Message from the Scientific Director

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, author of The Little Prince, once said, “A rock pile ceases to be a rock pile the moment a single man contemplates it, bearing within him the image of a cathedral.” It is inspiration that leads to innovation. It is about changing the way we see the challenges before us - seeing things from a new perspective - and pushing the boundaries of what we know. This is especially true of science and health research.

Innovation, in our context, extends beyond the laboratory and clinical settings. It encompasses the integration of technology, the exploration of novel therapies and the cultivation of a holistic understanding of pain and its impacts on individuals and society. It also involves changing the way we do research - from the first inkling of an idea, right through to the publication of the first paper. The last decade has seen a shift to better incorporate people with lived experience (those living with the conditions we are studying) into the research process and doing so in meaningful ways, as opposed to mere tokenism.

The Institute and National Pain Centre pride themselves on continuing to seek out new ways to bring innovation to pain research. We recognize that innovation must be a two-way street, and we actively engage with patients, caregivers and community organizations to ensure that our research aligns with the realworld needs of those living with chronic pain. Among other things, this includes the Canadian Pain Care Forum, where patient advocacy groups engage with members of industry, government, clinicians and researchers, to providing expert opinions on initiatives like the revision of the Canadian Guideline for Opioid Use in Non-Cancer Pain and assisting with knowledge translation efforts of Institute and National Pain Centreproduced documents to ensure they are both relevant and readable for a patient-audience.

In research, even when best practice change or a research project doesn’t quite yield the results we were looking for, it doesn’t necessarily mean that we were wrong or that we wasted time; it just means we now have more information to guide us along a path to become increasingly right.