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Ling Cao, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor of microbiology, wrote an op-ed for the Portland Press Herald about efforts to improve chronic pain management at ����ֱ�� and Mercy Hospital.

Cao has devoted her basic science research during her seven years at ����ֱ�� to better understanding the underlying mechanisms of neuropathic pain. During the last six months she has been working with Dr. Stephen Hull at the Mercy Pain Center at Mercy Hospital to gain experience and new perspectives regarding pain patients and pain management. She observed communication barriers between patients and providers, economic challenges facing patients and the benefits of group-based rehabilitation. “Although pharmacological methods are the major component of chronic pain management, I am more and more convinced that an integrated, multidisciplinary approach is the best way of managing chronic pain,” wrote Cao. “I am confident that research at Mercy Hospital and ����ֱ�� will lead to better methods of diagnosing and treating chronic pain.”