Prestigious award for pain researcher

Professor of Pain Medicine Nikolai Bogduk from Hunter New England Health has been recognised for his pioneering research in pain management with a prestigious award from the American Academy of Pain Medicine.

Professor Bogduk, who works as a Conjoint Professor of Pain Medicine at the Royal Newcastle Centre and the University of Newcastle, has been awarded the Founders Award in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the science and practice of pain medicine.

Professor Bogduk had dedicated 30 years of his life to developing and testing diagnostic and treatment procedures for back pain, neck pain and headache as well as serving on editorial boards of six international journals.

Professor Bogduk said his work has been based on determining an anatomic basis for pain by pinpointing the source of the pain the patient is feeling.

“Once we have determined the reason for the pain we are able to make a validated diagnosis. This allows us to develop a treatment for the source of the pain so that it is relived,” Professor Bogduk said.

“More than two million people in Australia suffer from chronic back pain. Our research gives a glimmer of hope to these people whose lives are often ruined by the pain.”

Professor Bogduk said the award was a vital boost to morale and spoke highly of the role the Newcastle community had played in his research.

“Our ability to perform trials in Australia owes much to the goodwill of the people of Newcastle who volunteered to participate in studies of surgery and other treatments of pain,” Professor Bogduk said.

“The patients who volunteer to be involved in clinical trials are really benefiting society more than themselves. Their participation in the trials will allow us to develop treatments to ensure that patients in the future will not have to suffer back pain as people did in the past.

“Thanks to these volunteers we have conducted more controlled trials into surgical and needle techniques for pain management than anywhere else in the world,” Professor Bogduk said.

Professor Bogduk works in collaboration with the Hunter Medical Research Institute’s (HMRI) Brain and Mental Health Research Program. HMRI is a partnership between the University of Newcastle, Hunter New England Health and the community.

Contact: Sharna McCarthy

Phone: 02 4921 4501