Understanding Somatosensation and Pain: The 2013 Dr. Paul Janssen Award Symposium

Speakers

Featuring

David Julius, PhD

University of California, San Francisco

David Julius was born in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn, where he attended public elementary and high schools. He received his undergraduate degree from MIT, gaining his first research experience in the laboratory of Alexander Rich studying mechanisms of tRNA aminoacylation. David then moved to UC Berkeley for graduate studies, where he worked with Jeremy Thorner and Randy Schekman to elucidate mechanisms of peptide hormone processing and secretion in Saccharomyces yeast, culminating in the identification of KEX2 as the founding member of a family of prohormone convertases required for proteolytic maturation of insulin, endorphins, and many other peptide hormones. For postdoctoral studies, David joined Richard Axel's group at Columbia University, where his focus turned to neuropharmacology and receptor function. During this time, David developed powerful expression cloning methods that helped revolutionize molecular pharmacology while enabling him to identify genes encoding members of the serotonin receptor family. He then joined the faculty at UC San Francisco, where he is currently Professor and Chair of Physiology. David's research is focused on understanding the molecular basis of pain sensation.

Speakers

Allan I. Basbaum, PhD, FRS

University of California, San Francisco

Allan I. Basbaum, PhD, FRS is Professor and Chairman of the Department of Anatomy at the University of California, San Francisco. Dr. Basbaum's interest in pain research began with Ronald Melzack at McGill University. After receiving a PhD from the University of Pennsylvania, he did postdoctoral research at University College London, with Patrick Wall. He moved to UC San Francisco and was appointed to the faculty in 1977. Dr. Basbaum's research concerns the molecular mechanisms that underlie the development of persistent pain after tissue or nerve injury. He has served on the council and as Treasurer of the International Association for the Study of Pain, and in January 2013 relinquished his position as editor-in-chief of Pain. Dr. Basbaum has been a Board Member and Program Chair of the American Pain Society (APS). He is a recipient of the F. W. L. Kerr Memorial Award from the APS and the Bristol-Myers Squibb Prize for Distinguished Pain Research. He was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, to the Institute of Medicine and the British Academy of Medical Science. He is also a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and of the Royal Society in the UK.

David S. Bredt, MD, PhD

Janssen R&D

In March 2011, Bredt was hired by Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceutical Group as Global Head of Neuroscience Discovery. In this role he oversees preclinical biology and chemistry research. He is also in charge of clinical and preclinical biomarker and pharmacogenomics programs that support Johnson & Johnson's neuroscience franchise. His previous industry experience was with Eli Lilly and Company (2004–2011) where he was Vice President of Integrative Biology and Vice President of Neuroscience Research.

Bredt graduated summa cum laude in Chemistry at Princeton University in May 1986. He received his MD and PhD at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine (1993), where he trained with Dr. Solomon H. Snyder. Prior to joining Lilly, Bredt was Professor of Physiology at the University of California, San Francisco. His research on nitric oxide, glutamate receptor signaling, and synaptic plasticity has yielded more than 200 papers, which have been cited over 38,000 times in the scientific literature. He served on the Medical Advisory Committee for the Muscular Dystrophy Association, he was an Established Investigator for the American Heart and he was a Presidential Young Investigator for the National Science Foundation.

M. Catherine Bushnell, PhD

National Institutes of Health

M. Catherine Bushnell, PhD is Scientific Director of the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) at the NIH, where she is responsible for establishing and overseeing a new program on the brain's role in perceiving, modifying, and managing pain. Prior to her appointment at NCCAM, Dr. Bushnell was the Harold Griffith Professor of Anesthesia at McGill University, in Montreal, Canada. She has been president of the Canadian Pain Society, and Treasurer and Press Editor-in-Chief of the International Association for the Study of Pain. Among her other honors are the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Canadian Pain Society and the Frederick Kerr Basic Science Research Award from the American Pain Society. Dr. Bushnell holds a PhD in Experimental Psychology from the American University, Washington, DC and received postdoctoral training in Neurophysiology at the NIH. Her research interests include forebrain mechanisms of pain processing, psychological modulation of pain, and neural alternations in chronic pain patients. Recent projects have utilized brain imaging and psychophysical testing to study the neural basis of pain processing, addressing both normal pain processing and aberrant processing after nervous system damage.

Husseini Manji, MD, FRCPC

Janssen R&D

Husseini K. Manji, MD, FRCPC, is Global Therapeutic Head for Neuroscience at Janssen Research & Development, LLC, a division of Johnson & Johnson. Previously, he was Chief, Laboratory of Molecular Pathophysiology & Experimental Therapeutics, NIH, and Director of the NIH Mood and Anxiety Disorders Program. Dr. Manji received his BS and MD from the University of British Columbia. He completed fellowship training at the NIMH and completed additional training in cellular and molecular biology. His research has focused on investigation of disease-and treatment-induced changes in gene and protein networks that regulate synaptic and neural plasticity. His work has led to investigation of novel therapeutics for patients with refractory neuropsychiatric illnesses. Dr. Manji has also been involved in medical and postgraduate neuroscience education and has published extensively on the molecular and cellular neurobiology of neuropsychiatric disorders and the development of novel therapeutics. Dr. Manji has received numerous distinguished scientific and academic awards, including the NIMH Director's Career Award for Significant Scientific Achievement, and was inducted in to the US Institute of Medicine of the National Academies in 2008. He has served as Chair of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology, is a Counselor to the Society of Biological Psychiatry, and serves on a variety of editorial boards of scholarly journals. He holds voluntary leadership positions in many organizations devoted to advancement of neuroscience and advocacy for people with neuropsychiatric illnesses. He has been a member of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and NIH Research Scholars Program Advisory Committee.

Clifford Woolf, MB, BCh, PhD

Boston Children's Hospital, Harvard University

Clifford Woolf, MB, BCh, PhD [University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa] is Director of the F. M. Kirby Neurobiology Center and the Program in Neurobiology at Boston Children's Hospital in Massachusetts, a Professor of Neurology and Neurobiology at Harvard Medical School, and a faculty member of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute. His pain research focuses on understanding basic mechanisms and translating the results into new therapeutics and diagnostics. He discovered central sensitization and showed that nerve growth factor plays a role in inflammatory pain. His current work includes human, mouse, and Drosophila genetics, stem cell biology, and a strategy for silencing pain fibers to relieve pain. Dr. Woolf is also a serial innovator, holding 15 patents, patent applications, and licenses for technological innovations in pain management; and he serves as a Consultant and Advisory Board Member for several biotechnology firms and drug companies. Recently, he received a Javits Award from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke of the US National Institutes of Health, and delivered the Bonica Lecture for the International Association for the Study of Pain. Dr. Woolf is a dedicated teacher and mentor and has served on many national and international committees on pain research and treatment.