The National Institutes of Health (NIH), a part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, is the nation’s medical research agency — making important discoveries that improve health and save lives.
This grant’s objective is to advance research into a holistic understanding of the variances in human pain conditions to pave the way for personalized pain medicine. It emphasizes Whole Person Health, urging studies that focus on gathering clinical and/or preclinical data for scrutinizing inter-individual differences and heterogeneity in pain response, especially concerning different pain therapies/management strategies or in conjunction with secondary pain conditions, comorbid health or mental health issues, or the use/misuse of substances like opioids and alcohol. The grant advocates for innovative, multidisciplinary research methods, promotes collaboration among researchers with diverse expertise, and values patient and caregiver insights into research goals. The ultimate aim is to foster evidence-based, data-driven research that elucidates the biological and biopsychosocial foundations of individual pain experiences, thereby accelerating the shift towards precision pain medicine.