Pain and Opioid Management in Veterans Lecture

Date: Monday, April 10 from 10 to 11 a.m. ET

Speaker: Karen Seal, MD, MPH, professor of medicine and psychiatry at the University of California, San Francisco

Veterans suffer disproportionately from chronic pain. War-related mental and physical trauma amplifies the experience of chronic pain, increasing risk for disability and adverse outcomes related to overuse of medication. No studies to date have tested a primary care-based collaborative approach to improving pain management and decreasing opioid risk among veterans. The overall goal of the Options for Pain Treatment Interventions study is to pilot test a novel collaborative care intervention to improve pain, opioid safety, and use of nonpharmacologic pain management strategies in veterans in VA primary care. The lecture will explore how this trial and other similar studies are laying the groundwork for a generation of new research investigating biopsychosocial, nonpharmacologic care for veterans with chronic pain.

Location/Viewing Options: the lecture is free and open to the public, and will be held on the main NIH campus, Lipsett Amphitheater at the NIH Clinical Center (Building 10). There will also be an option to view via Videocast, or you can join us on our Facebook page as we live stream the lecture. This lecture is part of a series of spring 2017 events dedicated to integrative health and U.S. military personnel, veterans, and their families.