Laura Simons

Laura Simons, PhD is a Professor in the Department of Anesthesiology, Perioperative, and Pain Medicine at Stanford University School of Medicine and a clinical psychologist who evaluates and treats children and adolescents presenting with chronic pain in the Pediatric Pain Management Clinic at Stanford Children’s Health. Her program of research aims to utilize a pain neuroscience psychology approach to gain a mechanistic understanding of cognitive and affective processes in pediatric pain, perform rigorous patient-oriented research that translates targeted assessment into mechanistically informed treatment approaches for optimal clinical care and leverage the ubiquity of digital health to enhance patient access and reach. Central to these goals are projects targeting youth with chronic pain that encompass defining brain signatures of threat interpretation, evaluating the efficacy of graded exposure, deriving a biosignature of recovery vs. persistence of pain and disability, and evaluating the impact of virtual reality on pain rehabilitation. These studies along with additional work examining the journey of pain care for children with pain and their parents form a research portfolio in the realm of understanding and treating chronic pain.