Laurence A. Bradley
Professor
University of Alabama at Birmingham
USA
Biography
I have established a very strong research program over the past 40 years concerning the interplay between biological and behavioral factors that influence persistent pain in persons with rheumatologic illnesses. The overall goal of this work, continuously supported by the National Institutes of Health since 1989, is to use clinical and basic science methods to enhance our understanding of individual differences in persistent pain and lead to improved management of pain and related health outcomes. For example, during the past 6 years, our collaboration with colleagues at the University of Florida has documented reliable differences between African American and non-Hispanic white persons with knee osteoarthritis (OA) in response to noxious heat, pressure, and cold stimuli. We and our colleagues have begun to examine how psychosocial and biologic variables (e.g., sleep disturbance, imaging of brain structure and function, pain biomarkers) contribute to ethnic variations in knee OA pain at baseline and change in these variables and pain during a 2-year follow-up period. We anticipate our work will lead to substantial new findings and better understanding of individual differences in pain among persons with knee OA.
Research Interest
His research interests are rheumatologic illnesses, knee osteoarthritis, sleep disturbance, imaging of brain structure and function, pain biomarkers.