Appointments Faculty & Staff Featured News Research

Burel R. Goodin, PhD, to join Department of Anesthesiology

The Department of Anesthesiology is delighted to announce that Burel R. Goodin, PhD, is joining Washington University School of Medicine as professor of anesthesiology March 1, 2023.

Goodin comes to the Department with a rich research background focused on pain-related behavioral medicine. He examines the interactions of psychosocial and biobehavioral characteristics in relation to the experience of pain through the key pathways of stress-related hormones (neuroendocrine function) and immune function.

Goodin attended Illinois College for his undergraduate degree in biology before going on to earn his master’s degree in mental health and behavioral medicine from Boston University. He then completed another master’s degree and his PhD in clinical psychology at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. During this time, Goodin completed his pre-doctoral internship at the VA Connecticut Healthcare System. He left the northeast in 2010 and ventured south to complete his postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Florida Comprehensive Center for Pain Research. Goodin then began his tenure track faculty career as an assistant professor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), rising to the rank of full professor and co-director of the Center for Addiction and Pain Prevention and Intervention (CAPPI).

Goodin is a founding member of the United States Association for the Study of Pain (USASP) and currently sits on the Board of Directors. He also serves as a grant application reviewer for the following NIH Study Sections: Career Development and Education Training (CDET), National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), and Biobehavioral Mechanisms of Emotion, Stress, & Health (MESH).  

In 2020, Goodin received the Graduate Dean’s Excellence in Mentorship Award and the Provost’s Award for Faculty Excellence in Undergraduate Research Mentorship – both from UAB.

Over the years, Goodin has been involved in numerous studies measuring pain using quantitative sensory testing. He has developed and refined methods to assess pain sensitivity and modulation using dynamic experimental pain stimuli. Goodin’s current research is centered on evaluating the impact of factors of pain sensitivity and modulation—such as sleep disturbance and neuropeptides—across the adult lifespan.

“We are thrilled to have Burel and his team join our efforts here at WashU,” said the department’s Vice Chair for Research, Robert W. Gereau IV, PhD. “His robust research program, along with his extensive experience in leadership, team building, and mentoring provide a real boost to our collaborative research and education programs.”

Please join us in welcoming Dr. Goodin to the department!

Robert W. Gereau IV, PhD
Vice Chair for Research
Dr. Seymour and Rose T. Brown Professor of Anesthesiology
Director, Washington University Pain Center

Michael S. Avidan, MBBCh, FCASA
Dr. Seymour and Rose T. Brown Professor of Anesthesiology
Head of the Department of Anesthesiology
Anesthesiologist-in-Chief, Barnes-Jewish Hospital