Jarred Younger, PhD
Instructor
Curriculum vitae available here.
Research Interests:
The focus of my research interests is on discovering mechanisms and treatments of chronic pain. Under training grants from the Arthritis Foundation and National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases, and the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), I am studying opioid systems in chronic pain patients. My approach is to investigate these difficult chronic pain problems with pharmacological, psychological, neuroimaging, physiological, and genetic perspectives. I am particularly interested in the role opioid-peptides play in complex pain disorders.
I am currently recruiting participants for my two primary studies. The first study, funded by a K99/R00 grant from NIDA, examines the neurological correlates of opioid induced hyperalgesia (OIH). OIH is an increase of pain sensitivity that people may experience when taking opioid analgesics for long periods of time. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we are characterizing individuals’ neural response to pain who have been on strong analgesics for long periods of time. We will then taper these individuals off of their medication and examine neural pain responses directly after the taper, and at a 3-month follow-up. Using this design, I hope to determine how quickly OIH resolves after an opioid taper, and what neuroplastic changes may underlie that improvement in pain tolerance.
My second project tests low dose naltrexone (LDN) for the treatment of Fibromyalgia. Individuals with Fibromyalgia experience widespread body pain, fatigue, and sleep difficulties, and a number of other symptoms. Anecdotal reports suggest that LDN may relieve the symptoms of Fibromyalgia without significant side-effects. This study is the first clinical trial of LDN in Fibromyalgia. We will be tracking daily Fibromyalgia symptoms, as well as quality of life, while participants take either placebo or LDN. We are currently recruiting individuals around the San Francisco Bay Area who have Fibromyalgia and can attend a laboratory session every two weeks for a 3-month period. Further information and recruitment criteria can be found here.
My other active projects (and major collaborators) are:
• Neuroimaging of acupuncture and expectancy on temporomandibular pain.
(Greg Goddard, DDS - UCSF)
• Basal cortisol and proinflammatory cytokine response to acute stress.
(Mike Irwin, MD – UCLA; Alex Zautra, PhD and Mary Davis, PhD – ASU)
• Effects of working memory load on chronic pain.
• Fast temporal imaging of neural pain response and dysregulations in chronic pain.
• Interoception in chronic pain.
(Jeff Borckardt, PhD – MUSC)
• Real-time fMRI feedback training of deep brain structures for treatment of chronic pain.
• Predictors of opioid induced hyperalgesia resolution following opioid taper.
(David Clark, MD, PhD – Stanford)
• Genetic predictors of acute pain response, chronic pain and analgesic response.
• Predictors of successful analgesic response to lidocaine in chronic pain patients.
(Ian Carroll, MD – Stanford)
• Gray and white matter density contrasts between pain patients and healthy controls.
• Sensory hypersensitivity in chronic pain conditions.
(Grant Benham, PhD – UTPA
• Effective connectivity mapping of the acute pain response.
• EEG correlates of hypnotic and non-hypnotic imagery.
(David Spiegel, MD - Stanford)
• Predictors of post-op success following orthopedic surgery.
(Stuart Goodman, MD – Stanford)
Contact address:
Jarred Younger, PhD
Instructor
Stanford University School of Medicine
Department of Anesthesia, Division of Pain Management
Stanford Systems Neuroscience and Pain Lab
780 Welch Rd Suite 208C
Palo Alto, CA 94304-1573
Phone: 650-724-8783
Fax: 650-725-9642
Mobile: 650-384-5697
Email:
