Date: Monday, July 14th, 1:30 pm to 5:30 pm, Pacific (US) Time (Hybrid)
Location: Sandler Auditorium, 675 Nelson Rising Lane, UCSF Mission Bay Campus, or Zoom
Join the Alcohol and Addiction Research Group in the University of California at San Francisco’s (UCSF) Department of Neurology for a special symposium celebrating the extraordinary career of Professor Howard Fields, MD, PhD, Professor Emeritus of Neurology & Physiology at UCSF. A trailblazer in neurobiology and clinical neurology, Dr. Fields has profoundly shaped our understanding of pain, opioids, and addiction over five decades.
This special symposium will feature talks from esteemed colleagues, former students, and collaborators, highlighting the breadth of their scientific contributions and the profound impact of their mentorship. Come celebrate a career defined by curiosity, innovation, and an unwavering commitment to science and education!
Selected highlights from a remarkable career
Research Highlights
- Pioneering pain modulation: Co‑discovered a top‑down brainstem circuit for opioid analgesia and revealed how placebo analgesia is blocked by naloxone.
- Clinical breakthroughs: His team first demonstrated opioids’ effectiveness in neuropathic pain and introduced topical lidocaine for post‑herpetic neuralgia.
- Decoding reward circuits: Using electrophysiology and behavioral techniques, he mapped midbrain and striatal neurons encoding reward magnitude—shedding light on opioid addiction mechanisms.
Achievements & Honors
- Elected to the National Academy of Medicine (1997) and the American Academy of Arts & Sciences (2010).
- Recipient of prestigious lectureships: Cotzias (2000), Raymond D. Adams (2006), and the Mitchell Max Award for Neuropathic Pain Research (2012).
- Served as inaugural holder of UCSF’s Endowed Chair in Pharmacology of Addiction, leading the Wheeler Center for the Neurobiology of Addiction.
Agenda
Neural Circuits for Pain and Addiction
1:30 – 1:40 | Welcome
1:40 – 2:00 | Dr. Fields: Pain Research
2:00 – 2:20 | Allan Basbaum
2:20 – 2:40 | Mary Heinricher
2:40 – 3:00 | Jon Levine
3:00 – 3:20 | Refreshment break
3:20 – 3:40 | Peggy Mason
3:40 – 4:00 | Mike Rowbotham
4:00 – 4:20 | Dr. Fields: Addiction Research
4:20 – 4:40 | Elyssa Margolis
4:40 – 5:00 | Garret Stuber
5:00 – 5:20 | Frank Porreca
5:20 – 5:30 | Closing remarks