Apkar Vania Apkarian is a professor of neuroscience

Neuroscience

Neuroscience is the scientific study of the nervous system. Traditionally, neuroscience has been seen as a branch of biology. However, it is currently an interdisciplinary science that collaborates with other fields such as chemistry, computer science, engineering, linguistics, mathematics,...

 at Northwestern University

Northwestern University

Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston and Chicago, Illinois, USA. Northwestern has eleven undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools offering 124 undergraduate degrees and 145 graduate and professional degrees....

. He has been a pioneer in the use of Magnetic resonance spectroscopy

Magnetic resonance

Magnetic resonance can mean:*Nuclear magnetic resonance*Electron spin resonance*Magnetic resonance imaging *Functional magnetic resonance imaging *Muon spin spectroscopy...

 to study the neurochemistry

Neurochemistry

Neurochemistry is the specific study of neurochemicals, which include neurotransmitters and other molecules such as neuro-active drugs that influence neuron function. This principle closely examines the manner in which these neurochemicals influence the network of neural operation...

 of the brain. Dr.Apkarian has a masters degree in electrical engineering

Electrical engineering

Electrical engineering is a field of engineering that generally deals with the study and application of electricity, electronics and electromagnetism. The field first became an identifiable occupation in the late nineteenth century after commercialization of the electric telegraph and electrical...

 from the University of Southern California

University of Southern California

The University of Southern California is a private, not-for-profit, nonsectarian, research university located in Los Angeles, California, United States. USC was founded in 1880, making it California's oldest private research university...

 and earned a Ph.D.

Ph.D.

A Ph.D. is a Doctor of Philosophy, an academic degree.Ph.D. may also refer to:* Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*Piled Higher and Deeper, a web comic strip*PhD: Phantasy Degree, a Korean comic series* PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...

 in neuroscience from the State University of New York

State University of New York

The State University of New York, abbreviated SUNY , is a system of public institutions of higher education in New York, United States. It is the largest comprehensive system of universities, colleges, and community colleges in the United States, with a total enrollment of 465,000 students, plus...

 Health Science Center in Syracuse, New York

Syracuse, New York

Syracuse is a city in and the county seat of Onondaga County, New York, United States, the largest U.S. city with the name "Syracuse", and the fifth most populous city in the state. At the 2010 census, the city population was 145,170, and its metropolitan area had a population of 742,603...

.

Dr. Apkarian has studied pain for two decades, both in animal models and fMRI studies in humans. His current interests include cortical dynamics of pain as well as brain plasticity. His overall goal is the uncovering of brain mechanisms underlying pain

Pain

Pain is an unpleasant sensation often caused by intense or damaging stimuli such as stubbing a toe, burning a finger, putting iodine on a cut, and bumping the "funny bone."...

 qualia

Qualia

Qualia , singular "quale" , from a Latin word meaning for "what sort" or "what kind," is a term used in philosophy to refer to subjective conscious experiences as 'raw feels'. Examples of qualia are the pain of a headache, the taste of wine, the experience of taking a recreational drug, or the...

. This process should hopefully traverse through the alleviation of clinical pain conditions, as well as a more profound theoretical and mechanistic understanding of the brain.

Chronic Pain

Chronic pain is one of the biggest health problems in the world. In United States chronic pain

Chronic pain

Chronic pain has several different meanings in medicine. Traditionally, the distinction between acute and chronic pain has relied upon an arbitrary interval of time from onset; the two most commonly used markers being 3 months and 6 months since the initiation of pain, though some theorists and...

 costs the United States about $100 billion a year. As per Technology Review

Technology Review

Technology Review is a magazine published by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. It was founded in 1899 as "The Technology Review", and was re-launched without the "The" in its name on April 23, 1998 under then publisher R. Bruce Journey...

 magazine:

"A. Vania Apkarian and his colleagues at Northwestern University have found a series of abnormalities in the brains of chronic pain sufferers: the part of the prefrontal cortex linked to decision making appears to have shrunk in chronic pain patients. And another part of the prefrontal cortex linked to emotion is hyperactive. In fact, a unique study assessing background pain in chronic back-pain patients suggests that the constant pain these people experience is linked to activity almost entirely in emotion-regulating parts of the brain."

According to Dr Vania Apkarian it is important to treat pain early to prevent any permanent changes or damages to the nervous system.

Selected Media Coverage

Washington Post June 21, 2007
"'Memory Traces' May Help Spur Chronic Pain"

NY Times November 23, 2004
"Patterns: Pain and the Downsized Brain"

BBC November 23, 2004
"Pain link to permanent brain loss "

NY Times August 10, 1999
"Peering into the Brain To See Pain at Work"

Medical News: Pain Management February 6, 2008
"Chronic Pain Disrupts Resting Brain Dynamics"

Technology Review November 11, 2007
"The Brain in Chronic Pain"

Chicago Tribune July 3, 2007
"Sometimes physical pain can be traced to memory"

LA Times November 29, 2004
"Back pain linked to premature aging"

New Scientist November 27, 2004
"Does Back Pain Shrink Your Brain?"

Wissenchaft November 26, 2004
"Dauerhafte Rückenschmerzen lassen das Gehirn schrumpfen"