The CircaPain project was designed by a team of researchers and patient partners from across Canada. Using our team’s variety of experience, we hope to gain a greater understanding of chronic pain.
Nader Ghasemlou
I am an Associate Professor in the Departments of Anesthesiology and Biomedical & Molecular Sciences at Queen’s University, where I lead the Pain Chronobiology & Neuroimmunology Lab. My research team is working at the intersection of neuroimmunology, pain physiology, and circadian biology. Using molecular, cellular, and systems biology, we are working to dissect the molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying the generation and maintenance of inflammation in the central and peripheral nervous system. All projects in the lab include both a bioinformatics component, using RNA sequencing to identify genes/pathways regulating cell functions, and patient cohort studies, providing a translational component to all projects.
Gabrielle Pagé
I am a clinical health psychologist and assistant professor and research scholar in the Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine at the Université de Montréal. My research aims to understand temporal variations in pain experiences and their associations with psychosocial factors such as stress. I am also interested in furthering our understanding of how acute pain becomes chronic, as this is essential for the development of preventive and early intervention programs to reduce the risk of pain chronicity.
Manon Choinière
I am a Professor at the Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine of the Université de Montréal and works as a full-time clinical scientist at the Research Centre of the Centre hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal where I do evaluative, epidemiological, and clinical research on acute and chronic pain. My research work is steadily funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the Fonds de recherche du Québec – Santé. I have published more than 140 articles in peer-reviewed journals and presented my work in numerous international and national meetings. I am also one of the founding members of the Quebec Pain Research Network and the Canadian Chronic Pain Network.
Zihang Lu
I am a Biostatistician in the Department of Public Health Sciences at Queen’s University. Prior to coming to Queen’s University, I was a Biostatistician at the Hospital for Sick Children. I completed both my PhD and MSc in Biostatistics at the University of Toronto. I am very excited to branch into the world of pain research with the CircaPain project.
Jennifer Daly-Cyr
Since the sudden onset of severe pain in 2014, I have been on a journey of learning to live with chronic pain and adapting to the dramatic changes this has brought to my daily life. I am interested in sharing my lived patient experience and professional background in making a contribution to and advocating for chronic pain research in Canada. I sit as a patient partner on the Chronic Pain Network (CPN) Patient Engagement Committee and Knowledge Translation Committee. Additionally, I now sit on the Canadian Pain Society (CPS) Scientific Program Committee.
Jenny Lorca (she/they/isu/siyá)
I am a Spoonie, volunteer, patient partner, advocate, and speaker who devotes my lived experience of chronic pain and complex chronic disease to building partnerships with organizations, initiatives, and projects such as Pain BC, Pain Canada, Chronic Pain Network, and Power Over Pain Portal. I believe personhood should never be threatened by patienthood, and as a champion of peer support as social change I am dedicated to walking alongside folx like me who live with pain and the ones who support them. I am thrilled to collaborate with the CircaPain team, and with individuals, clinicians, researchers, and policymakers who are committed to improving the lives of people with lived and living experience of pain.
Lesley Norris Singer
I am a practicing registered physiotherapist, who also works as an educator of chronic pain management at McGill University Faculty of Medicine and Health. I am a person with lived experience of chronic neuropathic hemifacial pain for over 20 years and chronic low back pain for over 8 years. I am a patient partner with the Chronic Pain Network and a co-chair of the knowledge translation Committee. I have been involved as a patient partner with several research projects through CPN and have co-authored on 5 pain publications. Additionally, I am on the Pain Education in Physiotherapy (PEP) steering Committee which is an on-going project to improve the knowledge of entry level physiotherapists.
Hailey Gowdy
I am a PhD student who studies the circadian control of chronic pain and other neuroimmune conditions. I have a background in Life Sciences (BScH) from Queen’s University. I built and continue to lead the CircaPain study with Doriana Taccardi.
Doriana Taccardi
I am a PhD candidate in the Ghasemlou Lab who leads and coordinates the CircaMS and CircaPain projects. I have an MSc in Clinical Psychology and previously worked for the National Health Service in London, UK, as a Clinical Research Practitioner coordinating several epidemiological and randomized control trials.
