The Third International Conference of the Society for Interdisciplinary Placebo Studies (SIPS): Integrating Current Knowledge on Placebo Research in Pain, Alcohol Use Disorders, and Other Substances Use Disorders was held on May 26, 2021.

The Society for Interdisciplinary Placebo Studies (SIPS) held its 3rd international conference virtually at the University of Maryland, Baltimore, USA (UMB) in May 2021. SIPS was created in 2014, with the mission of promoting interdisciplinary investigation of placebo and nocebo phenomena. The conference was designed to advance placebo research and the application of mind-body mechanisms to the management of alcohol/substance use and pain disorders. Pain and alcohol/substance use disorders are inter-related conditions with large and individually variable placebo effects on disease progression and response to treatments. In double-blind clinical trials for pain and alcohol use disorders, the responses to placebos can be as large as the active treatments leading to a stagnant era for the development of new drugs. The conference provided a collaborative platform to over 480 scientists worldwide including trainees, junior faculty, and healthcare professionals to (1) present and share innovative research findings and theoretical ideas on placebo research, (2) obtain training and education, and (3) advocate for the participation of minorities and women while expanding the U.S. research in the global network of placebo research. The presentations encompassed basic, translational, and clinical research delivered in 8 plenary sessions, 21 workshops, three spotlight sessions on timely topics. 

2021 SIPS Conference Sessions

View recordings of featured sessions from the SIPS 2021 Conference. For a full list of sessions visits the conference website.

Session Speakers

Welcome Remarks and Official Opening of the Conference

Bruce E. Jarrell, MD, FACS
President, University of Maryland Baltimore

Albert Reece, MD, PhD, MBA
Executive Vice President and Dean, University of Maryland School of Medicine

Natalie D. Eddington, PhD, FAAPS, FCP
Dean, University of Maryland School of Pharmacy

Jane M. Kirschling, PhD, RN, FAAN
Dean, University of Maryland School of Nursing

John Kelley, PhD
President, Society for Interdisciplinary Placebo Studies (SIPS)

Placebo Therapy Memories: Influences on Writing the Book 50 Years Ago

Presenter:  Jefferson M. Fish, PhD
Professor Emeritus, St. John's University, New York, USA

Introduction by Irving Kirsch, PhD
Associate Director, Program in Placebo Studies, Harvard Medical School, Professor Emeritus of Psychology: University of Connecticut, USA and University of Hull, UK

How Placebo Research Informs Healing

 

Presenter: Wayne B. Jonas, MD
Executive Director, Samueli Integrative Health Programs, USA

Introduction by Patricia D. Franklin, PhD, RN
Adjunct Faculty, University of Maryland School of Nursing, USA 

Prediction, Expectation, and Pain Control

Presenter:  Howard Fields, MD, PhD 
Professor Emeritus, Neurology and Physiology, University of California San Francisco, USA

Introduction by Eric Weintraub, MD 
Associate Professor and Director, Division of Addiction Research and Treatment, Department of Psychiatry, University of Maryland School of Medicine, USA 

COVID-19- society, science and health care in year two of the pandemic

 

Keynote Speaker: Leonard Calabrese, DO
Professor of Medicine, Director of the RJ Fasenmyer Centre for Clinical Immunology, Vice Chair, Department of Rheumatic and Immunologic Disease, Co-director of the Centre for Vasculitis Care and Research, Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western Reserve University, USA

Panelists:

Claire M. Fraser, PhD
Professor and Director, Institute for Genome Sciences, University of Maryland School of Medicine, USA 

Arthur Barsky, MD
Professor of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, USA

Manfred Schedlowski, PhD
Professor, Institute of Medical Psychology and Behavioral Immunobiology, University Clinic Essen, Germany

Moderator: Andrew L. Geers, PhD
Professor of Psychology, Department of Psychology, University of Toledo, USA 

Sharing online clinical notes with patients: Implications for placebo and nocebo effects

 

Presenter:  Charlotte Blease, PhD
Keane OpenNotes Scholar, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, USA

Introduction by Stephen Davis, MBBS, FRCP, FACE, MACP
Professor and Chair, Department of Medicine University of Maryland School of Medicine; Director, Institute for Clinical and Translational Research; Vice President of Clinical Translational Science, University of Maryland Baltimore, USA 

What is Good Evidence? The Placebo Effect and Research Quality

 

Keynote Speaker: Vinay Prasad, MD, MPH

Associate Professor, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of California San Francisco USA

Panelists:

David Goldman, MD, PhD 
Clinical Director, National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) USA

Wayne Jonas, MD 
Executive Director, Samueli Integrated Health Programs USA

Daniel Mullins, PhD
Director, PATIENTS Program, University of Maryland School of Pharmacy USA

Moderator: Luana Colloca, MD, PhD  
Associate Professor, UMSON; Director, CTSA TL1 Pre- and Postdoctoral Training Program University of Maryland School of Medicine, USA

 

Negative emotional state neuroadaptations in addiction and how they can become conditioned to cues and context

Presenter: George Koob, Ph.D.
Director, National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), USA

Introduction by Raye Z. Litten, PhD 
Acting Director, Division of Medications development (DMD) and the Division of Treatment and Recovery Research (DTRR), NIAAA, USA 

Special Lifetime Achievement Award Plenary Lecture: Placebos and Honesty

Speaker: Ted Kaptchuk
Professor of medicine, Global Health and Social Medicine, Harvard Medical School; Director, Harvard-wide Program in Placebo Studies, and the Therapeutic Encounter (PiPS), Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, Massachusetts, USA 

Why psychotherapy is an open-label placebo and open-label placebo is psychotherapy

 

Presenter: Jens Gaab, PhD
Full Professor, University of Basel, Switzerland

Introduction by Jason Noel, PharmD, BCPP
Associate Professor, University of Maryland School of Pharmacy (UMSOP), Baltimore, USA 

The Clinician Effect: You are the Strongest Medicine to Reduce Pain and Suffering

Presenter:  David Rakel, MD
Professor and Chair, Department of Family & Community Medicine, University of New Mexico School of Medicine, USA

Introduction by Asaf Bitton, MD, MPH
Associate professor of health care policy at the Department of Health Care Policy at Harvard Medical School, USA 

Closing Session: Award presentations and celebration

 
SIPS Local Organizing Committee  

SIPS Organizers

Luana Colloca, MD, PhD, MS
University of Maryland School of Nursing

Jason Noel, PharmD
University of Maryland School of Pharmacy

Patricia Franklin, PhD, RN
University of Maryland School of Nursing

Chamindi Seneviratne, MD
University of Maryland School of Medicine

SIPS Sponsors

National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA)

Mission: The mission of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism is to generate and disseminate fundamental knowledge about the effects of alcohol on health and well-being, and apply that knowledge to improve diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of alcohol-related problems, including alcohol use disorder, across the lifespan.

Samueli Foundation

Mission: The Samueli Foundation strives to create societal value by investing in innovative, entrepreneurial, and sustainable ideas.

Society for Interdisciplinary Placebo Studies (SIPS)

Mission: The Society for Interdisciplinary Placebo Studies (SIPS) is an international association of scholars who share the goal of understanding the placebo effect in medical treatment, psychotherapy, and complementary and alternative treatment. 

Treatment Expectation | TRR 289

Mission: The collaborative research center “Treatment Expectation” and our research methods are designed to be multidimensional, multilayered, and complex in order to find valid answers to the crucial question: How do positive and negative patient expectations affect treatment outcomes?

Frontiers in Psychiatry

Mission: The journal’s mission is to use translational approaches to improve therapeutic options for mental illness and consequently to improve patient treatment outcomes. 

SIPS Publications

Integration of virtual platforms for enhanced conference experience: Data-based evidence from the Society of Interdisciplinary Placebo Studies 2021 conference

Cornell J, Taj A, Sivinski J, Yin M, Bhatia P, Ouila D, Fatschel S, Franklin P, Noel J, Colloca L, Seneviratne C.

Front. Commun., 18 August 2022
Sec. Culture and Communication
Volume 7 - 2022 | https://doi.org/10.3389/fcomm.2022.857661

3rd International Conference of the Society for Interdisciplinary Placebo Studies (SIPS): Harnessing Placebo Mechanisms for Optimal Pain Management and Treatment of Alcohol and Other Drug Use Disorders 

Chamindi Seneviratne, Jason Noel, Patricia Franklin, Luana Collocafrom
Frontiers in Psychiatry

Harnessing Placebo Mechanisms for Optimal Pain Management and Treatment of Alcohol and Other Drug Use Disorders

Seneviratne, C., Noel, J., Franklin, P.D. & Colloca, L.
Front. Psychiatry, 2022
13:1022762.  doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2022.1022762

3rd International Conference of the Society for Interdisciplinary Placebo Studies (SIPS): Harnessing Placebo Mechanisms for Optimal Pain Management and Treatment of Alcohol and Other Drug Use Disorders

Seneviratne, C., Noel, J., Franklin, P. & Colloca, L. Eds.
Frontiers Media SA, 2021
ISBN: 978-2-88971-003-4

Harnessing placebo Research

Seneviratne, C., Noel, J., Franklin, P.D. & Colloca, L.
Psychiatry, 2022
13:1022762. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2022.1022762

Harnessing Placebo Mechanisms for Optimal Pain Management and Treatment of Alcohol and Other Drug Use Disorders. 

Seneviratne, C., Noel, J., Franklin, P.D. & Colloca, L. Eds.
Psychiatry, 2022 

Optimal Pain Management and Treatment of Alcohol and Other Drug Use Disorders. Abstract Book

Seneviratne, C., Noel, J., Franklin, P.; Colloca, L. Eds.
Frontiers Media SA, 2021 
ISBN: 978-2-88971-003-4