Frank Porreca, PhD

Frank Porreca, PhD, is a professor in the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Tucson and research director for the Comprehensive Center for Pain & Addiction. He leads the National Institute of Health-funded Center of Excellence for Addiction Studies, which is designed to improve addiction research with a goal of developing therapies that can stem the opioid epidemic and impact other substance abuse disorders.

Dr. Porreca’s research focuses on understanding circuits and mechanisms promoting chronic pain and addiction. He has explored the impact of pain on motivation and reward as a basis for enhancing translation. Several themes have been emphasized including: (a) the role of descending modulatory circuits in chronic pain states; (b) the mechanisms by which opioids and stress engage these circuits; and (c) the discovery of molecules that can modulate these circuits through novel mechanisms. His recent work has focused on sexually dimorphic mechanisms of pain.

He has authored approximately 500 peer-reviewed articles addressing mechanisms of opioids and pain, is one of the 10 most-cited pharmacologists in the world by the American Society of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, and is a “Highly Cited” investigator by PubMed. Dr. Porreca sits on scientific advisory boards of more than 10 biotechnology companies. Among his awards and recognition, Dr. Porreca was the recipient of the Ronald Melzack Award from the International Association for the Study of Pain, the F.W. Kerr Award from the American Pain Society, and the P.D. Wall Award from the British Pain Society.