Conference highlights advances in human and animal pain relief

In the early 1800s, leg amputations free of acute pain seemed impossible. However, the first widely used anesthetic, called ether, was right around the corner. Sixteenth-century physician Paracelsus had documented the benefits of the anesthetic since the 1500s, yet it remained ignored and pain prevailed. 

“Think of all the suffering that could have been prevented over those centuries had there been a widespread belief in the possibility of eliminating pain during surgery,” Jacob Shwartz-Lucas, director of the Animal Pain Research Institute (APRI), said at a conference Friday. 

“Modern doubt in the possibility of ending severe chronic pain and suicidal depression may similarly hold back medical progress,” he added.

Joining Shwartz-Lucas at the “Bridging Species: Advances in Relieving Distress in Humans & Animals” conference were Stanford Effective Altruism (SEA) President Creagh Factor ’27 and members of the Stanford Student Pre-Veterinary Committee and the Stanford Animal Service Project. The event featured researchers in the latest studies and developments targeting the neurological and genetic mechanisms that underlie challenges in human and animal pain.

Debit Srivastava, an anesthesia and pain medicine consultant at NHS Highland, kicked off the speaker series with the case of Jo Cameron, a 77-year-old Scottish woman with a genetic mutation that prevented her from feeling pain or anxiety. 

When Cameron gave birth, she described it as “a funny sensation of pressure but no pain.” When she fractured her collarbone in a car accident, it was also painless.

“Jo’s story tells us that it is possible to survive without feeling pain. She’s a woman who does not feel anxious and her wounds heal within hours rather than days — she can survive without pain as part of her survival system,” Srivastava said.

While the prospect of feeling no pain is appealing, Srivastava believes that benefits and risks must be balanced, as pain protects humans and animals alike. Pain has a vital role in activating the correct stress response systems, according to Srivastava. 

But if Cameron’s phenotype is considered too extreme, her son, who experiences only slight pain and anxiety, might be a more acceptable therapeutic aspiration for preventing excessive distress, Shwartz-Lucas said. But even his experience has its drawbacks.

“Negative feelings are evolutionarily useful, but they can also be excessive. That’s why anesthesia for open heart surgery is not only useful but obligatory,” Shwartz-Lucas said. 

He continued: “Pain can be carefully turned down rather than off for long periods — it’s feasible to manage its intensity and duration. The goal outside of surgery and the ER is the mitigation of negative experiences rather than elimination.” 

He pointed to the work of speaker and Stanford researcher Eric Gross, who reduced pain caused by capsaicin by 50% in mice for their entire lives and is developing a drug. 

Another speaker and APRI advisor, Ana Moreno, devised a way to tune down nearly all forms of pain to levels appropriate for each patient for months at a time. The therapy utilizes an epigenetic tool to dial down pain much like a volume knob, using varying doses to incrementally dim pain to the optimal setting. The technique does not cut a patient’s DNA, like gene-editing therapies do, and it degrades over time. 

Francis Collins, former director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), commented on Moreno’s work, stating that this strategy could form the basis for a whole new way to manage chronic pain.

Managing pain and distress in animals is likewise a priority for many researchers at the conference.

In the case of animals, reducing distress to what is clinically necessary might involve screening against affective disorders when making animal breeding decisions. It could also involve selecting the healthiest and happiest animals. For example, Shwartz-Lucas said that chihuahuas could be selectively bred until they have temperaments comparable to golden retrievers — a breed that is far less fearful and anxious.

Systematically quantifying animal welfare impacts helps make optimal breeding decisions, according to speaker Cynthia Schuck-Paim, a zoologist and global health researcher. The welfare impact of each affective experience an animal endures must be calculated in terms of duration and intensity of experience, she said. According to Paim, the goal is to accurately measure welfare states to inform best practices. 

Stanford students are incorporating this research to their own studies, paving the way for a more conscious approach to animal welfare.

“As a pre-vet student, I’ve had the opportunity to shadow lab animal veterinarians and observe the significant impact of their work, especially the role that ethical considerations play in promoting reliable and consistent research results,” said Sofía Ceva ’25, founder of the Stanford Pre-Veterinary Committee and Co-President of People for Animal Welfare. 

For Katelyn Santa Maria ’26, founder of the Animal Service Project (ASP) and Vice President of the Pre-Vet Committee, the ASP is a way to get involved in community projects for improved conditions for humans and animals alike. 

Through the ASP’s partnership with Jasper Ridge Farm, they facilitate interactions between the therapeutic farm animals and people in need: children with disabilities, veterans, children at the Ronald McDonald house and more.

“Minimizing distress goes hand in hand with the group’s partnerships that improve the lives of farm animals, rescued horses, shelter domestic animals, rescued and orphaned wildlife and shelter cats,” Santa Maria said.

Factor is excited to see how society can improve how we address, think about, and communicate pain, so that we can overcome modern doubt in ending severe chronic pain and suicidal depression.

“We need experts from across scientific and humanistic disciplines working on this,” Factor said.

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