Garland Lab
Principal Investigator: Eric Lee Garland
Institution: University of California San Diego (La Jolla, CA)
Primary Subfield: Neuroscience
Recruitment Status: Inquire for rotation/fellowship opportunities
Research Focus
Patients with chronic pain are commonly treated with long-term opioid therapy (LTOT) despite risk of opioid-related harms including increased pain sensitivity, opioid misuse, overdose, and opioid use disorder (OUD). The risks of LTOT may outweigh its benefit for some patients. For instance, approximately 25% of individuals receiving LTOT for pain engage in opioid misusing behaviors such as unauthorized dose escalation or using opioids to alleviate negative emotions. Because opioid misuse confers risks for a range of other opioid-related harms, patients showing signs of opioid misuse need safe, flexible patient-centered opioid tapering approaches to reduce these risks. Patient-centered opioid tapering may be facilitated by adjunctive behavioral interventions. However, due to the complexity of the pathogenic mechanisms fueling the downward spiral from chronic pain to opioid misuse and OUD, few interventions have been shown to be efficacious in facilitating opioid tapering and safely reducing opioid-related harms among people with LTOT. Extant therapies may have limited efficacy because they fail to directly remediate dysregulation of brain reward systems underpinning this downward sp…
Active NIH Awards
- 4R01DA058621-03: Optimizing Patient-Centered Opioid Tapering with Mindfulness-Oriented Recovery Enhancement (2026)
- 5R01AT011772-06: Analgesic and Opioid Sparing Brain Mechanisms of Mindfulness-Oriented Recovery Enhancement for Chronic Low Back Pain (2026)
- 5R01AT011772-05: Analgesic and Opioid Sparing Brain Mechanisms of Mindfulness-Oriented Recovery Enhancement for Chronic Low Back Pain (2025)
- 7R01AT011772-04: Analgesic and Opioid Sparing Brain Mechanisms of Mindfulness-Oriented Recovery Enhancement for Chronic Low Back Pain (2024)
- 7UG3DA062106-02: Targeting Treatment-Resistant OUD with Ketamine-Assisted Mindfulness-Oriented Recovery Enhancement (2024)
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