Award and Prize Lectures at the 2026 World Congress on Pain recognize pioneering contributions in the field of pain research and treatment. These sessions highlight individuals whose work has had a lasting impact on the science and practice of pain management.
Prediction and Prevention of Chronic Post-Surgical Pain
Esther Pogatzki-Zahn, MD, PhD, will discuss improving pain management for surgical patients through multidisciplinary strategies. She emphasizes why coordinated care across specialties is critical for effective acute pain relief and how it can reduce the risk of developing chronic post-surgical pain. The talk also covers new research on predicting high-risk patients and interventions to prevent long-term pain after surgery.
Esther Pogatzki-Zahn, MD, PhD
University Hospital Muenster, Germany
Ronald Dubner Research Prize Lecture
Steven Middleton is an early-career researcher and Senior Postdoctoral Scientist in the Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences at the University of Oxford, and a Research Fellow at Wolfson College. He is a member of the Neural Injury Group, where he works with Professor David Bennett. He is the recipient of the 2026 Ronald Dubner Prize for Pain Research. His research focuses on understanding the molecular mechanisms of chronic pain, with the aim of developing more effective treatments.
Steve Middleton, PhD
University of Oxford, UK
Ulf Lindblom Young Investigator Award for Clinical Science Award Lecture
Ulf Lindblom Young Investigator Award for Clinical Science
Professor Tasha Stanton leads the Persistent Pain Research Group at the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute (SAHMRI) and is co-Director of IIMPACT in Health at Adelaide University. She is a clinical pain neuroscientist with original training as a physiotherapist. Her research focusses on pain – why do we have it and why doesn’t it go away? She has received >$17.4m in competitive research funding, has published >140 peer-reviewed journal articles and 2 books, and she has been a keynote/invited speaker at >120 national and international conferences.
Tasha R. Stanton, PhD
South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute, Australia
Patrick D Wall Young Investigator Award for Basic Science Lecture
Patrick D Wall Young Investigator Award for Basic Science
Dr. Nahman-Averbuch is an Assistant Professor at the Washington University Pain Center and the Division of Clinical and Translational Research in the Department of Anesthesiology at Washington University School of Medicine. She holds a Ph.D. in Medical Sciences from the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, where she worked with Dr. David Yarnitsky and specialized in pain modulation mechanisms in adults with chronic pain. Dr. Nahman-Averbuch completed her post-doctoral fellowship at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital with Dr. Robert Coghill, where she studied neural changes in pediatric patients with chronic pain and after interventions such as cognitive-behavioral therapy. In her Pain Across the Lifespan (PAL) lab, she focuses on studying the impact of sex hormones on pain, specifically in adults and adolescents with migraine, endometriosis, and arthritis.
Hadas Nahman-Averbuch, PhD
Washington University School of Medicine, USA