Pain, the Opioid Epidemic, and Depression - Hardcover

by Jeffrey F. Scherrer (Editor), Jane C. Ballantyne (Editor)

Author Biography

Jeffrey F. Scherrer received his doctoral degree in health services research. He began his academic career at Washington University in St. Louis focusing on twin studies of substance use disorder and comorbid mental illness. He transferred to Saint Louis University in 2013 and has since devoted considerable time to researching mental and psychosocial outcomes following long-term prescription opioid use. His approach is grounded in observational cohort studies using both retrospective medical record and medical claims data and prospective cohort designs to better understand the inter-relationships between pain, prescription opioid use and misuse and psychiatric disorders.

Jane C. Ballantyne trained in medicine and anaesthesia in the UK before moving to Boston, MA in 1990. She became Chief of the Division of Pain Medicine in the Massachusetts General Hospital in 1999. She moved to the University of Washington in 2011 as Professor of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine. She has editorial roles in several leading journals and textbooks and is a widely published author. She was an early advocate for restraint in opioid prescribing for chronic pain, and has continued to focus her teaching and research on the clinical implications of evolving opioid science.