Dundee Researcher Awarded Honorary Life Membership to Prestigious Pain Management Study Group

University of Dundee School of Medicine clinical professor, Professor Blair Smith, has been awarded an Honorary Life Membership of the Neuropathic Pain Group (NeuPSIG).

NeuPSIG is a prestigious special interest group within the International Association for the Study of Pain. The NeuPSIG group notes that they only bestow such an accolade on members who have demonstrated exceptional dedication and leadership towards advancing neuropathic pain research.

Professor Smith was recognised with the group’s highest honour due to his long-term commitment and contributions to the organisation, which were celebrated at their annual symposium. The Dundee-based researcher served on the NeuPSIG Management Committee, ultimately as its chair (2016-2018), and helped lead some of the most significant international initiatives that continue to inform the assessment and management of neuropathic pain.

Due to transport issues, Prof Smith was unable to receive the award in person. However, Dundee School of Medicine colleague Professor Lesley Colvin was present at the symposium. Professor Colvin safely brought the trophy back to Dundee, where an internal ceremony was held with fellow chronic pain research colleagues.

Professor Blair Smith said, “If you had told me, 20 years ago, that I would be presented with this award, I would not have believed you. It’s truly an honour to be included in the same list as some of the clinical academics I have always admired most.

“When I started working in the field of neuropathic pain, the people who were leading NeuPSIG were my heroes. As I became involved in NeuPSIG myself, it was like working with my heroes, and I enjoyed a very fulfilling international component of my career, doing work I knew was very valuable.

“In Dundee, we continue to conduct and publish high-profile research on the epidemiology and management of neuropathic (and other chronic) pain, and to collaborate with leading centres around the world. In the Chronic Pain Research Group, Professor Lesley Colvin and I are proud to have a multidisciplinary team of experts around us who are taking the work I began to places I could never have imagined.”