Kevin Hellman, PhD

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I am an early-stage investigator conducting cutting edge research on the pathophyisiology of pain with a goal of strategically developing better diagnostic tests and therapeutics. As a graduate student trained at the laboratory of Dr. Ted Abel, the Brush Professor of Biology at the University of Pennsylvania, I have developed skills using mice to study the relationship between synaptic plasticity and sleep physiology. As a postdoctoral student with Dr. Peggy Mason at the University of Chicago, I developed additional skills in characterizing pain modulatory neurons and their role in autonomic modulation. Having risen through the ranks at U of C, my new lab location in an affiliated teaching hospital and with a different departmental identity gives me the full privilege of complete academic independence while preserving my access to critical resources and important collaborators. I have made a dramatic shift from my mentor’s area of expertise to study uterine pain upon recognizing the extent of patient suffering and the demand for additional research in this field. As a fellow scientist will appreciate, we overcame hurdles using completely new methods (e.g. fiberoptic oxygen monitoring of the uterine horn) and experimental challenges. While mice are beneficial for genetics they are difficult for physiology given their size. The mixed animal/human strategy in this proposal approach represents our lab strategy. In this short period of time, our work has generated 10 different posters at 4 international meetings. I envision a future where we can tell patients why they are suffering pain and where we can eliminate their pain through novel therapeutic approaches. Patients dislike not knowing what is wrong with them as much as they dislike their pain, and their quest for an answer places a gargantuan burden on the health care system. My lab aims to identify the pathophysiology of uterine pain and new therapeutic strategies to pave the way to a more certain and pain free future.
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