Luana Colloca, MD, PhD, MS

• Professor
  Pain and Translational Symptom Science
• Director, Placebo Beyond Opinions Center
  Pain and Translational Symptom Science

Location:

Room 733, School of Nursing Building

Phone:

410-706-8244

Email:

Personal Website

• MD, Neurophysiology, University Magna Graecia of Catanzaro School of Medicine
• PhD, University of Turin Medical School
• MS, Master in Bioethics, University of Turin

• Title:

  Chronic orofacial pain: genetics, cognitive-emotional factors, and endogenous modulatory systems

  Sponsoring Organization:

  NIH/NIDCR

  Role:

  Principal

• Title:

  R13AA028424 - 3rd International conference of The Society for Interdisciplinary Placebo StudiesSIPS - Harnessing placebo mechanisms for optimal pain management and treatment of alcohol and other drug use disorders

  Sponsoring Organization:

  NATIONAL INSTITUTE ON ALCOHOL ABUSE AND ALCOHOLISM (NIAAA)

  Role:

  Co-Principal

• Title:

  R01AT010333-Neural correlates of hypoalgesia driven by observation

  Sponsoring Organization:

  National Center for Complementary & Integrative Health (NCCIH) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH)

  Role:

  Principal

• Title:

  R01AT011347 - Neural Mechanisms of Immersive Virtual Reality in Chronic Pain

  Sponsoring Organization:

  NIH

  Role:

  Principal

• Date:

  2022 - 2024

  Title:

  Award

  Sponsoring Organization:

  MPower the State

  Role:

• Dr. Luana Colloca has conducted pioneering ground-breaking studies that have advanced scientific understanding of the psychoneurobiological bases of endogenous systems for pain modulation in humans. As a result, Dr. Colloca has developed an international reputation as a leading scientist for advancing knowledge of the neurobiological mechanisms of placebo and nocebo effects with an multifaced approach including psychopharmacological, neurobiological and behavioral approaches. Her research has been published in top-ranked international journals including Biological Psychiatry, Pain, JAMA, NEJM and Lancet Neurology. The impact of her innovative work is clear from her impressive citation rate and more than 230 invited lectures. Her research has been also featured on The National Geographic, The New Scientist, Washington Post, Science daily, Boston Globe, The New Yorker Time, Nature, The Guardian, The Wall Street Journal, News and World Reports, COSMOS (Australia), The Australian, and USA Today. Dr. Colloca has been honored with prestigious awards such as the the Dubner Award and Patrick Wall International Award from the International Association for Study of Pain (IASP). She serves on leadership roles internationally within the IASP (Chair of the PAIN and PLACEBO SIG) and the Society for Interdisciplinary Placebo Studies (SIPS, Treasurer) and locally as the CTSA TL1 Program Director at the University of Maryland. She is also a Section Editor for PAIN and PAIN Reports journals.

• Colloca, L. (2019, January (1st Quarter/Winter) 6). The Placebo Effect in Pain Therapies.. Annual review of pharmacology and toxicology, 59, 191-211. doi:10.1146/annurev-pharmtox-010818-021542
• Honzel, E., Murthi, S., Brawn-Cinani, B., Colloca, G., Kier, C., Varshney, A., et al (2019, February 25). Virtual Reality, Music and Pain: developing the premise for an interdisciplinary approach to pain management.. Pain. doi:10.1097/j.pain.0000000000001539
• Pattullo, G. G. & Colloca, L. (2019, June 1). The opioid epidemic: could enhancing placebo effects be part of the solution?. British journal of anaesthesia, 122 (6), e209-e210. doi:10.1016/j.bja.2018.11.027
• Colloca, L., Wang, Y., Martinez, P. E., Christy Chang, Y. P., Ryan, K. A., Hodgkinson, C., et al (2019, May 6). OPRM1 rs1799971 - COMT rs4680 - FAAH rs324420 genes interact with placebo procedures to induce hypoalgesia.. Pain. doi:10.1097/j.pain.0000000000001578
• Colloca, L. & Howick, J. (2018, January (1st Quarter/Winter) 1). Placebos Without Deception: Outcomes, Mechanisms, and Ethics.. International review of neurobiology, 138, 219-240. doi:10.1016/bs.irn.2018.01.005
• Colloca, L., Ludman, T., Bouhassira, D., Baron, R., Dickenson, A. H., Yarnitsky, D., et al (2017, February 16). Neuropathic pain.. Nature reviews. Disease primers, 3, 17002. doi:10.1038/nrdp.2017.2
• Colloca, L. (2017, October (4th Quarter/Autumn) 6). Nocebo effects can make you feel pain.. Science (New York, N.Y.), 358 (6359), 44. doi:10.1126/science.aap8488
• Colloca, L., Pine, D. S., Ernst, M., Miller, F. G. & Grillon, C. (2016, May 15). Vasopressin Boosts Placebo Analgesic Effects in Women: A Randomized Trial.. Biological psychiatry, 79 (10), 794-802. doi:10.1016/j.biopsych.2015.07.019
• Colloca, L. & Finniss, D. (2012, February 8). Nocebo effects, patient-clinician communication, and therapeutic outcomes.. JAMA, 307 (6), 567-8. doi:10.1001/jama.2012.115
• Colloca, L. & Barsky, A. J. (2020, February 6). Placebo and Nocebo Effects.. The New England journal of medicine, 382 (6), 554-561. doi:10.1056/NEJMra1907805

See a full list of published work.

• Year:

  2018

  Title:

  Are placebos the solution? Tackling the opioid epidemic in the next few decades - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPtKdtF05s8

  Conference/Meeting Name:

  TEDx talk University of Maryland

  Sponsoring Organization:

  University of Maryland School of Medicine and School of Nursing

  Location:

  Baltimore United States

• Year:

  2020

  Title:

  Interview with Sheilah Kast for WYPR Radio - https://www.wypr.org/post/your-brain-pain

• Acute experimental pain; Brain mapping; Clinical and experimental; Chronic pain; Phenotypes of placebo responders; Placebo effects; Nocebo effects; Pain modulation mechanisms; Temporomandibular Disorders; Virtual Reality mechanisms.

• Pain mechanisms and Pain management.

• Name:

  Patrick Wall International Award

  Sponsoring organization:

  International Association for Study of Pain

  Date:

  September 2016

• Name:

  Stephen Milan Award

  Sponsoring organization:

  Temporomandibular Joint Ankylosis (TMJA)

  Date:

  September 2016

• Name:

  Award for Neuroscientist

  Sponsoring organization:

  PsychoNeuroImmunology Research Society (PNIRS)

  Date:

  2006

• Name:

  Award for Young Neuroscientist

  Sponsoring organization:

  American Psychosomatic Society (APS)

  Date:

  June 2006

• Name:

  Dubner International Research Prize

  Sponsoring organization:

  International Association for Study of Pain (IASP)

  Date:

  May 2008

• Name:

  Young Scientist Award

  Sponsoring organization:

  European Federation of IASP Chapter (EFIC)

  Date:

  2009

• Name:

  Clinical Center High Performance Award

  Sponsoring organization:

  NIH

  Date:

  2010

• Name:

  Gold medal for research

  Sponsoring organization:

  Italian Sport Federation (FCI)

  Date:

  December 2010

• Name:

  Toekenningsbrief

  Sponsoring organization:

  Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie Van Wetenschappen (KNAW)

  Date:

  2018

• Name:

  Distinguished Scholarship Award

  Sponsoring organization:

  University of Maryland School of Nursing

  Date:

  2017

University

• Organization:

  CTSA TL1 Pre- and Postdoctoral Training Program

  Role:

  Director

• Date:

  2015 - Current

  Organization:

  GIPLS - PhD program

  Role:

  Examiner as a Faculty

• Date:

  2017 - Current

  Organization:

  PhD Curriculum Committee

  Role:

  Board Member

• Date:

  2017 - Current

  Organization:

  Institutional Review Board - University of Maryland

  Role:

  Voting IRB Member

• Date:

  2018 - 2018

  Organization:

  Committee for faculty position

  Role:

  Chair Search Committee

Professional

• Organization:

  Special Interest Groups - IASP

  Role:

  President

• Date:

  2016 - Current

  Organization:

  PAIN

  Role:

  Associate Editor

• Date:

  2014 - Current

  Organization:

  Society for Interdisciplinary Placebo Studies (SIPS)

  Role:

  Board of Directors