The University of Cape Town invites you to an inaugural lecture by Professor Romy Parker.

Date: Thursday, 8 June 2023

Time: 17:00–19:00 SAST

Venue: Neuroscience Institute Auditorium, E-Floor, Main Building, Groote Schuur Hospital

Topic:
Pain Management to Reduce Suffering in South Africa - integrating interdisciplinary research into the healthcare professions.
The primary driver for people to seek help from a healthcare professional is pain. Yet, limited time is spent in undergraduate curricula teaching on pain, its complex physiology and on its evidence-based management. Professor Parker invites you to join her on a reflective journey, exploring this phenomenon we all experience – pain; and asks: What is pain and how does it affect us? What have we learnt about pain in South Africa? How do we ensure that every South African has access to a healthcare professional who understands pain?

About our speaker:
Professor Romy Parker started her professional life as a physiotherapist running across rugby fields. She now leads a dynamic and diverse Pain Team in the Department of Anaesthesia and Perioperative Medicine. She is a teacher, a researcher and a clinician working as part of the interdisciplinary team of the GSH Chronic Pain Management Clinic. at GSH. Romy is also an active researcher who has successfully supervised numerous postgraduate students. She is a passionate teacher, awarded the 2019 UCT Distinguished Teacher’s Award, she teaches undergraduate and postgraduate healthcare professionals and is the course convener of the Postgraduate Diploma in Interdisciplinary Pain Management, the first programme of its kind in Africa. Her research focusses on developing and testing mechanism-based pain treatments relevant to a South African context. Her personal goal is for every South African with pain to be able to access a healthcare professional who understands pain.