Dr. Inturrisi to Serve on Institute of Medicine Pain Committee

Dr. Charles E. Inturrisi, professor of pharmacology at Weill Cornell Medical College, has been appointed to the Institute of Medicine's Committee on Advancing Pain Research, Care and Education. Over the next six months, the committee will meet to discuss the barriers that prevent patients from receiving appropriate pain care and strategies to overcome those barriers; as well as groups, including older adults, that may be disparately undertreated for pain. The committee was put together as part of the National Pain Care Policy Act, which was incorporated into the health care reform bill. The committee will meet in both public and private sessions over the next six months, with a final report due to Congress in July 2011. Dr. Inturrisi is also a past president of the American Pain Society.