Health Science Center faculty members Barbara J. Turner, M.D., MSED, MACP, and Jennifer Sharpe Potter, Ph.D., M.P.H., will be the speakers at Texas Public Radio’s Think Health Science presentation: Advances in pain management, on June 9. The 7 p.m. presentation will be in Pestana Lecture Hall on the Long campus.
Dr. Turner will address the major impact that chronic pain has in the U.S. and problems with long-term opioid pain medications, offering data from her own studies of a national insured population. She will summarize national initiatives to encourage clinicians and patients to move beyond drugs to increase the use of effective alternatives to control pain through activities like exercises, stretching, partnered massage and practicing mindfulness.
Dr. Turner is a professor of Medicine at the UT Health Science Center, a practicing general internist and the director of the ReACH Center. ReACH promotes the health of South Texas residents, especially its majority Hispanic population, by bringing together researchers from diverse disciplines and community partners to evaluate quality of care and implement appropriate models of care for optimal health outcomes.
Jennifer Sharpe Potter, Ph.D., M.P.H., will discuss two sides of the controversial pain and opioid prescription debate and share her current research on chronic pain, opioid use disorder and access to compassionate pain management.
Dr. Potter is an associate professor in the Departments of Psychiatry and Anesthesiology (pain medicine) at the UT Health Science Center. With a primary research interest in co-occurring chronic pain and substance use disorders, Dr. Potter’s current research–utilizing combined behavioral and medication-based approaches–focuses on the prevention and treatment of opioid use disorders.