Professor Irene Tracey, Oxford University
Professor Irene Tracey, Nuffield Professor of Anaesthetic Science and Director of the Oxford Centre for Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging of the Brain (FMRIB), Oxford University, will present the 2008 Athena lecture: ‘The cerebral signature for pain perception in health and disease: can neuroimaging tell us anything new?’.
Abstract: Professor Tracey will illustrate how neuroimaging has revolutionised our understanding of pain perception and its modulation in health and disease, offering new avenues for exploration and development of treatments. Human functional brain imaging has made a huge scientific impact, the consequences of which are now penetrating the fields of clinical research and drug discovery. One area of significant breakthrough is in the understanding of acute and chronic pain. Until recently it has been difficult to obtain reliable data on the experience of pain.
The Athena Lecture
The Athena Lecture celebrates the achievements of women in science, technology and medicine. It is given annually by a prominent female scientist who has made outstanding contributions in any of these fields.
Now, by relating specific neurophysiologic markers to perceptual changes induced by peripheral or central sensitisation(amplification), behavioural, psychological or pharmacological mechanisms, and identifying their site of action within the nervous system, we can understand the mechanisms contributing to the chronicity of pain states and, more importantly, we can obtain reliable information with the potential to aid diagnosis.
Biography: Irene Tracey is based between the Departments of Anaesthetics and Clinical Neurology at Oxford University. She graduated from Oxford with a first class Honours degree in Biochemistry. She subsequently held a postdoctoral position at Harvard Medical School, working on AIDS dementia and spectroscopy, and moved into the field of pain research. In 1996 she returned to the UK to co-establish the FMRIB Centre. After a four-year tenure lecturing in the Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics at Oxford University, she took up her current position. Professor Tracey is a member of several advisory boards for and consultant to the pharmaceutical industry. In 2008 she is awarded the Patrick Wall Award by the Royal College of Anaesthetists for her contributions to pain research.
A drinks reception will follow the lecture.