AMOUNT OF TIME AS AN ACTIVE RESEARCHER

I was awarded my PhD 23 years ago in 1999 under the mentoring of Professors Bandler and Keay, two world renown experts in the field of pain processing. In 2000, I started a 3-year postdoctoral position in the laboratory of Professor Ronald Harper at the University of California, Los Angeles. In 2003, I returned to the University of Sydney as a NHMRC research fellow position and gained a teaching/research lectureship in the Department of Anatomy and Histology in 2005. At that time, I started the Neural Imaging laboratory which I continue to lead today.

RESEARCH OPPORTUNITIES

During my PhD, I explored the afferent and efferent projection patterns of the midbrain periaqueductal gray matter (PAG) and the role if this brainstem region in mediating physical stressors in experimental animals. During my postdoctoral position at UCLA, I explored autonomic function in humans and experimental animals using various brain imaging techniques. I returned to Australia and began a lectureship at the University of Sydney and started the Neural Imaging laboratory in 2005. Since 2005, I have been a teaching/research/governance academic and spend at least 40% of my time on research related activities. My teaching and governance roles take a considerable amount of time and I spend approximately 2-3 days a week conducting research.

I received a considerable amount of mentoring during my PhD and postdoc and also during the earlier stages of my lectureship. This mentoring included direct mentoring from senior professors within the Department of Anatomy and Histology as well as from senior clinicians an academics in the school. For 10 years I was co-chair of the Graduate Medical and Dental Programs Neurology teaching block which involved senior clinicians and academics who provided me with considerable guidance and support. I am also currently mentored by Professor Halliday, who was recently named NSW scientist of the year and has been providing me with research guidance.

I am involved in research educational leadership within the University of Sydney and am currently the Research Academic Director in the Faculty of Medicine and Health. This 0.4FT role involves mentoring all PhD and Masters students for the School of Medical Sciences, Heart Research and Centenary Institutes of which there are over 300 students. The role involves generating and implementing the strategic direction of the School and Faculty with respect to higher degree education and training. I am also a member of the Higher Degree Research examinations subcommittee which advises the Academic Quality Committee about resolutions, policy and procedures relating to the award of higher degrees by research and makes decisions relating to examination processes.

RESEARCH ACHIEVEMENTS AND CONTRIBUTIONS

Over the past 18 years I have been investigating pain processing circuits using brain imaging techniques and I have developed a series of brainstem specific analysis techniques and procedures that have been successful in exploring brainstem anatomy and function. My laboratory is one of a few in the world that specialises in exploring brainstem function in humans and the current proposal uses this expertise to explore brainstem circuitry underpinning pain modulation using state-of-the-art brain imaging equipment and analysis procedures.

I am a highly cited pain neurobiology researcher (>7100 citations; h-index 46; i10-index 103). My research programs have resulted in 135 published mansucripts, the vast majority (92%) describing the results from novel, data generating investigations. I am first/senior author on 68% of my research programs publications. The impact of my research relates to uncovering the brain mechanisms responsible for the perception of pain and its modulation. I have conducted to first studies to define the brainstem mechanisms responsible for pain modulation in awake humans using modern brain imaging techniques. This series of mechanistic studies have changed the current understanding of brainstem sites responsible for different forms of pain modulation in humans, the results of which were published in premier neuroscience and brain imaging journals including the Journal of Neuroscience (IF 6.2), NeuroImage (IF 6.6) and Human Brain Mapping (IF 5.0). In a recent publication, I used ultra-high field functional MRI to show that contrary to the long-held view that placebo pain reductions are mediated by the ventrolateral periaqueductal gray (PAG), it is instead mediated by the lateral PAG. This result has changed the way we think about placebo pain modulation and the underlying neurochemistry and circuitry. These results were published in J Neuroscience, the manuscript has a FWCI of 3.23 (cited 223% more than expected global average) and was highlighted by journals including Science and Nature.

My work is also the first to begin to define the brainstem circuitry responsible for conditioned pain modulation. This pain modulating effect was thought to involve brainstem regions such as the PAG, however our studies showed that it did not. We also confirmed the experimental animal data that showed that conditioned pain modulation involved an area of the dorsal medulla, the subnucleus reticularis dorsalis. This work, published in premier imaging journals NeuroImage and Human Brain Mapping, has been highly cited with FCWI’s of 3.18 and 2.64, i.e., cited more that 165% more than the expected global average) and was cited in a recent Nature article, a book and 2 patents. My research program has been cited in a total of 17 patents between 2013 and 2020, 16 of which have been granted.

In addition, in collaboration with Professor Macefield, I have explored the brain sites responsible for generating sympathetic activity in humans using concurrent fMRI and micro-neurography. We are the only group in the world conducting these studies and they have generating some high impact findings including defining brainstem sites that generate resting sympathetic drive in humans. This work, published in premier imaging journals such as NeuroImage and Human Brain Mapping, has been highly cited with FCWI’s of 2.63 and 1.42.

Global recognition for my ground-breaking research contribution is evidenced by invitations to present my work at international and national conferences including at the International Society for the Study of Pain, Human Brain Mapping, American Autonomic Society, Pain Mechanism and Therapeutics. I was also invited to give the prestigious Tess Cramond Lecture at the Australian Pain Society in 2015. I have been invited to present my research in countries around the world including the USA, UK and Europe. I have been invited to write 8 reviews articles and to contribute four book chapters.

Research Mentoring:

Since establishing my independent research laboratory in 2005, I have mentored 28 completed honours students, 14 completed PhD students (10 as the Lead supervisor), and 7 postdoctoral researchers. I am currently mentoring 3 Honours students (2 as Lead supervisor), 12 PhD students (5 as Lead supervisor) and 2 Masters students (1 as Lead supervisor) and my multidisciplinary research group consisting of 5 postdocs and 1 research assistant. The impact of my mentorship is evidenced by the fact that 5 of the PhD students I mentored were actively recruited to post-doctoral positions at Harvard Medical School, Stanford University and the University of Toronto. Further evidence of the impact of my mentorship is that I have also mentored 3 junior post-doctoral researchers, all of whom have developed independent researcher programs and have been awarded NHMRC and US department of defence funding as well a one who was awarded a prestigious Fullbright fellowship. I currently mentor 6 junior postdoctoral researchers, one of whom has recently been awarded an international headache society grant and another a NIF fellowship. One of these junior postdocs is a mentor herself being the chair of the Brain and Mind centres ECR/MCR research mentoring program.

Research Funding and leadership:

I have gained over $11.5M in competitive research funding, the majority of which I lead and am responsible for strategy, governance & project management. This is evidenced by the awarding of 6 NHMRC grants totally $6M of which I was the CIA (3 of these applications I was the sole CI). I was recently awarded a $3M NHMRC Ideas grant and a $1.85M NSW OSMR grant. The NHMRC grant involves a multidisciplinary group over 4 sites: Keay, and Vaughan (preclinical USyd), Walker and Beegs (basic science and anaesthetics UCL, Britain), Peck (clinician USyd), Alshelh (PET imaging Harvard, USA) Hutton (clinician Monash) and McGregor (pharmacology USyd). The NSW OSMR grant combines my brain imaging expertise with that of cannabinoid pharmacology (McGregor) and cellular physiology (Cairns). I established these collaborations to broaden the expertise and strengthen the research program. In addition, I was recently awarded a grant from the Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists to explore the mechanism underlying the brain circuitry underpinning pain modulation during direct spinal cord stimulation in humans.

My research leadership is also evidenced by the numerous collaborations I have forged and maintained over the past 20 years. These include a successful collaboration with Professor Keay for over 25 years and Professor Macefield for over 15 years which have led to many publications and grant successes. More recently I have developed stronger international collaborations to drive pain research as evidenec by the recent funding award by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research with two collaborators from the University of Toronto. I have also begum collaborations with the two international partner investigators in this proposal. A successful outcome would significantly strengthen these international collaborations and provide the platform for long and successful programs of research.

I have sat on various granting panels and to assess numerous applications. I reviewed grants for the ARC in 2021 and was on a NHMRC Ideas Grant review panel in 2021 and 2022. In addition, I reviewed grants for the UK Medical Research Council in 2019 and 2021, the German Research Foundation in 2022 and the Swiss National Science Foundation in 2022. In addition, I was on the grant review panel for the Margaret Ethel Jew Fund for Dementia Research in 2021 and was on the grant review panel for the Brain and Mind Centre ECR/MCR research grants in 2020 and 2021. I play a significant role in professional development in the pain sphere by giving seminars to the Australian Dental Association in 2018 and 2019, the Australasian Academy of Functional Neurology in 2019 and guest lectures at Charles Sturt University dental school 2017-2019. I was appointed an associate editor of Frontiers in Neuroscience in 2019 and have subsequently overseen the review of numerous manuscripts for the journal. I regularly review manuscripts for multiple journals including just in the past 5 years 18 reviews The Journal of Neuroscience, 13 for Human Brain Mapping, 12 for the Journal of Pain, 8 for Pain and 5 for NeuroImage. In 2018 I was awarded as one of the top 10 The Journal of Neuroscience reviewers. I regularly review PhD thesis from both Australian and International universities.

I am a member of a number of professional societies including the International Association for the Study of Pain and Society for Neuroscience (USA). I am a member of the Australian Pain Society, is a national society that brings together basic scientists, clinicians and the general public. I and all the members of my laboratory attend this meeting each year to present our current work. I addition to research I routinely give an annual lecture to high school students within the Discipline of Anatomy and Histology in which I outline some of the exciting neuroscience research fields. I am also involved in the National Brain Bee for school students and organized and ran the 2015 National Brain Bee final. Further evidence of my professional leadership is evidenced by an invitation to speak at the Mine the gap event in 2021. This interdisciplinary explored translational gaps between basic researchers and clinicians in musculoskeletal pain.

Institutional research leadership:

My research standing within the University is also evidence by the fact that I was invited to be a member of the Research Infrastructure committee that assess infrastructure applications from across the Faculty of Medicine and Health. The committee creates a roadmap for prioritisation of funding and discretionary applications for investments in research infrastructure over the next 5 years and develops strategies and processes that promote accessibility and equitable use of shared research infrastructure identified through the Roadmap process. I am also the lead for the development of imaging in the new Biomedical accelerator precinct which is a series of collaborative buildings between the University of Sydney and the local area health district. This almost $1B project will house world class human and experimental animal imaging research facilities. I was also invited to be on the Faculty’s internal grant review panel which aims to provide mentorship to forthcoming grant applicants, particularly ECR/MCR researchers.