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On Tuesday, November 5, the VCU Translational Research Initiative for Pain and Neuropathy (TRIPN) hosted its inaugural symposium showcasing the latest developments in pain and neuropathy research. TRIPN co-directors and VCU Massey Cancer Center researchers Egidio Del Fabbro, M.D., and M. Imad Damaj, Ph.D., welcomed 95 basic and clinical scientists from across VCU and Massey Cancer Center for a day of presentations at the VCU College of Health Professions.

Opening remarks were delivered by Daniel Carey, M.D., secretary of Health and Human Resources for the Commonwealth of Virginia; Gordon Ginder, M.D., director of VCU Massey Cancer Center and Jeanette and Eric Lipman Chair in Oncology; and Peter F. Buckley, M.D., dean of VCU School of Medicine and VCU Health executive vice president for medical affairs.

Speakers from VCU and other institutions, including the National Institutes of Health, presented a recap of the previous year’s pain research achievements in focus areas such as non-medical opioid use for cancer-related pain and treatment of chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy.

TRIPN, launched in August 2018 by Del Fabbro, who is the Palliative Care Endowed Chair, program director of palliative care and member of the Developmental Therapeutics program at Massey, and Damaj, member of Massey’s Cancer Prevention and Control research program, provides basic and clinical researchers at VCU with the opportunity to collaborate on multidisciplinary pain and neuropathy research projects. The overall goal of TRIPN is to improve patient care and quality of life for individuals who live with chronic pain.

“People going through cancer treatment often have pain and other adverse effects that impact their lives,” said Ginder. “It’s very important that everyone here today who’s interested in TRIPN continue working on ways to improve that aspect of cancer care.”

To learn more about TRIPN, contact program manager Teri Dulong-Rae at teri.dulongrae@vcuhealth.org.

Written by: Melissa Mitchell