Robert Edwards
Assistant Professor

Academic Degrees
PhD, University of Alabama at Birmingham, 2002

Departmental Affiliation
Psychiatry – Behavioral Medicine Clinic

Departmental Address
Meyer 1-108
600 North Wolfe Street
Baltimore, MD 21287

Email: redwar10@jhmi.edu
Phone: (410) 614-3396
Fax: (410) 614-3366

Awards and Honors

1999-2000        Merit Fellowship, University of Alabama at Birmingham
2001                Dean's Research Award in Social and Behavioral Sciences, University of Alabama at Birmingham

Research Interests: I am currently a junior faculty member in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Johns Hopkins. The focus of my research in recent years has been on using experimental pain paradigms (i.e., administration of standardized noxious stimuli in a controlled environment) to elucidate individual differences in pain sensitivity and pain modulation. In particular, some of our work has suggested sex differences, ethnic differences, and age-related changes in how individuals perceive and respond to pain. More recently, I have focused on the dynamic biopsychosocial experience of pain, in particular the effects of cognitions and emotions on physiological responses to painful stimuli. Current studies in our lab include an investigation of how pain affects the human immune system, and how psychosocial processes such as negative emotions may magnify the physiological impact of pain.

Keywords: pain, assessment, coping, catastrophizing, biopsychosocial, pain sensitivity, psychoneuroimmunology

Selected Publications

Edwards, R. (In Press). Age-associated differences in pain perception and pain processing. In: Pain in the Elderly. Gibson, S, and Weiner, D, Eds. IASP Press.

Edwards, R. (In Press). Psychological Treatment of Acute Pain. In: Encyclopedic Reference of Pain. Flor, H, Ed. Springer-Verlag.

Edwards, R. (In Press). Age differences in the correlates of physical functioning in patients with chronic pain. Journal of Aging and Health

Edwards, R, Fillingim, R. (In Press). Styles of pain coping predict cardiovascular function following a cold pressor test. Pain Research and Management

Smith, M, Edwards, R, Stonerock, G, McCann, U. (2005). Preliminary findings: Individual variation in rapid eye movement sleep is associated with pain perception in healthy women. Sleep, 28: 809-12.

Edwards, R. (2005). Individual differences in endogenous pain modulation as a risk factor for chronic pain. Neurology, 65: 437-43.

Edwards, R, Campbell, C, Fillingim, R. (2005). Catastrophizing and experimental pain sensitivity: Only in-vivo reports of catastrophic cognitions correlate with pain responses. Journal of Pain, 6:338-9.

Edwards, R, Sarlani, E, Wesselmann, U, Fillingim, R. (2005). Quantitative assessment of pain perception: Multiple arenas of clinical relevance. Pain, 114: 315-319.

Edwards, R, Moric, M, Husfeldt, B, Buvanendran, A, Ivankovitch, O. (2005). Ethnic similarities and differences in the chronic pain experience: A comparison of African-American, Hispanic, and white patients. Pain Medicine, 6: 88-98.

Campbell, C, Edwards, R, Fillingim, R. (2005). Ethnic differences in responses to multiple experimental pain stimuli. Pain, 113: 20-6.

Edwards, R, Ness, T, Fillingim R. (2004). Endogenous Opioids, Blood Pressure, and Diffuse Noxious Inhibitory Controls (DNIC): A Preliminary Study. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 99:679-87.

Edwards, R, Haythornthwaite, J, Sullivan, M, Fillingim, R. (2004). Catastrophizing as a mediator of sex differences in pain: Differential effects for clinical versus laboratory-induced pain. Pain, 111: 335-41.

Smith, M, Edwards, R, Robinson, R, Dworkin, R. (2004). Predictors of suicidal ideation in patients with chronic pain: Implications for assessment. Pain, 111: 201-8.

Edwards, R, Fillingim, R, Maixner, W, Sigurdsson, A, and Haythornthwaite, J. (2004). Catastrophizing predicts changes in thermal pain responses following resolution of acute dental pain. The Journal of Pain, 5: 164-70.

Edwards, R, Ness, T, Weigent D, and Fillingim, R. (2003). Individual differences in diffuse noxious inhibitory controls: Association with clinical variables. Pain, 106: 427-37.

Edwards, R, Doleys, D, Lowery, D, and Fillingim, R. (2003). Pain tolerance as a predictor of treatment outcomes: differential effects as a function of sex. Pain, 106: 419-26.

Edwards, R, Fillingim, R, and Ness, T. (2003). Age-related differences in endogenous pain modulation: A comparison of diffuse noxious inhibitory controls in healthy older and younger adults. Pain, 101: 155-165.

Edwards, R, Doleys, D, Fillingim, R, and Lowery, D. (2001). Ethnic differences in pain tolerance: clinical implications in a chronic pain population. Psychosomatic Medicine, 63: 316-323.

Edwards, R, Augustson, E, and Fillingim, R. (2000). Sex-specific effects of pain-related anxiety on adjustment to chronic pain. Clinical Journal of Pain, 16: 46-53.

Edwards, R, and Fillingim, R.  (1999). Ethnic differences in thermal pain responses.  Psychosomatic Medicine, 61: 346-354.