Katherine Martucci
Assistant Professor in Anesthesiology

Katherine Martucci Ph.D. is a neuroscientist who specializes in human clinical research of chronic pain, reward and motivation behaviors, sensory and acute pain perception, and opioid use and addiction. Dr. Martucci serves as Director of the Human Affect and Pain Neuroscience Lab which uses a combination of neuroimaging techniques, including functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) of the brain and cervical spinal cord, as well as sensory, behavioral and psychological tests to study acute and chronic pain in humans.

   As part of the Center for Translational Pain Medicine (CTPM) at Duke, Dr. Martucci’s lab is in the Department of Anesthesiology and conducts research in collaboration with the Brain Imaging and Analysis Center (BIAC) and Duke Institute for Brain Sciences (DIBS).

   Dr. Martucci earned her Ph.D. in Neurobiology and Anatomy at Wake Forest School of Medicine and continued her training in clinical research with a postdoctoral fellowship at Stanford University. While at Stanford Dr. Martucci obtained a prestigious NIH K99 “Pathway to Independence Award” and launched her research program in human neuroscience of pain, reward, opioids, and addiction. At the start of her scientific career at Duke, Dr. Martucci obtained a NIH R00 “Transition to Independence Award” to conduct the first longitudinal neuroimaging clinical research study of how opioid medications affect the central nervous system in individuals with fibromyalgia. Dr. Martucci is passionate about providing new scientific knowledge related to chronic pain and opioid use and how these factors together influence central nervous system function and symptoms in individuals with chronic pain.

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