HEAL Pain Strategic Research Priorities Working Group

Background

The NIH Helping to End Addiction Long-term^® (HEAL) Initiative is an NIH-wide research effort to to speed scientific solutions to the overdose epidemic, including opioid and stimulant use disorders, and the crisis of chronic pain. Lack of safe and effective treatments to manage pain is an urgent public health problem and new treatments that can safely and effectively manage pain are urgently needed. There are now more new cases of chronic pain among U.S. adults than other long-term conditions like diabetes, depression, and high blood pressure. To date, the NIH HEAL Initiative has supported over 1,800 research projects in all 50 states, totaling over $3 billion of investment.

Now in its sixth year of funding, NIH is building upon the progress HEAL has made to date by developing a strategic plan to guide the next phase of the initiative. NIH HEAL Initiative pain research is supported and administered through a collaborative partnership of 15 NIH Institutes, Centers, and Offices (ICOs) who are committed to improving pain care for all. On behalf of all of these ICOs, the National Advisory Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NANDS) Council has formed a working group to develop strategic research priorities that will advance the mission of HEAL pain research – to reduce pain and the risk of opioid use disorder by developing safe and effective pain treatment and prevention strategies to improve quality of life for all people.

Charge of the Committee

This Committee is charged with providing scientific guidance on how best to advance pain research through the HEAL Initiative by proposing and prioritizing future-looking strategic research priorities that will advance the HEAL Initiative pain research mission for the next phase (~5 years).

Specifically, the Committee will:

Assess the progress the HEAL Initiative has made to date in pain research by specifying successes and lessons learned from programs supported in the first phase of the Initiative.
Recommend better ways to achieve the goals of valuable HEAL programs supported in the first phase of the Initiative.
Identify gap areas in the current or past HEAL pain research portfolio that should be addressed to advance the HEAL mission.
Suggest new opportunities for advancing the HEAL mission through new partnerships, technologies, breaking developments in science, research infrastructure, or other methods of administering the program.

Roster

Rob Gereau (co-chair)
Washington University of Medicine in St. Louis

Kathleen Sluka (co-chair)
University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine

Tamara Baker
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Yenisel Cruz-Ameida
University of Florida

Lynn DeBar
Kaiser Permanente Northwest

Michael Falcon
Hawaii Pacific University

John T. Farrar
University of Pennsylvania

John Markman
Eli Lilly

Jessica Merlin
University of Pittsburgh

Susmita Kashikar-Zuck
University of Cincinnati/Cincinnati Children's

Theodore (Ted) Price
University of Texas at Dallas

Cheryl Stucky
Medical College of Wisconsin

Vivianne Tawfik
Stanford University

Workshop Series

To inform the development of strategic research priorities, seven subcommittees have formed around different focus areas of HEAL pain research. Each subcommittee is hosting virtual workshops to feature expert presentations and discussion in an open forum that will advance the understanding and knowledge within each focus area and will help each subcommittee develop research priorities. These workshops will complement other methods to get input from the community, such as through the prior Request for Information.

The workshop series includes the following focus areas and are open to the public.

Biomarkers and Predictors
Non-Addictive Pain Therapeutics Development
Research Workforce and Training
Implementation and Health Services
Optimizing Interventions to Improve Pain Management
The Intersection of Pain and Substance Use
Health Equity and Pain Across the Life Course