Membership
APS Member Spotlight
Featured in the January 2011 Issue of ENews
Theodore Price, PhD
Department of Pharmacology
University of Arizona
What is your area of specialty?
My area of research is on the molecular biology of chronic pain. My laboratory is interested in mechanisms that underlie the development and maintenance of the chronic pain state. As pharmacologists, we are ultimately interested in developing novel therapeutics based on our mechanistic studies.
What initially sparked your interest in working in your field? Briefly describe your career path.
I became interested in cannabinoid pharmacology when I started my PhD studies with Chris Flores at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. My goal upon joining the program there was to do research on depression and I never had any intention of becoming a pain researcher until a few years into my PhD studies on the role of cannabinoids as potential pain therapeutics. Chris Flores, Ken Hargreaves, and Armen Akopian's combined passion for pain research is what really got me excited about staying in the field and when I got to McGill University for my postdoctoral work that pretty much sealed the deal. The breadth of pain research happening there was exhilarating and working in Fernando Cervero's lab was an amazing experience. I left McGill and joined the faculty at University of Arizona Department of Pharmacology in October 2007 and have been here since. It's been a real pleasure to start my independent lab amongst such supportive and collaborative colleagues.
What has been a highlight of your work? Perhaps you and your staff are proud of a certain project or accomplishment.
I'm very happy with the work we've done on translation control and nociceptive sensitization over the years. When I first got started in this area of work I was still a PhD student and I've been able to carry it with me through my postdoctoral and now to my independent position. I think we are finally getting a good grasp on how translation control pathways initiate and maintain a chronic pain state and we are developing some novel therapeutic targets that are quite unexpected, at least to me. We're all very excited to see where this line of investigation will take us.
Is there a particular challenge that you've either overcome or hope to address soon?
I suffered a spine injury while living in Montreal that left me, temporarily, with terrible pain in and limited use of my left leg. Thanks to the help and encouragement of my wonderful friends and colleagues at McGill, and an excellent spine surgeon, I regained sensory and motor function in my leg but the whole ordeal left me with chronic low back pain. I'm lucky that the pain in my leg went away with surgery as I know that many don't achieve such a positive outcome. I simply can't imagine living with that type of pain for an extended period of time. The work done in our field is very important and that experience (including its potential negative outcomes) brought that fact into focus in ways that are difficult for me to describe.
Who is your favorite role model—and why?
Carl Sagan. When I was 6 or 7 I watched Cosmos on PBS and knew I wanted to be a scientist. Sagan's ability to communicate science, even to an elementary school kid, was unbelievable.
How has membership in APS been of value to you and your professional development?
APS has done incredible things for my career. I was honored to receive both an early stage investigator grant and the joint APS/Rita Allen Foundation grant and both of those awards have advanced my career development in amazing ways. I gave my first conference presentation at an APS meeting and I continue to enjoy the outstanding science and networking opportunities available at the annual meeting. I hope to stay very involved in APS as my career continues to develop so I can give back to the organization that has done so much to advance my research program.
