Cafe Sci: The Mystery of Persistent Pain After Injury With Vivianne Tawfik, MD, PhD.

Due to public health restrictions in light of COVID-19, Café Sci is going virtual for the foreseeable future. Many of us have twisted an ankle or fallen on an outstretched arm, but, for some, a seemingly simple injury can trigger persistent redness, swelling and pain that lasts beyond the expected time for healing. In this talk, Vivianne Tawfik, MD, PhD, of the Stanford Pain Management Center will discuss complex regional pain syndrome, a mysterious form of chronic pain that arises after trauma to or surgery on a limb. Dr. Tawfik will outline what is known about this rare but likely underdiagnosed condition and highlight findings from her own laboratory that point to immune system dysregulation as one possible driver. Dr. Tawfik is a board-certified anesthesiologist and pain medicine physician who specializes in the treatment of complex chronic pain disorders including chronic post-operative pain, complex regional pain syndrome and peripheral nerve injury. Dr. Tawfik obtained her MD and PhD in neuroscience, with a focus on basic pain mechanisms, at Dartmouth Medical School. She then moved out west to join the Stanford Department of Anesthesiology, Perioperative & Pain Medicine as an anesthesiology resident in the Fellowship in Anesthesia Research and Medicine (FARM) program, of which she now serves as the director. After completion of her subspecialty fellowship training in pain medicine, Dr. Tawfik joined the faculty at Stanford and continues to research the immune contribution to persistent pain using clinically-informed basic science while also caring for patients suffering from chronic pain. This presentation will be available on SBC’s YouTube channel at a later date. Check out some of our past Café Sci presenters on our YouTube page here: youtube.com/user/stanfordbloodcenter.