Dr. Theodore Price (right), an associate professor at UT Dallas, receives the Patrick D. Wall Young Investigator Award for Basic Science from Dr. Rolf-Detlef Treede, president of the International Association for the Study of Pain.
Dr. Theodore Price recently received a young investigator award from the International Association for the Study of Pain. Price joined the faculty of the School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences as an associate professor this year.
The Patrick D. Wall Young Investigator Award for Basic Science honors young, independent researchers in the field of pain. Wall was a British neuroscientist renowned for his contributions to the understanding of the link between the brain and pain.
“IASP is the leading organization in the world in my field. To receive this recognition, named after arguably the most famous scientist to study how the brain processes pain, is really a tremendous honor,” Price said. “This is also an important validation of what my lab’s work has brought to chronic pain and that taking a huge risk to study something that most people had never heard of before was the right move to make. We have come an amazingly long way in about a decade, and I can’t wait to see what the future holds.”
Price was given the award at the World Conference on Pain in Argentina. Selected for his work using neuroscience, molecular biology and pharmacology, Price is quickly becoming a top researcher in the area of chronic pain. With more than 70 peer-reviewed publications in international journals, Price’s research is having a significant impact in the field and attracting worldwide attention.
Price and his colleagues hope to discover molecules and/or circuits that cause pain to outlive its normal physiological purpose. Such research could lead to therapeutics that will reverse, rather than only treat symptoms of, chronic pain.
“We are very proud of this wonderful recognition for Ted,” said Dr. Bert Moore, dean of BBS and Aage and Margareta Møller Distinguished Professor. “When Ted and his colleague, Greg Dussor, joined the school, they brought immediate recognition in an entirely new domain of work for our neuroscience program. They have become important contributors to a number of exciting directions of scientific inquiry and scholarly training.”
Price returned to UT Dallas after he was one of the first University undergraduates to receive a bachelor’s in neuroscience.
“Dallas is my hometown, but I think of UT Dallas as my intellectual home,” Price said. “This is where I first realized that I could contribute to the world through research, and I want to be part of the bright future for this University and this city.”