Profiles

Catherine M. Cahill, Ph.D. trained as an opioid neuro-pharmacologist at Dalhousie University receiving her MSc in 1992 and her PhD in 1996. She has more than 30 years’ experience in research that focuses on understanding mechanisms of chronic pain and opioid analgesia, dependence and addiction. She was recruited to the Department of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Care at UC Irvine in 2012 from Queen’s University, where she held a Canada Research Chair in Chronic Pain. She moved to UCLA in 2017 and is a professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences. A major focus of her research is to identify and characterize the allostatic changes that occur in chronic pain states, specifically within reward circuitry. Her research has gained wide spread media attention including: Pain Research Forum, Health News, Medical News, Science magazine, F-1000, etc. Her research has been cited over 8500 times, she has an h-index of 49 and has been widely acknowledged in media, including a PBS NewsHour video and article about why we become addicted to opioids featured Dr. Cahill and a podcast that had over 8000 downloads the first day on the air: https://www.earwolf.com/person/cathrine-cahill/ Notably, her research is currently supported by a NIH P50 Center of Excellence, a NIH R01, UH3, R61, UG3 research grants, CMCR, and private foundations.

She has held multiple National and International leadership positions, including the executive committees such as the International Narcotic Research Conference, and is a member of the editorial board for British Journal of Pharmacology and Alcohol and Drug Addiction Research journals. She is a standing member for National Institutes of Health grant review committees including the Neurobiology of Pain and Itch, as well as an ad hoc reviewer for number of NIH study sections. At UCLA, she is involved in various administrative committees including the Director of the BRI Neuroscience Integrative Center on Addictions Canadian Studies Executive Council, IACUC, Faculty representative for the MCIP representative to the Legislative Assembly, member of the Member Academic Senate Committee for Academic Program Review Committee and others.

Dr. Cahill has received teaching awards from UCLA undergraduate education and outstanding mentorship awards. She is also heavily involved in community outreach including an executive member of the Los Angeles Brain Bee and Cure Addiction Now scientific committee.