Washington, Seattle, USA

Professor Henry McQuay was Professor of Pain Relief at the University of Oxford in the UK and a Consultant at the Pain Relief Unit at Churchill Hospital, Oxford. He was a Councillor of the IASP and Chair of the IASP Committee on Ethical Issues. He is the author of many articles and books including "An Evidence-Based Resource for Pain Relief". McQuay HJ & Moore RA. Oxford: Oxford University press, 1998.
(www.jr2.ox.ac.uk/bandolier/)

Dr John Bonica was a Founder and Honorary Member of the IASP. He was a pioneer in the field of pain research. John Bonica received many honours including the establishment, by the University of Washington, of the John and Emma Bonica endowed Chair for Anaesthesiology and Pain Research. John J Bonica died in September 1994.

An appreciation of his life and work was given by Edmund Charlton, Consultant in Anaesthesia and Pain Relief at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK, who worked with John Bonica in Seattle.

2000

"No excuse for pain" - the place of opioids in non-malignant pain.

Russell Portenoy, Beth Israel Medical Centre, New York, USA
In honour of Sam Lipton, The Pain Relief Foundation & The Walton Centre, Liverpool, UK

Professor Russell Portenoy was Chairman in the Department of Pain Medicine & Palliative Care at
Beth Israel Medical Centre in New York, USA. He was the Secretary of the International Association of Pain (IASP) and Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Pain and Symptom Management.

Sam Lipton was a co-founder of the Pain Relief Foundation in Liverpool in the 1970s and the Director of the Pain Clinic at Walton Centre for many years. An appreciation of his life and work was given by his colleague John Miles from the Pain Relief Foundation. Sam Lipton died in 1994.