University of New England

Psychology/pharmacology Professor Glenn Stevenson receives $212,000 NIH grant for pain research

BIDDEFORD - University of New England psychology/pharmacology Professor Glenn W. Stevenson, Ph.D., was recently awarded a three-year, $212,000 federal research grant from the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases for research that could help in the development of safer and more effective treatments of chronic pain.

The National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS) is part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIAMS supports basic and clinical studies related to the rheumatic diseases and to diseases and disorders of connective tissue, bone, and skin.

Stevenson's Academic Research Enhancement Award (AREA) grant will provide support for several undergraduate students in his laboratory to explore new preclinical strategies for assessing chronic pain and the effectiveness of analgesic candidates in rodents. It is predicted that development of these models will help in the development of safer and more effective treatments for chronic pain in human and veterinary populations.

The AREA program at NIH primarily supports faculty at undergraduate institutions that are developing biomedical and behavioral meritorious research platforms, with the goals of strengthening the institution's research environment and exposing undergraduates to biomedical research.

Stevenson, who joined the UNE faculty in 2005, is an assistant professor in the Department of Psychology, where he teaches in the area of psychobiology, and research assistant professor of pharmacology in the UNE College of Osteopathic Medicine's Department of Pharmacology, where he collaborates in research with Professor Edward Bilsky, Ph.D.

(Press release posted May 17, 2007)