Newswise — Chicago, Illinois—The American Academy of Pain Medicine (AAPM) is pleased to announce Daniel B. Carr, MD as the Academy’s President-Elect. Dr. Carr assumes his new position on Saturday, March 21, 2015 at AAPM’s Annual Meeting in National Harbor, MD, where more than 1,000 scientists, physicians and key nonphysician providers convene to discuss and learn the latest in Pain Medicine.

Prior to taking office as President-Elect, Dr. Carr served as AAPM’s Vice President for Scientific Affairs. Dr. Carr is a Professor at Tufts University School of Medicine and directs its interprofessional program in Pain Research, Education and Policy. He cofounded this program—the first and still only postgraduate interprofessional pain education program based in a university department of public health and community medicine – in 1999. A clinician and investigator, he has published in pain research, evidence-based medicine and the social and political aspects of pain relief.

“I consider the President-Elect role a once-in-a-lifetime honor and opportunity,” says Dr. Carr. “I look forward to leading, guiding, learning from and most importantly, serving AAPM's members and the entire "pain community" of patients, clinicians, researchers and policy makers.”

Dr. Carr was key in developing multidisciplinary pain treatment centers and clinical pain fellowships at the Massachusetts General Hospital, Tufts-New England Medical Center and St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center, all located in Boston, and greatly values his years in basic and clinical research and patient care. His goals as AAPM's President-Elect include conveying that pain is a public health problem whose prevention and treatment should be guided by evidence and outcomes both individually and society-wide; emphasizing that access to pain control is a fundamental human right with social justice at its core; and advancing interprofessional education as a foundation for achieving those primary goals.

About AAPM The American Academy of Pain Medicine is the premier medical association for pain physicians and their treatment teams with over 2,500 members. Now in its 32nd year of service, the Academy’s mission is to optimize the health of patients in pain and eliminate pain as a major public health problem by advancing the practice and specialty of pain medicine through education, training, advocacy, and research. Information is available on the Academy’s website at www.painmed.org .

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