Myra Christopher | PAINS - Pain Action Alliance to Implement a National Strategy

An Epiphany

PAINS Project — Tue, 14 Feb 2017 14:20:21 +0000

by Myra Christopher, PAINS Director This morning I was a guest on Central Standard, a program which airs on the local Kansas City NPR station. The program’s focus was chronic pain. Over the weekend the host’s producer called to do a “pre-interview.” One of the questions he asked me was about the relationship between efforts […]

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Response to Letter from the Surgeon General

PAINS Project — Tue, 20 Sep 2016 18:20:52 +0000

by Myra Christopher In late August, Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, MD wrote to 2.3 million physicians asking for their help in solving the opioid epidemic. By doing so Dr. Murthy joined a distinguished list of Surgeon Generals who have spoken out about critical public health issues. Some of America’s “top docs” who stand out in […]

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PAINS Project Updates

PAINS Project — Mon, 15 Aug 2016 16:17:49 +0000

by Myra Christopher, PAINS Director Penney Cowan has lived with chronic pain for most of her life and is the Founder of the American Chronic Pain Association (ACPA). Her advocacy work is peppered with the creation of innovative projects and programs. Perhaps, one of the most powerful of her ideas was establishing September as Pain Awareness […]

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Black History Month: Structural Violence in Pain Management

PAINS Project — Tue, 23 Feb 2016 18:55:30 +0000

by Myra J. Christopher, Director of PAINS I live in Kansas City, 239 miles due west of Ferguson, Missouri, which in 2015 became the epicenter of racial tension in our country. When I learned last week that the Justice Department is bringing charges against the City of Ferguson for blatant discrimination in policing, I thought about physician/anthropologist […]

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CDC Guidelines on Prescribing Opioids – Action Needed

PAINS Project — Sat, 12 Dec 2015 11:32:08 +0000

by Myra Christopher, PAINS Director Most of you are aware that for some time, the CDC has been in the process of developing Guidelines for Prescribing Opioids for Chronic Pain. Dr. Deborah Houry and her team at the Injury Prevention Center were tasked with this project. Earlier this week, members of the PAINS Steering Committee […]

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Recap of PAINS Collaborators Meeting

PAINS Project — Thu, 23 Jul 2015 13:46:49 +0000

by Myra Christopher, PAINS Director In anticipation of publication of the National Pain Strategy (NPS) Report, in June, 2015 the Pain Action Alliance to Implement a National Strategy (PAINS), a coalition of national leaders and organizations committed to advancing the sixteen recommendations made in the Institutes of Medicine’s report, Relieving Pain in America: A Blueprint […]

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Patient-Centered Research Can Improve Chronic Pain Care and Address Opioid Abuse

PAINS Project — Sat, 27 Jun 2015 02:19:58 +0000

by Myra J. Christopher Going for the Brass Ring Last year, Joe Selby, MD, executive director of the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI), spoke to members of the NIH Interagency Pain Research Coordinating Committee (PCORI) to inform those of us on the committee about PCORI’s intentions to do more funding focused on chronic pain research. […]

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On Being Grateful to Physicians Who Care

PAINS Project — Thu, 11 Jun 2015 18:41:22 +0000

by Myra Christopher, PAINS Director At the end of May, a colleague asked me if I was aware of Resolution 707 being brought to the American Medical Association’s (AMA) House of Delegates (HOD) meeting by delegates from New York State. I was not. The proposed resolution basically asked the AMA to: adopt as policy the […]

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Do Your Little Bit of Good: National Pain Strategy Comment Period Ends May 20

PAINS Project — Wed, 15 Apr 2015 17:04:28 +0000

by Myra Christopher – Published by The Center of Practical Bioethics 2.2 Create a comprehensive population health-level strategy for pain…. (Complete before the end of 2012) In June 2011, those of us who served on the Institute of Medicine’s committee that published Relieving Pain in America sent our report to Congress. It included sixteen recommendations […]

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Michael Botticelli Confirmed as Nation’s Drug Czar

PAINS Project — Wed, 11 Feb 2015 14:12:01 +0000

by Myra Christopher, PAINS Director This week, the Senate unanimously approved Michael Botticelli as Director of the Office for National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) or the U.S. Drug Czar, a position he had held in an interim capacity since last March. Prior to that he has served as Deputy Director at ONDCP. In 1988, Botticelli […]

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