Chronic Pain

Dr. Laura Case is an Associate Professor in the Department of Anesthesiology at UC San Diego. She received her PhD in Psychology and Cognitive Science from UC San Diego and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH). Dr. Case’s NIH-funded research uses brain imaging, pharmacologic manipulation, and sensory and behavioral testing to evaluate neural and psychological mechanisms involved in affective touch and pain perception. She is a co-I on the Neurons_MATTR U24 grant working to nucleate the field of research on mechanisms of touch and force-based therapies. She also founded a faculty peer mentoring program for UC San Diego Health Sciences and is passionate about building scientific culture that is creative, collaborative, and caring.

Ryan Wexler, ND, MSCR, is a naturopathic physician-scientist and Assistant Professor at the Helfgott Research Institute at the National University of Natural Medicine. His research focuses on developing and evaluating multicomponent, mind-body interventions for patients with chronic pain, with particular emphasis on conditions involving nociplastic pain and central sensitization, such as chronic back pain and lumbosacral radiculopathy. Dr. Wexler uses mixed methods to examine how mind-body interventions affect physical function and psychosocial outcomes – including motivation, autonomy, and self-efficacy. His work also utilizes objective assessments including inertial measurement units, quantitative sensory testing, and actigraphy. He is particularly interested in the potential of digital health tools to increase accessibility and scalability of mind-body therapies. His research centers community and patient engagement by integrating stakeholder feedback throughout the research process from intervention development to dissemination.