51³Ô¹ÏÍø

Director's Message

51³Ô¹ÏÍø

Ìý

Picture of Dr Reza Sharif

Reza Sharif-NaeiniÌý

Welcome to the Webpage of the Alan Edwards Centre for Research on Pain (AECRP), a research centre of 51³Ô¹ÏÍø devoted to the study, management and relief of pain. 51³Ô¹ÏÍø has a distinguished history of major contributions to pain research, spanning more than 50 years. In the 1960's Ronald Melzack, a professor of Psychology at McGill, coauthored the publication of the Gate Control Theory of Pain, a seminal paper that led to an explosion of work throughout the world on the mechanisms and treatment of pain. Ron Melzack also produced the 51³Ô¹ÏÍøPain Questionnaire, the most widely used tool for the clinical assessment of pain, translated to many languages and in daily use in many hospital and pain clinics throughout the world.

The high concentration of pain researchers and clinicians at 51³Ô¹ÏÍøled to the creation of the Pain Research Centre in 2002, renamed the Alan Edwards Centre for Research on Pain in 2007 to acknowledge the extraordinary contribution of Alan Edwards to the funding of the centre through the Louise Edwards Foundation. We owe a huge debt of gratitude to both Ron Melzack and Alan Edwards for their essential contributions to the creation of the Centre.

The AECRP groups more than 150 scientists from several departments of the Faculties of Medicine, Dentistry and Science of 51³Ô¹ÏÍø, as well as associated members from other Quebec institutions and universities. This group includes close to 100 trainees ,Ìýgraduate students and postdoctoral and clinical fellows ,Ìýwhose interest in the study and treatment of pain guarantees the continued impact of the Centre. The members of the AECRP are clinicians and scientists who dedicate their work to the study of the mechanisms of pain, the management of pain and the relief of pain, one of the largest causes of suffering and disability throughout the world and the number one reason people seek attention from health care practitioners. Members of AECRP have made seminal discoveries in pain over the years, including breakthrough findings in pain imaging, new clinical treatments, animal models of pain, and explaining individual differences in pain.

We are committed to relieving pain and suffering by learning more about its mechanisms and developing new therapies. Please feel free to contact me or any other member of the Centre for information about the activities and programs of the AECRP. We also welcome contributions that will help the continuing work of our scientists and clinicians. Please let me know if you wish to help us in our quest to better understand and ameliorate pain.

Ìý

Back to top