Karen Davis (neuroscientist) facts for kids

Karen D. Davis is a professor at the University of Toronto who studies the brain. She leads a team that researches pain. She holds a special title called the Canada Research Chair in Acute and Chronic Pain Research. She also heads a division at the Krembil Research Institute.

Professor Davis has received many important awards for her work. These include being part of the Johns Hopkins Society of Scholars in 2009. She also joined the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences in 2018. In 2020, she became a member of the Royal Society of Canada. She used to be the President of the Canadian Pain Society. Now, she is the main editor for PAIN. This is a big science journal about pain.

Before her current role, she held another important research position. This was also a Canada Research Chair in Brain and Behaviour.

Understanding Pain and the Brain

Professor Davis is very interested in how our brains handle pain. She studies both sudden (acute) and long-lasting (chronic) pain. She also looks at how we feel temperature. Her research explores how our attention affects pain. She also studies how the brain can change and adapt. This is called neuroplasticity. She looks at this in healthy people. She also studies people with brain or mental health conditions.

Tools for Brain Research

Her team uses many cool ways to study the brain. They use special brain imaging methods. These include functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). They also use Positron emission tomography (PET) and Magnetoencephalography (MEG). These tools let them see brain activity. They also test how people think and feel. They record electrical signals from the brain. This helps them understand how the brain works.

Professor Davis's lab has created new ways to use brain imaging. They were the first to show brain networks involved in human pain. They also showed how deep brain stimulation helps people with Parkinson's disease.

Pain and Brain Connections

Professor Davis has studied many types of long-lasting pain. This includes pain after a concussion. She also researches phantom pain, which is pain felt in a missing body part. She found that the brain area for a missing limb can still be active. This happens even when the limb is gone.

Her work also shows how pain and thinking are linked. She found that brain networks change when we feel pain. For example, if you are doing two things at once, your brain might focus more on pain. This happens when you are multitasking. She has also shown how the brain processes different senses together.

New Ideas About Pain

Professor Davis has introduced two important ideas about pain. These ideas build on earlier concepts. One idea is called the "pain switch." This idea suggests that a core brain part creates the basic feeling of "ouch." This feeling happens no matter how strong the pain is.

Her other idea is the "Dynamic Pain Connectome." This concept explains that pain is not fixed in the brain. Instead, it is a changing pattern of activity. This pattern includes areas related to what we notice. It also includes areas active when our minds wander. It also involves pathways that send pain signals to the brain.

Professor Davis has written over 200 articles and book chapters. Her work has been used by other scientists many times.

Thinking About Brain Ethics

Professor Davis is also involved in neuroethics. This field looks at the ethical issues in brain research. She has written about the moral and legal questions. These questions come up when using brain imaging to diagnose chronic pain.

She led a group that studied this topic. They published a paper in 2017. It gave recommendations on using brain imaging for chronic pain. She is also helping to edit a book about pain neuroethics.

Teaching and Helping Others

Professor Davis is known for being a great mentor. She has won awards for guiding students and young scientists. These include the Silverman Award from the University of Toronto. She also received the Outstanding Pain Mentorship Award.

She has also created educational programs. She wrote a book called New Techniques for Examining the Brain. Her TED-Ed video is titled "How does your brain respond to pain?". This video has been watched over 2 million times.

A Promise for Scientists

Professor Davis and her colleagues believe scientists should take an oath. This oath would be similar to the Hippocratic Oath for doctors. It would be a promise for how scientists should do their work. The oath used at the Institute Medical Sciences in Toronto says:

I promise never to allow financial gain, competitiveness or ambition cloud my judgment in the conduct of ethical research and scholarship. I will pursue knowledge and create knowledge for the greater good, but never to the detriment of colleagues, supervisors, research subjects or the international community of scholars of which I am now a member.

This oath encourages scientists to be fair and honest. It reminds them to always work for the good of everyone.