The USC Center for Mindfulness Science presents a Mindfulness Science Keynote talk this coming Tuesday, February 26.  Dr. Fadel Zeidan will be speaking on Mindfulness, Pain, and the Brain:  Neural mechanisms supporting mindfulness-based pain relief.

Dr. Fadel Zeidan, PhD, is an Assistant Professor of Anesthesiology at UCSD and Associate Director for Research at the UCSD Center for Mindfulness.  Dr. Zeidan’s laboratory discovered the neural processes supporting mindfulness meditation and mindfulness-based pain relief.  Recently, he and his team have demonstrated that mindfulness meditation is mechanistically distinct from and more effective than placebo, distraction, and relaxation.  This work was awarded the National Institutes of Health’s Mitchel Max Award in Research Excellence.  Dr. Zeidan also recently discovered that meditation does not use the body’s primary pain relieving system (the opioid system) to reduce pain, potentially unraveling a new pathway for pain relief, a critical finding for the millions of Americans suffering from chronic pain and opioid addiction. 

Dr. Zeidan will be presenting his findings on the neural mechanisms underlying the pain relieving benefits of mindfulness practice at USC's Keck School of Medicine McKibben Hall, Room 149, on Tuesday February 26, 12-1pm.