Dr. McLean, Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine, has received a 2.6 million dollar award from NIH/NIAMS to support his study “Genetic predictors of acute and chronic musculoskeletal pain after minor MVC”.    Each year, more than five million people are treated in US Emergency Departments (EDs) after "minor" motor vehicle collision (MVC) and discharged to home. Persistent pain (most commonly neck pain) develops in 10-20% of these individuals, with an economic impact of $29 billion per year in the United States alone. The pathophysiology of chronic symptom development (e.g. chronic pain, posttraumatic stress disorder) after traumatic events remains poorly understood. The goal of Dr. McLean’s study is to use genetic assessments to gain new insights into these disorders.