CIHR SPOR Chronic Pain Network led by Dr. Norm Buckley was awarded $12.5 million

The SPOR Chronic Pain Network led by Dr. Norm Buckley was awarded $12.5 million from the Canadian Institutes for Health Research (CIHR) under Canada’s Strategy for Patient-Oriented Research (SPOR). Dr. Buckley, scientific director for the Michael G. DeGroote Institute for Pain Research and Care will bring national teams together to carry out laboratory and clinical research studies to identify new treatments to manage and prevent chronic pain. Patients and professionals will be trained to work together. Training programs will develop new researchers and support education for healthcare professionals about pain and its treatment.  A network of pain clinics across the country will support large scale studies of pain treatment and ensure that new knowledge is quickly moved into practice. The SPOR Chronic Pain Network will be a patient-centred project that engages patients as partners, focusing on patient-identified priorities to improve their health outcomes, identify new treatments, and deliver a more effective health care system to Canadians.