APS Lauds NIH’s Porter for Public Service

Dr. Linda Porter, director of the NIH Office of Pain Policy, recently received the John and Emma Bonica Public Service Award from the American Pain Society (APS). The award—which is named for John Bonica, a leading force in the development of the pain treatment movement, and his wife Emma—honors outstanding contributions by an individual or organization to the field of pain through public education, dissemination of information, public service or other efforts to further knowledge about pain. 

Porter was recognized for her work in advancing the federal pain research agenda and moving forward the National Pain Strategy. She was honored at an awards reception held recently during APS’s annual meeting in Pittsburgh.

Porter earned her undergraduate degree in physical therapy from McGill University and her Ph.D. in neuroanatomy from Boston University School of Medicine. 

Before coming to NIH, she served on the faculty of the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences for 15 years. She joined NINDS in 2003 as a program director in the systems and cognitive neuroscience cluster. There she was responsible for managing the institute’s pain research portfolio. She also played an essential role in promoting the objectives and activities of the NIH Pain Consortium, a trans-NIH entity whose mission is to advance the NIH pain research agenda. 

In 2011, Porter became director of the NIH Office of Pain Policy. The position was one of two created by NIH based on recommendations in the 2011 Institute of Medicine report Relieving Pain in America. The office supports and guides the activities of the NIH Pain Consortium and those of the interagency pain research coordinating committee (IPRCC), a congressionally mandated advisory committee to the HHS secretary. 

Porter co-chaired development of the National Pain Strategy report and currently co-chairs the strategy’s implementation committee. She also co-chairs the committee that oversees development of the Federal Pain Research Strategy on behalf of IPRCC.