Meet the Board of Directors
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CHITRA LALLOO (Newsletter Editor)
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Chitra Lalloo is a PhD candidate in the Medical Sciences Programme at McMaster University. Her thesis project is focused on the development and validation of a new web-based instrument for the visual self-report of pain called the Iconic Pain Assessment Tool (IPAT). The purpose of the IPAT is to allow people to easily communicate the nature of their pain (what it feels like, how much it hurts, and where it hurts) in a visual and intuitive format. Users can choose from among a collection of stylized images (“icons”) to describe the quality of their pain, such as a flame for burning pain. After assigning a rating of intensity (0-10 scale), each individual icon can be ‘dragged-and-dropped’ onto a body picture to show pain location. The IPAT facilitates the creation of time-stamped pain records, which can be used by clinicians and people in pain to monitor pain symptoms over time. Chitra is presently working to evaluate the clinical feasibility and reliability of this tool among adults and adolescents with chronic pain. Her graduate supervisor is Dr. James L. Henry (McMaster University).
Chitra’s research has received generous support from the Canadian Pain Society (Trainee Research Award), the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (Canada Graduate Scholarship), an Ontario Graduate Scholarship, and a Discovery Advancement Program grant from the Canadian Arthritis Network. She has published articles about different manifestations of chronic pain in the scientific and lay literature. Chitra aims to facilitate a forward-looking perspective for the Society in the capacity of Newsletter Editor (May 2011 to present).