Dr. Lauren Heathcote is the recipient of the 2022 Ulf Lindblom Young Investigator Prize for Clinical Science. The Prize recognizes an individual who has achieved a high level of independence as an outstanding scholar in the field of pain and clinical science.
Dr. Heathcote is recognized for her early work with the development of novel experimental and self-report tools to define the cognitive and affective mechanisms that drive the perception of pain as threatening. Through her work, Dr. Heathcote has demonstrated how the perception of bodily threat shapes clinical outcomes in young people living with chronic conditions such as persistent pain and cancer. As a new Principal Investigator, her research seeks to develop a brief, psychologically-wise interventions that reframe pain as a signal of bodily protection to reduce suffering and enhance recovery. She continues to leverage an evolutionary understanding of pain as a brain output that signals bodily threat promotes protective behaviors.
Dr. Heathcote earned her PhD in Experimental Psychology at the University of Oxford and now works as a Senior Lecturer of Health Psychology in the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology, and Neuroscience at King’s College London Dr. Heathcote will present her research as a principal investigator at the 2022 World Congress on Pain in Toronto, Canada, September 19-23.