Placebo Effects Through the Lens of Translational Research

Dr. Luana Colloca is a physician-scientist and an MPower Distinguished Professor at University of Maryland, Baltimore. Dr. Colloca holds an MD from the University of Magna Graecia of Catanzaro, a PhD in Neuroscience from the University of Turin, and a Master's in Bioethics. Additionally, Dr. Colloca completed post-doctoral training at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden and is a senior research fellow in the Department of Bioethics, Clinical Center and the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health at National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, USA. Dr. Colloca leads an NIH-funded team investigating the mechanisms of placebo and nocebo effects. Dr. Jason Noel is a faculty member at the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy. He attained his Bachelor's of Science and Doctor of Pharmacy degrees at Rutgers University. He then completed residency training in Psychiatric Pharmacy Practice at University of Maryland School of Pharmacy. Since joining UMB's faculty, Dr. Noel has taken on a number of psychiatric pharmacy practice roles, including in intellectual/developmental disabilities, acute psychiatry, and long-term care. He is an experienced clinical educator, serving as an instructor in UMB's Pharm.D., advance practice nursing, and physician assistant programs. He also has over ten years of experience administering the School of Pharmacy's ACPE-accredited continuing education program. His research interests include optimizing integrated treatment and contextual effects for psychiatric and behavioral disorders in people with developmental disabilities. He is board certified by the Board of Pharmaceutical Specialties in Psychiatric Pharmacy. Dr. Patricia D. Franklin enjoyed a career distinguished by achievements in practice, program management, academia, and professional development. While in primary care practice, Franklin served on professional association, government, and coalition boards and committees, including as president of a national professional association. Transitioning to the non-profit sector, Franklin successfully managed a multi-year, multi-site, John A. Hartford Foundation (JAHF) grant that began as a $2 million award and over 10 years grew to $26 million in funding. After completing her doctoral degree Franklin joined the University of Maryland School of Nursing faculty where she taught health policy, health systems, and leadership in graduate programs. In addition, she served as director of the Office of Professional Education (OPE), developing professional continuing education (CE) programs as well as launching and chairing an interprofessional CE consortium with colleagues from the Schools of Medicine, Pharmacy, Social Work and Law. As PI on a $2.5 million, 5-year state awarded grant to build nurse leadership capacity in Maryland, Franklin designed and ran the School's first Leadership Institute. She retired in 2019 and continues to work as a consultant. Dr. Chamindi Seneviratne is a faculty member at the University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM) in Baltimore, Maryland. Dr. Seneviratne holds an MD degree and completed post-doctoral research training in neurobiology and molecular genomics at the Universities of Texas and Virginia prior to joining the faculty, first at the University of Virginia and then at UMSOM. Over the past 15 years, she has conducted extensive research in molecular genetics in substance abuse with a primary focus on alcohol use disorders (AUD), with over ten years of experience in serving as a principal investigator or co-investigator on several NIH-funded pharmacogenomic trials. Her current research is focused on developing biomarkers of (1) heavy alcohol use, (2) response to treatment of alcohol and other substance use disorders (SUD) with various pharmacologic agents, and (3) placebo response. To achieve these goals, her lab uses an integrative approach of combining various clinical trial methodologies, genomic and invitro techniques to screen and validate novel biomarkers for objective, and personalized and pathophysiology-based diagnosis and treatment of AUD/SUD.