On 1 January 2023, Karen D. Davis, PhD, will become the 5th and first female Editor-in-Chief of IASP’s PAIN journal. PAIN, first published in 1975, has become the world’s leading journal for pain research, with an Impact Factor of 7.926 in 2021, the highest in the journal’s history.
Dr. Davis is a senior scientist at the Krembil Brain Institute (University Health Network) and professor at the University of Toronto. Dr. Davis chaired the IASP presidential task force on the use of brain imaging to diagnosis pain and is co-editor of Pain Neuroethics and Bioethics. Dr. Davis served on the IASP Council, was a Mayday Fellow, was inducted into the Johns Hopkins Society of Scholars, Canadian Academy of Health Sciences, the Royal Society of Canada, and is currently immediate past President of the Canadian Pain Society.
Claudia Sommer, MD, IASP President, has been working with Dr. Davis on IASP Council and various IASP committees. Dr. Sommer notes, “Dr. Davis has a critical mind, she pays attention to detail, and she never accepts any half-truths. She hears her colleagues out and has the capacity to see an issue from all perspectives involved. These are excellent attributes for the position of Editor-in-Chief.”
Andrew Rice, professor of pain research at Imperial College and IASP President 2024–2026, shared that Dr. Davis served as a member of the PAIN Editorial Board including ten years as a Section Editor and currently serves as Section Editor at IASP’s Open Access journal, PAIN Reports. This Open Access experience will stand her in good stead in navigating the increasingly complex seas in this area.”
The outgoing Editor-in-Chief is Prof. Francis J. Keefe. PAIN has now been served by four outstanding editors who have each contributed to the success of IASP’s official journal. The most recent three have all been based in the USA; IASP is pleased to introduce an element of gender and geographic diversity.