The Institute for Trauma Recovery is working to better understand the mechanisms underlying chronic pain development in the aftermath of major thermal burn injury. Worldwide, there are approximately 11 million burn injuries that occur annually and a significant number of these individuals go on to experience life-altering chronic pain and itch. The Institute has teamed up with surgeons in the Jaycee Burn Center at UNC as well as with leading burn centers from around the United States to improve our understanding of the mechanisms responsible for chronic pain and suffering experienced by survivors of major burn injuries. Over previous years, this research network has enrolled 96 burn survivors in an observation cohort in which pain and post-traumatic outcomes were longitudinally measured. In this past year, we have published three findings from this cohort study, which will serve as the foundation for future, larger scale studies.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"