Current Research and Scholarly Interests
The primary goal of my research is to promote the health and well being of children and adolescents with chronic pain and their families. In line with this goal, research projects focus on biological, neurological, cognitive, affective, and social risk and resiliency factors of the pain experience. Projects include brain imaging, longitudinal clinical cohort, and treatment interventions studies.
Some current research orojects include:
Learning and Memory in Pediatric Chronic Pain
Funding: NIH/NICHD R01
Description: Investigating the mechanisms underlying fear learning, extinction and disruption of fear reconsolidation in adolescents with chronic pain and health controls using behavioral and neuroimaging measures. Multi-site study with Boston Children's Hospital (Collaborator: David Borsook, MD).
Children Pain Behaviors in Context: A functional-cognitive perspective
Leading Site: University of Ghent (Collaborator: Liesbet Goubert, PhD)
Description: Identifying key antecedents and consequences that give rise to and maintain children's pain-related behaviors and investigate impact these antecedents on children's behavior and functioning through daily surveys and activity monitoring.
