Office of the Scientific Director

National Center For Complementary & Integrative Health

Investigators

Abstract

NCCIH Division of Intramural Research Programs' (IRP) scientists conduct basic, clinical, and translational research focusing on the role of the brain in perceiving, modifying, and managing pain. David Shurtleff, Ph.D., is the Acting Scientific Director for the NCCIH IRP and provides oversight to the NCCIH portfolio. The portfolio also includes projects aimed at exploring new technologies and approaches to neuroscience such as functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) and Transcranial Magnetic stimulation (TMS) The Scientific Director provides supplemental resources for the other investigators and to research projects in the IRP portfolio in DIR, as appropriate,. The OSD also continued to host the NIH Pain SIG Seminar Series which features presentations by national leaders in the field of pain. Seminars highlight research conducted on model organisms at the behavioral, molecular, cellular and systems levels, as well as brain imaging work in patients and healthy volunteers. These seminars provide a venue in which intramural scientists are continually exposed to the cutting edge, innovative research that is relevant to the NCCIH mission. They are also able to build new relationships with investigators outside of the Intramural Research Program.