Pain Intervention and Digital Research Program

At the Brigham and Women’s Hospital Pain Intervention and Digital Research Program (Pain-IDR), we have a two-fold goal: firstly, to provide excellent treatment to people with chronic pain and psychiatric conditions, and secondly, to develop cutting-edge tools that leverage technology to make pain management more accessible and effective.

Conceived as a research clinic, the Pain-IDR showcases and substantiates Brigham and Women’s commitment to seamlessly integrating excellence in clinical care and innovative research. At each clinical visit, patients have separate meetings with clinical and research staff, all highly trained experts in their domains.

Clinical Work

Clinical work at the Pain-IDR is guided by a physician who is double board-certified in pain medicine and psychiatry. By bridging physical and mental health, the Pain-IDR offers patients an approach to pain management that includes:

  • An empathetic, unhurried, and rigorous pain history and physical exam
  • A collaborative approach to multi-modal pain management that combines evidence-based treatments, including:
    • Medication management
    • Rehabilitative therapy
    • Psychotherapy
    • Interventional procedures such as injections

Ongoing Research

Research at the Pain-IDR is driven by the desire to accurately measure what we believe is clinically relevant. We believe that technology—appropriately and responsibly deployed—has the potential to help us improve clinical care. Specifically, we are using technology to measure mobility, emotion, and social connectedness, factors that are related to a patient’s functional status. By remotely measuring mobility, emotion, and social connectedness, we believe we can detect and treat clinically relevant changes in function earlier and better. We hope that deepening our ability to provide remote patient care will further begin to bridge the socioeconomic divide in access to mental health and chronic pain treatments.

How to Contribute

More resources to support our work are always greatly appreciated. We are currently accepting donations. If you would like to contribute to the Center for Pain Medicine fund, please follow the link below. Any contribution you can make is greatly appreciated as we continue to provide our patients with the best care possible.

Make a Donation

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