The focus of this presentation is on the evolution a research program on pain in dementia within the context of a changing research landscape. This landscape has shifted toward increased interdisciplinarity, partnerships with stakeholders and emphasis on knowledge translation. Early laboratory-based investigations evolved into applied clinical research, unique partnerships, novel approaches to knowledge mobilization, costing analyses of clinical problems, technology development/evaluation and policy studies. The presentation will illustrate that tackling complex clinical problems can lead traditionally-trained clinical scientists to areas of scholarly inquiry that were previously foreign to them.

Thomas Hadjistavropoulos, Ph.D., FCAHS, holds the Research Chair in Aging and Health and is Professor of Clinical Psychology at the University of Regina. His work and leadership have been recognized by a long list of awards and distinctions including fellowships with the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences, Canadian Psychological Association, American Psychological Association and Canadian Association of Cognitive and Behavioural Therapies. Hadjistavropoulos is the 2022 recipient of the Distinguished Career Award from the Canadian Pain Society, the 2023 Betty Havens Award for Knowledge Mobilization from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the 2021 M. Powell Lawton Distinguished Career Award from the Society of Clinical Geropsychology of the American Psychological Association. 

With a primary focus on pain in dementia, his work has emphasized development/validation of observational pain assessment approaches, widely cited clinical consensus guidelines, knowledge translation (e.g., resources for patients, web-based training for clinicians), pain self-management, biopsychosocial model development, policy studies and advanced technologies aimed to facilitate pain assessment in older adults. Hadjistavropoulos has been funded through a succession of grants from CIHR, Saskatchewan Health Research Foundation, National Institute of Health, Canada Foundation for Innovation, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and AGE WELL Network of Centres of Excellence. He has published 250 peer reviewed articles and book chapters as well as 7 books. He is Editor-in-Chief of Ethics & Behavior