HealthyWomen's Chronic Pain Summit

This two-day event was HealthyWomen's first science, innovation and technology summit. We set out to advance and amplify current dialogues on the impact of chronic pain on women's health–while also addressing the current knowledge gaps and existing challenges in treating and managing chronic pain in women.

All attendees left the summit feeling informed and inspired by the presentations, conversations and collaborative ideas. Speakers shared innovative research, tools and resources, and of course, personal stories from both a clinical and patient perspective. Women living with chronic pain shared their real stories, including challenges they faced along their journeys. Having all stakeholders–researchers, clinicians, patient advocates, and industry–in one room helped move the needle on advances in diagnosing, managing and treating women with chronic pain.

Read the full report of the Chronic Pain in Women Summit

Watch the presentations.

Media and Partner Coverage

Practical Pain Management features meeting highlights from our Summit, including a series of articles focused on topics from our event speakers and a guest post from HealthyWomen CEO Beth Battaglino, RN.

FierceHealthcare highlights the Summit, includes results from our chronic pain survey, and features comments from Kim Templeton, M.D., professor of orthopedic surgery at the University of Kansas Medical Center in Kansas City, and featured speaker at the Summit in July.

The U.S. Pain Foundation features a summary on the Summit, including remarks from U.S. Pain's National Director of Policy and Advocacy Cindy Steinberg, who was a featured speaker at the Summit.

See below for more information and relevant content:

• Click here to view the full agenda for the Chronic Pain Summit
• Click here to view Dr. Mary Driscoll's presentation, Integrating Perspectives to Optimize Pain Care for Women, delivered to HealthyWomen's Corporate Advisory Council
• Click here to read the Executive Summary of HealthyWomen's Chronic Pain Survey
• Click here to read HealthyWomen's Articles about Chronic Pain
• Click here to view the 2019 Pain Awareness Toolkit from the American Chronic Pain Association

Are you interested in sharing your chronic pain story with us and having it featured in our Real Women, Real Stories platform? Email us here.

Our summit featured several experts, including:
Jeff Mogil, PhD, Professor of Psychology, McGill University
Roger Fillingim, PhD, Distinguished Professor, University of Florida
Anita Gupta, DO, PharmD, MPP, Professor, Rowan University School of Medicine & Senior Vice President, Heron Therapeutics
Srinivas Raja, MD, Director of Pain Research, Johns Hopkins Pain Treatment Center
Carmen Green, MD, Professor, Anesthesiology, OB-GYN & Health Management and Policy, University of Michigan

Patient voices at the Summit included:
Penney Cowan, Founder & CEO, American Chronic Pain Association
Cynthia Toussaint, Co-founder, For Grace
Kate Nicholson, Civil Rights Speaker and Writer
Jenni Grover, Founder & Author, ChronicBabe

Thank You to Our Sponsors

A special thanks to the members of our planning committee in assisting us with the program.

Valerie Bruemmer, MD, Clinical Research Physician, Eli Lilly and Company
Penney Cowan, Founder & CEO, American Chronic Pain Association
Jenni Grover, Patient advocate and author, ChronicBabe.com
Monica Mallampalli, PhD, Advisor, Scientific and Strategic Initiatives, HealthyWomen
Michael Miller, MD, Senior Policy Advisor, HealthyWomen
Kathleen Sluka, PT, PhD, FAPTA, Kate Daum Research Professor, University of Iowa
Michael Walsh, Executive Director, Alliance for Balanced Pain Managment (AfBPM)