Dual D.O./PH.D Program Student Receives Competetive AMA Grant for Arthritis Pain Research
Contact: Steve Price, Director of Communications, (207) 602.2269
UNIVERSITY OF NEW ENGLAND NEWS RELEASE
BIDDEFORD – University of New England medical student John Lowery recently received a highly competitive grant from the American Medical Association to help fund his research into safer and more efficient pain treatments for arthritis sufferers.
Lowery, who has completed his second year at UNE’s College of Osteopathic Medicine (UNECOM), is now working on his Ph.D. research as the first candidate in the Combined D.O./Ph.D. Program with the University of Maine-Orono. The dual degree program emphasizes biomedical research.
Lowery received $2,500 from the AMA Foundation’s Seed Grant Research Program to study “Regulation of Delta Opioid Receptors in Osteoarthritis.” Other researchers who received these AMA seed grants came from such prestigious institutions as Harvard University, Yale University School of Medicine and the Mayo Clinic.
Arthritis is the leading cause of disability in the U.S., limiting the activities of more than 16 million adults. Unfortunately, according to Lowery, the most widely used analgesic therapies provide incomplete relief and may produce significant side effects that limit treatment effectiveness. As part of Loewry’s Ph.D. dissertation research, he is investigating a series of new compounds in the hope of developing a safer and more effective treatment option for chronic inflammatory pain, such as that experienced by osteoarthritis sufferers.
Lowery’s research advisor is Edward Bilsky, Ph.D., a UNECOM associate professor in pharmacology and one of the school’s leading biomedical research scientists. The pioneering student will spend two to three years working on his Ph.D. research, then return for his final two years of clinic medical rotations. Lowery is interested in becoming an orthopedic surgeon.