Luana Colloca, MD, PhD, MS

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Luana Colloca, MD, PhD, MS
  • Professor
    Pain and Translational Symptom Science
  • Director, Placebo Beyond Opinions Center
    Pain and Translational Symptom Science

MPower Professor
University of Maryland, Baltimore

Adjunct Professor
Department of Anesthesiology (School of Medicine)

Location:
Room 733, School of Nursing Building
Phone:
410-706-8244
Email:
Personal Website

Education

  • MD, University Magna Graecia of Catanzaro School of Medicine, Italy
  • PhD, Neuroscience, University of Turin Medical School, Italy
  • MS, Master in Bioethics, University of Turin, Italy
  • Post-doctoral training, Brain Imaging, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden
  • Senior Fellow, Ethics/Placebo research, National Institutes of Health, Clinical Center, Bethesda

Contracts, Fellowships, Grants, and Sponsored Research

  • Title:
    Secondary Analysis and Integration of Existing Data Related to Chronic Orofacial Pain and Placebo Effects
    Sponsoring Organization:
    NIDCR
    Role:
    Co-Principal
  • Title:
    R01AT010333-Neural correlates of hypoalgesia driven by observation
    Sponsoring Organization:
    National Center for Complementary & Integrative Health (NCCIH) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH)
    Role:
    Principal
  • Title:
    R01AT011347 - Neural Mechanisms of Immersive Virtual Reality in Chronic Pain
    Sponsoring Organization:
    National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH)
    Role:
    Principal

Research Interests

  • Dr. Luana Colloca is an MPower Distinguished Professor at the University of Maryland and an honorary professor at the University of Sydney School of Psychology. Dr. Colloca holds an MD, a master degree in Bioethics and a PhD in Neuroscience and completed a post-doc training at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden and a senior research fellowship at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, USA.
    Dr. Luana Colloca and her team investigate the psychoneurobiological bases of endogenous systems for pain modulation primarily in healthy controls and participants suffering from acute and clinical pain conditions. As a result, Dr. Colloca has developed an international reputation as a leading scientist for advancing knowledge of the neurobiological mechanisms of placebo and nocebo effects using an multifaced approach including psychopharmacological, neurobiological and behavioral approaches.
    The Collocalab research has been published in top-ranked international journals including Biological Psychiatry, Pain, JAMA, NEJM and Lancet Neurology. The impact of her innovative work is clear from her citation rate, more than 200 peer-reviewed publications and over 300 invited lectures. Her research has been also featured on The National Geographic, The New Scientist, Washington Post, Science daily, Boston Globe, The New Yorker Time, Nature, The Guardian, The Wall Street Journal, News and World Reports, COSMOS (Australia), The Australian, and USA Today. Dr. Colloca has been honored with the UM MPower Professorship and prestigious international awards such as the the Dubner and Patrick Wall Awards from the International Association for Study of Pain (IASP). She serves on leadership roles internationally as the Chair of the PAIN and PLACEBO SIG at the IASP, treasurer of the Society for Interdisciplinary Placebo Studies (SIPS, Treasurer), ad as an associate editor Editor for Journal of Pain and European Pain journals.

Publications

  • Colloca, L. (2019, January (1st Quarter/Winter) 6). The Placebo Effect in Pain Therapies.. Annual review of pharmacology and toxicology, 59, 191-211. doi:10.1146/annurev-pharmtox-010818-021542
  • Honzel, E., Murthi, S., Brawn-Cinani, B., Colloca, G., Kier, C., Varshney, A., et al. (2019, February 25). Virtual Reality, Music and Pain: developing the premise for an interdisciplinary approach to pain management.. Pain. doi:10.1097/j.pain.0000000000001539
  • Colloca, L. (2017, October (4th Quarter/Autumn) 6). Nocebo effects can make you feel pain.. Science (New York, N.Y.), 358 (6359), 44. doi:10.1126/science.aap8488
  • Colloca, L., Pine, D. S., Ernst, M., Miller, F. G. & Grillon, C. (2016, May 15). Vasopressin Boosts Placebo Analgesic Effects in Women: A Randomized Trial.. Biological psychiatry, 79 (10), 794-802. doi:10.1016/j.biopsych.2015.07.019
  • Colloca, L. & Finniss, D. (2012, February 8). Nocebo effects, patient-clinician communication, and therapeutic outcomes.. JAMA, 307 (6), 567-8. doi:10.1001/jama.2012.115
  • Colloca, L. & Barsky, A. J. (2020, February 6). Placebo and Nocebo Effects.. The New England journal of medicine, 382 (6), 554-561. doi:10.1056/NEJMra1907805
  • Colloca, L. (2023, November 21). Placebo Effects Through the Lens of Translational Research. 401. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. https://global.oup.com/academic/product/placebo-effects-through-the-lens-of-translational-research-9780197645444?cc=us&lang=en&#
  • Colloca, L. (2023, August 16). The Nocebo Effect.. Annual review of pharmacology and toxicology. doi:10.1146/annurev-pharmtox-022723-112425
  • Neogi, T. & Colloca, L. (2023, October (4th Quarter/Autumn) 1). Placebo effects in osteoarthritis: implications for treatment and drug development.. Nature reviews. Rheumatology, 19 (10), 613-626. doi:10.1038/s41584-023-01021-4
  • Persky, S. & Colloca, L. (2023, November 22). Medical Extended Reality Trials: Building Robust Comparators, Controls, and Sham.. Journal of medical Internet research, 25, e45821. doi:10.2196/45821

See a full list of published work.

Presentations

  • Year:
    2018
    Title:
    Are placebos the solution? Tackling the opioid epidemic in the next few decades - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPtKdtF05s8
    Conference/Meeting Name:
    TEDx talk University of Maryland
    Sponsoring Organization:
    University of Maryland School of Medicine and School of Nursing
    Location:
    Baltimore United States
  • Year:
    2020
    Title:
    Interview with Sheilah Kast for WYPR Radio - https://www.wypr.org/post/your-brain-pain

Areas of Specialization

  • Acute experimental pain; Brain mapping; Clinical and experimental; Chronic pain; Phenotypes of placebo responders; Placebo effects; Nocebo effects; Pain modulation mechanisms; Temporomandibular Disorders; Virtual Reality mechanisms.

Primary Teaching Areas

  • Pain modulation mechanisms and Pain management.

Media Appearances and Interviews

Honors/Awards

  • Name:
    Patrick Wall International Award
    Sponsoring organization:
    International Association for Study of Pain
    Date:
    September 2016
  • Name:
    Stephen Milan Award
    Sponsoring organization:
    Temporomandibular Joint Ankylosis (TMJA)
    Date:
    September 2016
  • Name:
    Award for Neuroscientist
    Sponsoring organization:
    PsychoNeuroImmunology Research Society (PNIRS)
    Date:
    2006
  • Name:
    Award for Young Neuroscientist
    Sponsoring organization:
    American Psychosomatic Society (APS)
    Date:
    June 2006
  • Name:
    Dubner International Research Prize
    Sponsoring organization:
    International Association for Study of Pain (IASP)
    Date:
    May 2008
  • Name:
    Young Scientist Award
    Sponsoring organization:
    European Federation of IASP Chapter (EFIC)
    Date:
    2009
  • Name:
    Clinical Center High Performance Award
    Sponsoring organization:
    NIH
    Date:
    2010
  • Name:
    Gold medal for research
    Sponsoring organization:
    Italian Sport Federation (FCI)
    Date:
    December 2010
  • Name:
    Toekenningsbrief
    Sponsoring organization:
    Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie Van Wetenschappen (KNAW)
    Date:
    2018
  • Name:
    Distinguished Scholarship Award
    Sponsoring organization:
    University of Maryland School of Nursing
    Date:
    2017

Academic and Professional Activities

University

  • Date:
    2017 - Current
    Organization:
    PhD Curriculum Committee
    Role:
    Board Member
  • Date:
    2017 - Current
    Organization:
    Institutional Review Board - University of Maryland
    Role:
    Voting IRB Member

Professional

  • Organization:
    Special Interest Groups - IASP
    Role:
    President
  • Date:
    2014 - Current
    Organization:
    Society for Interdisciplinary Placebo Studies (SIPS)
    Role:
    Board of Directors