Message from the President

Dear members of IASP,
 
In my previous letter I promised to update you on the Council meeting that we had in Barcelona at the beginning of this month. I have summarized below some of the major decisions that were made.
 
An external operational assessment performed last summer identified opportunities for improvements in communication in all levels of the organization, and showed that the Seattle office was understaffed and in need of more physical work space. This is understandable when we consider how much the various activities of IASP have increased. More >

Council Develops Strategies, Budget for 2012

In early December, the IASP Council held its annual meeting in beautiful Barcelona. The first day focused on continuing the strategic planning work the Executive Committee started in August. There are six areas the Council will focus on in the immediate future: Publications, Education and Meetings; Research, Grants and Scholarships; Advocacy and Public Relations; Marketing and Communications; Membership; and Governance. Over the next month, the Council will be developing goals and tactical initiatives in these areas. The next newsletter will highlight the strategic plan process and initiatives the Council, volunteer members, and staff will be working on during the next few years. The Council, in a first for IASP, has also developed a governance manual, documenting all IASP policies. More >

Online Renewal Tips

It's that time again...for IASP dues renewal notices! Since we moved from a calendar renewal to an anniversary date renewal schedule, only members with an anniversary in December have received their notices so far. Invoices for the January and February anniversary date members will go out in the next two weeks. More >

The 9th IASP Research Symposium Report

More than 150 researchers attended the 9th IASP Research Symposium, "Understanding Mechanisms of Chronic Pain," held at the Institute of Neuroscience (ION) October 16-17, 2011. Organizers of the IASP Research Symposium included IASP, the Institute of Neuroscience (ION), Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences (SIBS), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Chinese Neuroscience Society (CNS), and The Shanghai Society for Neuroscience (SSN). Xu Zhang, MD, PhD (ION), Min Zhuo, PhD (University of Toronto), Gerald F. Gebhart, PhD (University of Pittsburgh), and Megumu Yoshimura, MD, PhD (Kumamoto Health Science University) co-chaired the event. More >

Mirror Therapy Workshop in Vietnam

Drs. Do Thanh Huy, MSC, MA (Can Tho Medical University), Tuan Anh Nguyen, MMed (University Medical Center, Ho Chi Minh City), and Beth Darnall, PhD (Oregon Health and Science University) delivered mirror therapy workshops to physicians and allied health and trauma professionals in Vietnam in an effort to broaden access to phantom pain care. A 2011 IASP Developing Countries education project grant funded the mirror therapy project, which began with a workshop on November 26, 2011, at the Phuong Chau International Obstetrics Gynecology Hospital in Can Tho, Vietnam. More >

Apply Now for IASP Grants

Submit your application now for one of our early career, developing countries, or collaborative grants, or to hold the official 11th IASP Research Symposium. More >

Welcome Kosovo: New Chapter-in-Formation

IASP welcomes its newest chapter-in-formation – the Professional Health Association Pain Section, Kosovo. The chapter, located in Prinzen, Kosovo, has hosted three conferences and two workshops in the last two years. Armed with the mission to improve pain education for medical professionals, and increase access to information for students, the chapter is well on its way to achieving its goals. More >

Cuba Hosts 5th Pain Symposium

The Asociación Cubana para el Estudio y Tratamiento del Dolor (ACETD), the Cuban chapter of IASP, hosted a pain symposium on November 2-4, 2011. More than 90 specialists attended the workshop, located in Havana, Cuba. Attendees discussed the different barriers to pain management, and sought guidance on how to improve diagnosis, treatment and management, as a means to enhance quality of service to patients. More >

Nigeria Society Holds 14th Annual Conference

The Society for the Study of Pain in Nigeria (SSPN) held its 14th Annual Scientific Conference at the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) Conference Center in Ile Ife on July 27-30, 2011. Following a welcome reception at Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospitals Complex (OAUTHC), the first day’s events featured a plenary lecture, “Acute Pain,” delivered by Dr I.C. Ikem, from the Department of Orthopedics and Traumatology, OAU, a welcome from Prof. Solomon Ogunniyi, the Provost of the College of Health Sciences, OAU, and a guest lecture, "Pain management in Countries with Low Resources," delivered by Prof. Olaitan Soyannwo, the founding President of the Society for the Study of Pain, Nigeria (SSPN). Nearly 200 registrants, including many officials and state dignitaries, attended the opening ceremony, which was covered by local television and radio stations. More >

Jordan Organizes Pain Workshops

The Jordan Pain Society held several workshops on pain management in December, including:

• A three-hour seminar on pain management for oncology nursing students at the Hashemite University in Zarqa, east of Amman, that included lectures on the physiology and management of pain.
• A half-day seminar organized with the school of nursing at Jordan University of Science and Technology in Irbid, north of Amman, included lectures about pain as a human rights issue, pain physiology, assessment and the different modalities of pain management.
• A seminar on pain in Arabic for PhD psychology students at Jordan University in Amman.

Ukrainian Chapter Holds First Conference

The Ukrainian Association for the Study of Pain (UASP) held its first multidisciplinary conference, "Pain Syndromes in Medical Practice," in Kiev, Ukraine on October 19-20, 2011, in the Ukrainian Pain Research Institute of Physiology. Approximately 200 doctors from Ukraine, Russia, Belorussia, Moldova, Georgia, Azerbaijan and Jordan participated in the conference.
 
Prominent experts on pain from Kiev, Dnepropetrovsk, Lviv, Zhitomir, Lugansk, Kishinev, and Chicago made presentations on different topics in pain. Honorary guests of the conference included IASP Secretary Judith Paice (Chicago, USA), Academician of Moldova Academy of Medical Sciences Stanislav Groppa (Kishinev, Moldova), Director of Anesthesiology Department of Jordan Royal Hospital Abdullah Obeidat (Amman, Jordan), and Director of Clinic of Neurology of Central Caspian Hospital Ali Mus More >

Mongolian Chapter Sets Goals for 2012

The Mongolian Center for the Treatment of Pain held its annual meeting, "Achievement of Diagnosis and Treatment of Pain Management in Mongolia 2011," September 30 to October 1, 2011, at Acthan Clinical Hospital in Ulaanbaatar. More than 250 family doctors, nurses, surgeons, and anesthesiologists as well as several hospitals and pain clinics participated in the meeting, which explored topics in acute and chronic pain, as well as surgical methods. More >

New SIG on Neuromodulation

A new Special Interest Group (SIG), the SIG on Neuromodulation, joins the options available to IASP members! Members may now select among 19 SIGs. The purpose and mission of IASP's newest SIG focus on:

• promoting interdisciplinary collaboration among scientists, clinicians and other professionals within the health-care networks worldwide in research and clinical application of neuromodulatory treatment strategies;
• facilitating interprofessional education and training in the field of neuromodulation with particular attention to the clinical application of emergent neuromodulatory techniques for pain and symptom management; and
• establishing a platform and forum for ongoing professional discourse in order to address emerging issues and to navigate the development of evidence-based practices and policies.

SIG-Organized Satellite Symposia

Attendees of the 14th World Congress on Pain may choose among 16 SIG-organized Satellite Symposia on August 26, 2012, at the Milano Convention Centre, in Milan, Italy. The Symposia will take place one day prior to the 14th World Congress on Pain. More >

IASP Press Announces New Books

Pain Comorbidities: Understanding and Treating the Complex Patient, edited by Maria Adele Giamberardino and Troels Jensen, leads the 2012 list of books from IASP Press. After publication in the spring, Pain Comorbidities will be followed by the English language edition of Serge Marchand's Phenomenon of Pain and a book on the treatment of fear in chronic pain by Stephen Morley, Johan Vlaeyen, Steven Linton, Jeroen de Jong, and Katja Boersma. 

PAIN Journal Tops Eigenfactor Ratings

IASP's prestigious scholarly journal, PAIN, has received the highest Eigenfactor score of all pain journals, confirming its prestige as a highly respected source of the latest medical information. The Eigenfactor score (EF) was developed by University of Washington (USA) researchers and is considered more robust than the impact factor (IF) metric because the EF score is based on both the number of citations and the importance and influence of the citation's source. More >

New Issues of P:CU to be Linked

Eight issues of Pain: Clinical Updates planned for 2012 will include current information and analysis on metric-based care, the use of marijuana in pain relief, ultrasonography, and headache pain. Hyperlinked references within the online Updates will be introduced during the winter. 

New Book by Members

Alexis a la Migraine
By Anita Violin and Jocelyne Pader
Foreword by Anne-Françoise Allaz
2011, Georg Editeur
www.medhyg.ch 

Member News

Guide for People with Chronic Pain & Fibromyalgia
By Michael R. MacDonald, PhD
www.unbelievablepaincontrol.com
 
Film for Clinicians on CRPS Therapies
The Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy Syndrome Association (RSDSA) recently completed a 40-minute educational film, CRPS Therapies: Clinicians Share their Expertise. The educational film for physical and occupational therapists shows how to implement a functional restoration program for individuals with CRPS. The film is streamed on the RSDSA website, www.rsds.org, in six components: What is CRPS, the Importance of Education and Assessment, Desensitization: Earlier Rather than Later, Restoring Function, Managing Flare-ups, Aqua Therapy: A Key Ingredient in Treating CRPS, and Brain Retraining. 

New Members

We are pleased to welcome 192 new members from 46 countries to IASP. This list is alphabetical by country and includes the period between September 30 and November 30, 2011. You will need to log in to your IASP account to view the names. More >

Online Forum Supports Headache Patients

A group of researchers led by Dr. Franco Mongini, of the University of Turin in Italy, recently launched an educational support forum, www.noheadneckpain.com, to help bring headache patients and clinicians together. Using this free social network, patients can view demonstration videos, download informational materials, and ask questions about their specific issues. A separate section for clinicians allows them to look at the material provided, express their opinions, engage in debate, and present their own clinical and research data. More >

Pakistan Symposia Focus on Global Year Theme

The Society for Treatment & Study of Pain in Pakistan (STSP) arranged six symposia on headache in different cities in December 2011 and January 2012. Conferences were held in Karachi, Nawabshah, Rawalpindi, Islambad, and are planned in Quetta, Peshawar and Mutan. IASP's fact sheets on headache will be distributed to doctors who attend. STSP also expects up to 600 attendees at its International Pain Conference, January 12-14, 2012, in Karachi. 

New Translated Resources Added

Visit the Global Year pages for headache fact sheets, which are now available in Polish and Portuguese in addition to English, French, Arabic, Spanish, and Chinese. Also, you may now download the official Global Year Against Headache poster in Italian as well as English.
 
Submit your recent events, photos, news coverage, and other activities related to the Global Year Against Headache to share on our website at www.iasp-pain.org/GlobalYear. 

Poster Abstracts, Financial Aid Applications Due

Submit your poster abstracts and financial aid applications for the 14th World Congress on Pain no later than February 6, 2012. About 500 posters on the latest research in pain will be displayed each day of the Congress. During hour-long discussion periods, authors answer questions and provide further details about the research they conducted. More >