Join us on the last Friday of every month!
A discussion between scientists, health professionals, educators, and pain advocates on a myriad of topics related to chronic pain. Offering a platform for innovative minds to bring forward inspiring ideas and discover solutions to help you in your practice.

National Pain Rounds
Introducing National Pain Rounds for Trainees! See the Schedule >
March
Introducing the First National Health Standard for Pediatric Pain Management
The new pediatric pain management health standard was developed in partnership between Solutions for Kids in Pain (SKIP) and the Health Standards Organization. It is the first of its kind in Canada and globally, and responds to recommendations in Health Canada’s Action Plan for Pain in Canada (March 2021). The new pediatric pain management health standard provides guidance to health organizations on quality and equitable pediatric pain management across hospital settings that provide inpatient, procedural, and/or outpatient pain management services to children from birth to 19 years less one day. This presentation and discussion will introduce attendees to the pediatric pain management health standard structure and content, its development process, and its intended impact. Speakers include health professionals, standard development experts, and people with lived experience who contributed directly to the development of the pediatric pain management standard.
National Pain Rounds Archive
National Pain Rounds and other virtual events are NOT Medical Advice. These are discussions between scientists, health professionals, educators, and pain advocates. The views, opinions, and commentary of the presenters are for information purposes only and are not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice. Always seek the advice of a licensed healthcare provider before making any changes to your healthcare regimen.
Upcoming Dates
- Fri, Oct 27Virtual EventOct 27, 12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m. EDTVirtual EventOct 27, 12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m. EDTVirtual EventTo describe the most recent data regarding neural plasticity and pain. and the pros and cons of neural plasticity in the context of chronic pain. Describing sex differences in the response of sensory neurons to stress as it relates to pain and plasticity.
- Oct 27, 1:00 p.m. – 2:30 p.m. EDTVirtualOpen to learners in the field of pain medicine, sessions will enhance medical education by promoting standardized pain management practices, fostering collaboration among those practicing pain medicine, and improving patient outcomes through evidence-based pain assessments and treatment practices.
- Fri, Nov 24Virtual EventNov 24, 12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m. ESTVirtual EventNov 24, 12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m. ESTVirtual EventA discussion between scientists, health professionals, educators, and pain advocates on a myriad of topics related to chronic pain. Offering a platform for innovative minds to bring forward inspiring ideas and discover solutions to help you in your practice.
- Nov 24, 1:00 p.m. – 2:30 p.m. ESTVirtualOpen to learners in the field of pain medicine, sessions will enhance medical education by promoting standardized pain management practices, fostering collaboration among those practicing pain medicine, and improving patient outcomes through evidence-based pain assessments and treatment practices.
- Fri, Sep 29VirtualSep 29, 1:00 p.m. – 2:30 p.m. EDTVirtualSep 29, 1:00 p.m. – 2:30 p.m. EDTVirtualOpen to learners in the field of pain medicine, sessions will enhance medical education by promoting standardized pain management practices, fostering collaboration among those practicing pain medicine, and improving patient outcomes through evidence-based pain assessments and treatment practices.
- Fri, Sep 29Virtual EventSep 29, 12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m. EDTVirtual Event
October National Pain Rounds
Plasticity in the nervous system is a critical feature that allows an organism to adapt to changes in its environment. Although once seen as a very rigid structure, the nervous system has a tremendous capacity for change. This event will highlight the dynamic nature of the peripheral nervous system and consider potential avenues for therapies that aim to prevent the transition from acute to chronic pain.

A gay man and long-term survivor living with HIV, Adrian has been the Executive Director of the AIDS Committee of Durham Region (ACDR) for the last 14 years. Adrian began working in the HIV/AIDS sector in 1989 at the Toronto People with AIDS Foundation and over time has worked at many ASOs and other social justice services. Adrian served on OACHA; the Ontario Advisory Council on HIV and AIDS to the Provincial Minister of Health for six years and serves as chair of the Ontario Cohort Study Governance Committee at the Ontario HIV Treatment network. He is a leader on HIV positive youth and medical system transition issues and facilitated the creation of the Transition Accord and HYPE Program for young PHAs transitioning from pediatric to adult HIV care.
Adrian Betts

Arkady Khoutorsky earned his Ph.D. in neurobiology from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He then completed a postdoctoral fellowship at McGill University with Dr. Sonenberg, investigating the role of protein synthesis regulation in pain. He joined McGill’s Alan Edwards Centre for Research on Pain as a faculty member in 2016. In his lab, Arkady is interested to elucidate the cellular ad molecular mechanisms underlying pathological pain using animal models.
Arkady Khoutorsky

Dr. Valerie Verge is a neuroscientist, Professor of Anatomy, Physiology and Pharmacology and Director of the Cameco MS Neuroscience Research Centre (CMSNRC) at the University of Saskatchewan. Originally from Montreal, she did her PhD at McGill with Dr. Peter Richardson and has been in SK for 32 years, since meeting the SK farmer on an airplane ride during her postdoctoral studies with Dr. Tomas Hökfelt in Stockholm, Sweden. Her longstanding federally funded (MRC, CIHR and MS Canada) research program focusses on nervous system repair with a strong emphasis on primary sensory neurons, the main interpreters of pain states. Her group has been developing strategies (electrical nerve stimulation and acute intermittent hypoxia) that they find they can beneficially stress and significantly enhance the ability of the nervous system to repair itself in both peripheral nerve injury and Multiple Sclerosis preclinical models. She is an emerita Medical Research Council of Canada (MRC) Scholar and Past President of the Canadian Association for Neuroscience. She strongly advocates for neuroscience research and has served on many national and international committees and advisory boards. She has received many distinctions, including being the 2019 SK WaMS honouree and being named by Stanford University as being in the top 2% of most highly cited scientists worldwide.
Valerie Verge
Our Dedicated Committee
Our National Pain Rounds Committee is made up of experienced healthcare professionals who strive to uphold and maintain the integrity of the Canadian Pain Society as dedicated volunteers.

Co-Chair
Dr. John Xavier Pereira
President of the Canadian Pain Society, previous President of the Pain Society of Alberta, and a Founding Co-Chair of the Alberta Pain Strategy. He is a past Ronald Melzack Fellow of the McGill Pain Center and has spoken on the topic of chronic pain both nationally and internationally, including at the Centers for Disease Control, ANZCA Auckland, Massachusetts General Hospital, and the Mayo Clinic. He represented Western Canada on the committee of physicians who wrote our country’s National Guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of fibromyalgia. Dr. John Pereira was the physician lead of FibroFOCUS, an interdisciplinary chronic pain program that won a 2016 Patient Experience Award from the Health Quality Council of Alberta. He was a member of the Canadian Pain Task Force's External Advisory Panel and a current member of Pain Canada's National Advisory Council. He has personally visited more than sixty pain clinics worldwide to learn best practices.

Co-Chair
Dr. Helena Daudt
Director of Education at Pain BC/Pain Canada. She leads Pain BC/Pain Canada’s educational initiatives including Making Sense of Pain, a self-management program designed for people living with pain, who experience marginalization and face barriers to accessing care and support. As an educator and researcher, Dr Daudt has been supporting healthcare improvement through patient engagement and knowledge exchange in different settings. She is also a person living with chronic pain and brings the lived experience lens to the work she does. Dr Daudt is passionate about building capacity among people with lived experience, their support network, and healthcare providers to ensure people receive high-quality care and experience the best quality of life possible.

Co-Chair
Dr. Bradley Kerr
Dr. Bradley Kerr received his BSc in Psychology from McGill University. He then went on to obtain a Ph.D. in Neuroscience from the University of London-King’s College in the UK. His PhD research was aimed at understanding the role of novel modulatory peptides, growth factors and pro-inflammatory cytokines in persistent pain. Dr. Kerr went on to do postdoctoral work at the California Institute of Technology and at McGill University where his work focused on studying inflammatory responses after nervous system injury. Dr. Kerr joined the Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine at the University of Alberta in 2007 and is also an adjunct professor in the Department of Pharmacology and Psychiatry. The focus of research in his lab is aimed at addressing the mechanisms of chronic pain after injury or disease with a major focus on chronic pain associated with Multiple Sclerosis.

Dr. Eugene Maida
Assistant Clinical Professor in the Departments of Medicine (Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation) with a cross appointment in the Department of Anesthesia at McMaster University. Dr. Maida is a physiatrist and interventional pain physician with a special interest in spine and musculoskeletal medicine. He completed his residency in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation and later completed subspecialty training in the Pain Medicine residency program under the Department of Anesthesia at McMaster University. He has also completed a sports medicine research fellowship at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester Minnesota, with a focus on Ultrasound Guided Musculoskeletal and Peripheral Nerve Interventions, as well as his diplomat in Sports and Exercise Medicine Physician through the Canadian Academy of Sports and Exercise Medicine (CASEM). Dr. Maida is currently the Medical Director of the Michael G. DeGroote pain clinic at McMaster University and Head of Service at Hamilton Health Sciences for Pain Behaviours for the department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. In addition to being the co-chair of National Pain Rounds for trainees, Dr. Maida is also part of the National Pain Rounds Committee.

Dr. Nader Ghasemlou
Dr. Nader Ghasemlou is an Associate Professor in the Departments of Anesthesiology and Biomedical & Molecular Sciences at Queen’s University, where he leads the Pain Chronobiology & Neuroimmunology Lab (www.ghasemloulab.ca and www.circapain.ca) and the Interdisciplinary Pain Neuroimmunology group. His research team uses a translational approach to study the intersection of neuroimmunology, pain physiology, and circadian biology. Work in the lab uses various animal models of tissue injury and disease, including multiple sclerosis, spinal cord injury, postoperative wounds, and neuropathic nerve injury to better understand the molecular, cellular, and systems responses underlying disease. The group is particularly focused on dissecting the molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying the generation and maintenance of inflammation in the central and peripheral nervous system, utilizing circadian rhythmicity as a tool to better understand how changes in the nervous and immune systems impact outcomes. All projects in the lab include bioinformatics, to identify genes/pathways regulating cell function, and patient cohort studies, providing a translational component to all projects. Nader obtained his PhD in Neuroscience at McGill University with Dr. Samuel David and completed his postdoctoral work as a CIHR Banting Fellow in pain physiology with Dr. Clifford Woolf at Harvard Medical School.

Dr. Tania Di Renna
Dr. Tania Di Renna, Associate Professor at the University of Toronto, Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, completed her medical school and Anesthesiology residency training in Ottawa. She obtained a chronic pain fellowship at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto and has spinal cord stimulation training from Montreal Neurological Institute. She is currently the Medical Director of the Toronto Academic Pain Medicine Institute (TAPMI). TAPMI is the comprehensive interdisciplinary academic pain program serving as the hub for chronic pain care in Toronto. She is also the Medical Director of the Chronic Pain Clinic at Women’s College Hospital and an Anesthesiologist at UHN. She served as the co-chair of the HQO Guidelines for Chronic Pain, is currently the co-chair of the Ontario Chronic Pain Network and Ontario Representative for Pain Canada.

Jennifer Daly-Cyr
Jennifer’s professional background is in marketing and strategic planning in higher education. Since a sudden onset of severe abdominal pain, she has been on a journey of learning to live with persistent acute episodes of pain and adapting to the dramatic changes this has brought to her daily life. She has leveraged her skills and experience to advocate, collaborate and share her perspective as a person with lived experience/patient partner/advisor with national and provincial pain research initiatives and projects, including with the Chronic Pain Network, Pain Ontario and the Canadian Pain Society. She advocates for the incorporation of the lived experience perspective into research, broadened awareness of chronic pain, improving understanding about the value of patient engagement in research and for improved access to health care and support for people living with pain.
Our Trainee Chairs
A platform for innovative minds to bring forward inspiring ideas and discover solutions to help you in your mentorship programs.
Providing educational resources for learners in efforts to prepare the next generation of pain management clinicians for the full scope of practice opportunities, from basic science research transitioning into clinical practice.

Co-Chair
Dr. Eugene Maida
Assistant Clinical Professor in the Departments of Medicine (Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation) with a cross appointment in the Department of Anesthesia at McMaster University. Dr. Maida is a physiatrist and interventional pain physician with a special interest in spine and musculoskeletal medicine. He completed his residency in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation and later completed subspecialty training in the Pain Medicine residency program under the Department of Anesthesia at McMaster University. He has also completed a sports medicine research fellowship at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester Minnesota, with a focus on Ultrasound Guided Musculoskeletal and Peripheral Nerve Interventions, as well as his diplomat in Sports and Exercise Medicine Physician through the Canadian Academy of Sports and Exercise Medicine (CASEM). Dr. Maida is currently the Medical Director of the Michael G. DeGroote pain clinic at McMaster University and Head of Service at Hamilton Health Sciences for Pain Behaviours for the department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. Dr. Maida has worked as a team physician with the McMaster University varsity soccer and football teams, Canadian Junior National Basketball Team (NEDA) and is currently the Head Team Physician for the Hamilton Tiger Cats (CFL). Dr. Maida is also actively involved in resident and medical school education. He currently serves as Section Coordinator for pain medicine teaching in the department Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation and Education Coordinator for the Pain Medicine residency program under the department of Anaesthesia. Dr. Maida is also the current Chair of the Anesthesia pain rounds, and Lecturer for undergraduate introductory pain session for McMaster University medical students. In addition to being the co-chair of National Pain Rounds for trainees, Dr. Maida is also part of the National Pain Rounds Committee.

Co-Chair
Dr. Avinash Sinha
An assistant professor in the department of anesthesia at McGill University Health Center. He was born in India, raised & educated in the United Kingdom (UK), thus his practice as a physician & clinical teacher reflects the apprenticeship style of clinical education in the UK. Subsequent to a productive Fellowship training year in Toronto [2002-3], he relocated to Montréal; awarded an academic staff [Professeur Selectionné] anesthesiologist position at McGill in 2005. Regarded as an approachable expert resource in [ultrasound guided] regional anesthesia for nurse, trainee & staff colleagues, he is responsible for successfully implementing multi-disciplinary teams for enhanced recovery programs. Actively involved in education in pain management strategies in both anesthesia and surgical residency training programs, he promotes an integrated approach to complex acute & acute on chronic pain management in a busy trauma center, leveraging the resources of both the chronic & acute pain experts. He has pursued a greater understanding of education principles, through educational certificate courses [Harvard], faculty development resources [McGill] & leadership development [PLI & McGill Executive institute] culminating in departmental leadership in Medical student supervision. Aiming to implement a modern educational paradigm, he is working to develop asynchronous learning materials to support learners, curating & developing videos & vignettes according to student defined needs. Currently he is exploring education from multiple different perspectives, through Knowledge Translation and Implementation Science in the development of inter- professional teams. To enhance learner engagement through agency & partnership, in collaboration with Teaching & Learning services at McGill & the McGill Anesthesia Interest group, he is publishing a medical student handbook.

Dwight Moulin is Professor in the Depts of Clinical Neurological Sciences and Oncology at Western University. He is also the former Earl Russell Chair of the Western Pain Program(2005 2020). He has published extensively on the role of opioid analgesics in the management of chronic pain and recently has led a series of observational studies on the long term outcome of the management of neuropathic pain. He has also done studies on medical cannabis for pain management. He chaired the Neuropathic Pain Special Interest Group of the Canadian Pain Society from 2005-2014 and led the Consensus Statement on the Pharmacological Management of Chronic Neuropathic Pain – initially published in 2007 and updated in 2014. He is a recipient of the Distinguished Career Award from the Canadian Pain Society and he is also a Founding Member of Pain Medicine as a new subspecialty of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada.
Dr. Dwight Moulin
October Pain Rounds for Trainees
Open to learners in the field of pain medicine, sessions will enhance medical education by promoting standardized pain management practices, fostering collaboration among those practicing pain medicine, and improving patient outcomes through evidence-based pain assessments and treatment practices.