Lawrence Chu, MD, MS

Clinical Focus

• Anesthesia

Administrative Appointments

• Member, Committee on Admissions, Stanford University School of Medicine (2007 - present)
• Member, Web Site Committee, American Pain Society (2007 - present)
• Member, Educational Resources Committee, Society for Education in Anesthesia (2003 - present)
• Member, Editorial Board, MDNetGuide (1999 - present)
• Trustee, California Medical Association (2003 - 2004)
View All 6administrative appointments of Lawrence Chu

Honors and Awards

• Career Development Award, National Institutes of Health (8/2004-8/2009)
• Clinical Loan Repayment Program, National Institutes of Health (7/2003 - Present)
• Research Fellowship Grant, Foundation for Anesthesia Education and Research (1/2003-6/2004)
• Excellence in Teaching Award, Stanford University Department of Biological Sciences (1998)

Professional Education

Graduate & Fellowship Program Affiliations

• Anesthesia

Web Site Links

• My Web site

Research Interests

My research focuses on the study opiate-induced hyperalgesia in patients suffering from chronic pain.

I am currently conducting an NIH-funded five year double-blinded randomized controlled clinical study (NIGMS award 1K23GM071400-01) that prospectively examines the following hypotheses: 1) pain patients on chronic opioid therapy develop dose-dependent tolerance and/or hyperalgesia to these medications over time, 2) opiate-induced tolerance and hyperalgesia develop differently with respect to various types of pain, 3) opioid-induced hyperalgesia occurs independently of withdrawal phenomena, and 4) opiate-induced tolerance and hyperalgesia develop differently based on gender and/or ethnicity.

The study is the first quantitative and prospective examination of tolerance and hyperalgesia in pain patients and may have important implications for the rational use of opioids in the treatment of chronic pain.

Clinical Trials

• Effect of Beta Blockade on Opioid-Induced Hyperalgesia in Humans Recruiting
• Inflammatory Responses to Acute and Chronic Opioid Exposure in Humans Recruiting
• POWS: Palonosetron/Ondansetron Opioid Withdrawal Study Recruiting
• fMRI Imaging of Opioid Withdrawal in Healthy Human Volunteers Enrolling by Invitation

Publications

• Ondansetron: an effective treatment for the withdrawal symptoms of opioids? Chu LF, Clark DJ. Therapy. 2009; 6 (5): 637-640
• Bilateral infraorbital nerve blocks decrease postoperative pain but do not reduce time to discharge following outpatient nasal surgery. Mariano ER, Watson D, Loland VJ, Chu LF, Cheng GS, Mehta SH, Maldonado RC, Ilfeld BM. Can J Anaesth. 2009; 56 (8): 584-9
• Molecular Basis and Clinical Implications of Opioid Tolerance and Opioid-induced Hyperalgesia Chu LF, Angst MS, Clark DJ. Acute Pain Management, Cambridge University Press, New York, New York. 2009
• No evidence for the development of acute tolerance to analgesic, respiratory depressant and sedative opioid effects in humans. Angst MS, Chu LF, Tingle MS, Shafer SL, Clark JD, Drover DR. Pain. 2009; 142 (1-2): 17-26
• From mouse to man: the 5-HT3 receptor modulates physical dependence on opioid narcotics. Chu LF, Liang DY, Li X, Sahbaie P, D'arcy N, Liao G, Peltz G, David Clark J. Pharmacogenet Genomics. 2009; 19 (3): 193-205