2012 Wilbert E. Fordyce Clinical Investigator Award

Jennifer Haythornthwaite, PhD

Jennifer A. Haythornthwaite is professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and director of the Center for Mind-Body Research at Johns Hopkins University in the School of Medicine. She received her PhD in clinical psychology from the State University of New York at Stony Brook and completed a clinical internship at VA Medical Center West Haven in Connecticut and a research fellowship at the National Institute on Aging. She is a past recipient of a midcareer investigator award (K24) from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke and she currently serves with Dr. Gayle Page as codirector of a T32 training grant for postdoctoral training in pain research. Dr. Haythornthwaite’s scientific contributions have focused on the study of psychosocial aspects of pain, particularly the impact of negative emotions and pain-coping strategies on pain and pain-related disability. Her early work focused on the utility of behavioral diaries to assess pain and sleep and the impact of depressive symptoms on pain and pain-related disability. Her recent work has examined the impact of negative emotions and pain-coping strategies on neuropathic pain. Her projects now focus on developing innovative treatments for reducing catastrophizing and investigating biobehavioral factors that increase risk for persistent pain.

The Wilbert E. Fordyce Clinical Investigator Award and Lecture was established in 1995 to recognize and honor career achievement in clinical research on pain. The award has been named for Wilbert E. Fordyce, PhD, the first recipient of this honor.