A new $1 million grant awarded to Johns Hopkins from the National Institutes of Health will prepare postdoctoral fellows to work cooperatively within an interdisciplinary research program to better understand and address the complex problem of pain. Co-principal investigators Gayle Page, professor and director of doctoral programs at the School of Nursing, and Jennifer Haythornthwaite, professor in the School of Medicine, will direct the five-year program to provide interdisciplinary training in biobehavioral pain research.

The grant was received through the NIH Roadmap for Medical Research, which calls for the development of research teams in which scientists "move beyond the confines of their own discipline and explore new organizational models for team science."

Page and Haythornthwaite will use a co-mentoring model, pairing each postdoctoral fellow with two core faculty members. These interdisciplinary research teams will address the complex problem of pain by integrating two or more areas of expertise: behavioral/social science, biomedical science or clinical research, Page said. By engaging in advanced course work and mentored research projects, the fellows will enhance their understanding of pain and develop skills in collaborating with scientists in other disciplines.

The core faculty team consists of 18 faculty members of Johns Hopkins who are funded by NIH, engaged in the training of young investigators and committed to interdisciplinary collaboration. The team includes seven behavioral scientists, four clinical researchers and seven biomedical researchers. Three are from the School of Nursing and 15 from the School of Medicine.
— Kelly Brooks-Staub

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