Dr. Gunisha Kaur is the recipient of a K23 Mentored Patient-Oriented Research Career Development Award from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for her proposal "Chronic Pain Diagnosis and Treatment in Torture Survivors."
The five-year, $975,000 NIH grant supports Kaur's research that aims to improve the diagnosis and treatment of chronic pain in torture survivors through a multi-institutional study with refugees. The findings of the study will inform subsequent studies into treatment outcomes.
"Pain is really debilitating, especially when you overlap it on psychological trauma," explains Dr. Kaur. The grant "not only allows us to explore the issue of real, physical pain, but it also allows us to start designing treatment options."
Dr. Kaur, an assistant professor of anesthesiology, is director of the Department of Anesthesiology's Global Health Initiative, and co-medical director of Weill Cornell Medicine's Center for Human Rights (WCCHR).