Let’s talk about pain.
Not the stubbed toe on the bedframe in the night kind, but the harder kind of pain – the chronic kind that can be unrelenting, and often unexplained.
I’ve spent my career trying to bridge the gap between the people who study chronic pain and the people who live with it. In 2024, I reached what I thought was the pinnacle: a job as a science writer at the National Institutes of Health. Then, in April 2025, DOGE cuts eliminated the Office of Pain Policy and Planning, and my job along with it. Our goal was to make sure patients and the professionals that care for them saw the benefits of new research and discovery. Because of the cuts, that’s not happening.
We need to build that bridge. That’s what Notes on Pain is about.
I’m Stephani Sutherland, PhD, a neuroscientist trained in pain biology and a science journalist for over 20 years. I, too, live with chronic pain, and it’s changed the way I listen to the stories of people who are suffering. My superpower is my ability to speak the language of both patients and researchers, allowing me to share information between them, while maintaining the ethics of rigorous journalism and evidence-backed science in my communication.
We’ve seen the worst consequences of poorly treated pain play out in the opioid overdose crisis. But chronic pain is itself a very real health emergency. Nearly one in four American adults across every demographic suffers from it. The burden falls hardest on rural communities, Native Americans, and Black patients. Women are more likely to live with pain that limits their work and daily lives, and more likely to be dismissed by caregivers. Pain is the top reason people visit their doctor, but physicians in the U.S. and Canada receive almost no training in pain in medical school.
I’ve seen researchers make tremendous advances in recent years – what drives me bonkers is that these discoveries aren’t reaching the right people: not the doctors prescribing treatments, and not the patients who are suffering. And even when good treatments exist, too many people can’t get them. That’s why Notes on Pain is so necessary right now.
After two decades as a journalist, I was honored to join the NIH as a scientific writer, working within the system. Then, in April 2025, the Office of Pain Policy and Planning was cut, and my job along with it. Soon after that, the non-profit patient advocacy org U.S. Pain Foundation released its survey finding that 70 percent of its nearly 2,400 respondents didn’t even know that pain research was going on. So I asked patients, researchers, clinicians and families what they thought I should do. The answer was clear: deliver the latest in pain research in language that’s easy to understand.
That’s what I’m doing now. And I’d like to invite you to join this community, where we’ll follow the latest research, and where you’ll get to learn what pain science means in practice. You’ll hear the voices of people living with the experience of chronic pain and the expert researchers and clinicians we’ll talk with are truly experts; you won’t find any influencers hawking supplements here.
That doesn’t mean we’ll have all the answers. Pain is complex – it’s not just physical, but also cognitive, emotional, even social. Pain affects every part of life, from movement to sleep to work and relationships. We’ll delve into all of that with scientific rigor, compassion and respect. And we’ll ask why so many people still go without the care they need.
So, how does Notes on Pain work? Joining our community is free and always will be. You’ll receive our weekly newsletter and upcoming podcast, where you’ll hear the stories of people living with pain, brought to life in a way a news article never could. As the project grows, some deeper material will move behind a paywall to help fund the work. Subscribe now and you can lock in a charter rate for life. If you have the means to give more, Founding Supporters help make the journalism possible and get live access to our expert convenings. And Patrons, who provide the critical support that lets a project like this launch, receive special recognition on air.
So please, I invite you to join me here each week. Wherever you’re coming from – whether you’re living with chronic pain, or your loved one is struggling; if you’re a healthcare worker eager to understand the pain you’re seeing and frustrated at the lack of information – please join me on this journey toward a clearer understanding of pain.
So glad you're here, Stephani! A pain neuroscientist who also lives with chronic pain is exactly the bridge my clients need. I'd love to see you cover the hypnosis research for pain someday.