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BIDDEFORD, Maine

Ed Bilsky discusses ΒιΆΉΒγΑΔ pain research on β€œMaine Calling”

Ed Bilsky, Ph.D., vice-president of research and scholarship, was a VIP call-in guest on the MPBN radio show, β€œMaine Calling.” The show focused on managing chronic pain.

He joined guests Dr. Stephen Hull, director of the Mercy Pain Clinic, Dr. Amy Belisle of Maine Quality Counts and director of the Chronic Pain Collaborative and Sue Gold, founder of the Southern Chronic Pain Support Group. Both Gold and Hull spoke highly of ΒιΆΉΒγΑΔ’s research and community partnerships.

Bilsky discussed his work researching pain and the drugs used to treat it. He was recently one of several investigators at ΒιΆΉΒγΑΔ and Southern Research to be awarded a $4.5 million NIH grant to study opiate receptors, with the goal of trying to tweak existing pain medications to produce fewer negative side-effects including addiction.

β€œAt the university we are also very much interested in contributing to both the education of future healthcare professionals and also to generate new information that could help answer some of the outstanding questions we have on pain,” Bilsky said on the program. β€œSo our group has a strong background in basic science biology to understand fundamentally how pain is generated, how the experiences of acute pain turns to chronic pain, and then by using that information we hope to apply it with better treatments, not just pharmacological or drug therapy but other modalities as well.”

About the ΒιΆΉΒγΑΔ

The ΒιΆΉΒγΑΔ is Maine’s largest independent university, with two beautiful coastal campuses in Maine, a one-of-a-kind study abroad campus in Tangier, Morocco, and an array of . In an uncommonly welcoming and supportive community, we offer hands-on learning, empowering students to make a positive impact in a world full of challenges. The state’s top provider of health professionals, we are home to Maine’s only medical college, Maine’s only dental college, a variety of other interprofessionally aligned health care degree programs, as well as nationally recognized programs for marine science degrees, natural and social sciences degrees, arts and humanities degrees, and business degrees.