Luana Colloca and Ian Kleckner

The Placebo Beyond Opinions and SYNAPSE centers focus collaborative efforts on cutting-edge areas of nursing research.


The University of Maryland School of Nursing (UMSON) has established two new organized nursing research Centers of Excellence: the Placebo Beyond Opinions (PBO) Center and the SYNAPSE Center.

PBO, directed by Luana Colloca, MD, PhD, MS, professor at UMSON and a University of Maryland, Baltimore MPower Professor, will focus on advancing unbiased knowledge of placebo effects by promoting interdisciplinary investigation of the placebo phenomenon and nurturing a higher education placebo research program.

The SYNAPSE Center, directed by Ian Kleckner, PhD, MPH, associate professor, UMSON, will focus on addressing symptom science through neuroscientific and psychological approaches that include experimental research.

Both center directors have faculty appointments in UMSON’s Department of Pain and Translational Symptom Science.

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photos, l. to r.: Colloca and Kleckner

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