The Pain Relief Foundation started the Annual Lecture as a Millennium project. Each year an eminent pain physician or scientist is invited to lecture on a topic currently of interest, in pain research or management. The lecture is given each year in honour of a person who contributed much to the field of pain treatment or research during his or her career. A short presentation about their life and work is given before the lecture by a fellow academic or clinician.

The inaugural lecture was given by Russell Portenoy in the year 2000.

Continuing with the theme of Annual Lectures in which we explore all aspects of chronic pain, the 2025 Lecture “Lost in translation: Enhancing quality of research to improve its use. Clinicians really need to know how dodgy basic science data are as a cause of translation failure” will be presented by Professor Andrew Rice who is a clinical academic who for more than 35 years has been intrigued by the conundrum of neuropathic pain. He is Professor of Pain Research at Imperial College and President of the International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP) (www.iasp-pain.org). Andrew qualified in Medicine from St. Mary’s Hospital Medical School and gained his research doctorate at St. Thomas’ Hospital Medical School (Sherrington School of Physiology). After, specialist training at St Thomas’ and in Oxford, he joined Imperial College in 1995 and established the interdisciplinary Pain Research Group, which he continues to lead. In addition to clinical trials, much of Andrew’s early research was conducted in a laboratory setting, in particular elucidating cannabinoid analgesia, investigating viral neuropathies. His current research embraces pre-clinical and clinical aspects – spanning preclinical evidence and methodological rigour, through “deep phenotyping” of patients onto clinical trials and evidence synthesis. The emphasis is on neuropathic pain in the context of infectious disease (HIV, Herpes Zoster, leprosy and HTLV-1), diabetic neuropathy, non-freezing cold injury and conflict related postamputation pain.

Prior to election to the Presidency, Andrew served in a number of IASP leadership roles, including: Councillor, liaison to South-East and South Asian Federations, Chair of the Scientific Programme Committee for the 18th World Congress on Pain and of the Presidential Task Force on Cannabinoid Analgesia. He also held leadership positions in the IASP Special Interest Group on Neuropathic Pain (NeuPSIG).

Until stepping down in 2024 to make space for the IASP Presidency, Andrew sat on the MHRA Neurology, Pain & Psychiatry Expert Advisory Group and the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (Varicella/Herpes Zoster sub-committee). He still participates in the Non-Freezing Cold Injury Independent Senior Advisory Committee. Andrew has been privileged to receive multiple awards including Imperial College’s Lifetime Achievement Award for Excellence in Animal Research, the Patrick Wall Lecturer at the British Pain Society and at the Faculty of Pain Medicine and was Michael Cousins lecturer at the Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists.

The lecture will take place on Thursday 12th June 2025 and will commence at 6.00pm. Click here to see the full announcement.  Refreshments will be served from 5.30pm. This Lecture will honour the life and work of Professor Ulf Lindblom

The Lecture will again be hybrid but we would love as many of you as possible to attend in person for all the speakers

Click here to register