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University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) will host the third International Conference of the Society for Interdisciplinary Placebo Studies (SIPS), “Harnessing Placebo Mechanisms for Optimal Pain Management and Treatment of Alcohol and Other Drug Use Disorders," virtually, May 26-28. The cost to attend is $15 for UMB affiliated faculty, staff, and students.
Expert faculty from UMB's Schools of Medicine, Nursing, and Pharmacy have collaborated with SIPS to design an interdisciplinary, international scientific conference to advance the science of placebo research and mind-body mechanisms and to apply this knowledge to alcohol use and pain disorders.
The conference will provide a collaborative platform to present and share innovative research findings and theoretical ideas on placebo research to an international audience of researchers; promote training and education of trainees, academic junior researchers, health care professionals, agencies, stakeholders, and the public; and advocate for the participation of minorities and women while expanding U.S. research in the global network of placebo research.
The program will include:
- Seven plenary sessions
- Three special sessions on COVID-19, placebo methodology, and virtual reality
- Over 20 workshops
- Peer-reviewed short oral presentations
- Peer-reviewed poster sessions
- Networking forums
Continuing education (CE) credit will be available for physicians, nurses, and pharmacists.
Funding available, please contact the 2021 SIPS Planning Committee if you need financial assistance in order to participate.
Special Session 3: Virtual Reality (VR) Blitz
“We have reached an inflection point where the technology is cheap enough, its quality good enough, and the science voluminous enough to think seriously about leveraging VR to improve human health at scale.” From: Brennan Spiegel’s book “How Virtual Therapeutics will Revolutionize Medicine” (Page 6). The public perception of VR introduction in health care settings is positive and policymakers advocate for insurance coverage of VR-based tools as interventions to ease clinical pain. As of March 3, 2021, Amazon website lists several accessible “virtual reality headsets for pain relief” that pain patients can access. Promising inroads have been made with VR-based technology to improve recovery from drug addiction. This special session will feature video presentations from patients, researchers, and stakeholders in pain and addiction fields.
Presentations:
- Managing chronic pain with Virtual Reality — a patient’s perspective. Saira Yousaf, TMD patient, University of Maryland
- Virtual Reality improves pain outcomes: Physiological mechanisms and clinical implications. Yang Wang, PhD, University of Maryland School of Nursing
- Virtual embodiment training and coaching for patients with chronic Pain. Kris Beebe, MS, MPT, physical therapist, Karuna Labs
- The development of VR Art and Music Immersive Experiences for pain distraction. William Latham and Lance Putnam, Computing + DC Labs. Goldsmiths (University of London) www.mutatorvr.com
- Communicate Health: A Virtual Reality training tool for optimizing expectancy effects in patient-provider interaction. Janine Westendorp, Kaya J. Peerdeman, Liesbeth M. van Vliet, and Andrea W.M. Evers. Leiden University, Department of Health, Medical and Neuropsychology
- Immersive Virtual Reality in musculoskeletal physiotherapy. Marco Testa, PT, PhD, Department of Neuroscience, Rehabilitation, Ophthalmology, Genetic, Maternal and Child Science — University of Genova, Campus of Savona — Italy
- Analysis of recent and ongoing clinical research deploying Virtual Reality applications to treat pain and addiction. Denise Silber, MBA, CEO of VRforHealth
- Virtual Reality applications to chronic pain: Theoretical challenges and future directions. Zina Trost, PhD, Virginia Commonwealth University, Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation
Panelists: Presenters of the above sessions will participate in a livestreamed panel discussion and a Q&A session.
Moderator: Chamindi Seneviratne, MD, assistant professor, University of Maryland School of Medicine