• NPAC Submitted an extensive public comment on the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s proposal to evaluate the impact of its 2022 Prescribing Guidelines. 

• NPAC joined the Medicaid Day of Action and continues with advocacy efforts to protect the health safety net.

• NPAC’s Executive Director, Dr. Tamara Baker, and Dr. Monica Mallampalli participated in the NIH Interagency Pain Research Coordinating Committee meetings.

• NPAC’s Executive Director participated in a governing board meeting for the NIH PURPOSE program.

• NPAC’s President and Executive Director planned a 3-hour Advocacy Training Session for scientists and clinicians for the upcoming Scientific Meeting of the US Association for the Study of Pain (USASP).

• NPAC will also offer Symposia at the upcoming scientific meetings of the European Pain Federation (EFIC) (on data harmonization) and the Canadian Pain Society (CPS) (one on pain and human rights, and one on building resilience in pain and substance use disorders).

• NPAC Advisor Mara Baer was interviewed regarding chronic pain for the report on Aging by the Alliance for Health Policy.

• NPAC’s Executive Director spoke with Alyssa Quart for Time magazine about Health Insecurity

• NPAC advisor Dr. Stefan Kertesz was featured in an article about opioid prescribing.

• NPAC’s Executive Director co-authored a Lessons Learned paper for Pain Medicine on the INTEGRATE-Pain global Delphi study to develop core outcome measures for acute, chronic, acute to chronic translation, and episodic pain.

• NPAC’s Executive Director attended the National Advisory Neurological Disorders and Stroke Council fall meeting in Bethesda, Maryland.

• NPAC’s Executive Director attended the fall governing board meeting for the NIH PURPOSE program, which endeavors to build the pain workforce.

• Several members of NPAC were invited to join or chair strategic planning subcommittees to set research priorities for the NIH HEAL Initiative, the money allocated by Congress for pain and use disorders, including Dr. Tamara Baker, co-chair of the Health Equity and Pain Across the Life Course, Quána Madison, a member of the same subcommittee, and Kate Nicholson, a member of the Implementation and Health Services Subcommittee.

• NPAC welcomed former Colorado Senator Joan Ginal to its Board of Directors. 

Senator Ginal sponsored SB 144, Prescription Drugs for Chronic Pain, the bill NPAC worked on that became law in 2023.

• NPAC Executive Director spoke on legal and policy issues at the Southern Pain Society Annual Scientific Meeting and received their President’s Distinguished Service Award. 

• NPAC’s Executive Director addressed Equity in Pain Management at the First Annual Convening of the Pain Collaborative. 

• NPAC advisors Dr. Monica Mallampalli and Dr. Tamara Baker and Executive Director Kate Nicholson attended the winter meeting of the Interagency Pain Research Coordinating Committee. 

• Several NPAC members spoke during consecutive half-day workshops hosted by the NIH HEAL Pain Research Priorities Subcommittees related to HEAL strategic planning:

° Dr. Sean Mackey presented during the meeting on Biomarkers and Predictors

° Dr. Tamara Baker, Quána Madison, and Kate Nicholson presented during the meeting on Health Equity Over the Life Course

° Kate Nicholson presented during the meeting on Implementation and Health Services

• NPAC’s Executive Director met with the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s Forum on Aging, Disability, and Independence. 

• NPAC’s Executive Director spoke about pain patient abandonment at the CATO Institute. 

• NPAC held meetings related to studies, including a national study on pain funded by Cornell Weil, the CSI: Opioids Study on suicide and pain, and a potential PCORI study regarding pain management in older adults.

• NPAC participated in a meeting for the US Association for the Study of Pain Advocacy Committee.