Meet the individuals involved in UPenn's CoEPE

Dr. John T. Farrar, MD, PhD

Dr. Farrar has been involved in clinical research for more than 20 years, with a major focus on the study of the efficacy of pain therapeutics and on novel methodology in the design and execution of clinical trials.  As a neurologist and a pharmaco-epidemiologist, he has been involved in numerous studies including randomized trials (RCTs), cohort studies, and methodologic studies of pain and associated symptoms such as fatigue, depression, and quality of life in clinical research and practice; these have been conducted with funding he has received from the National Institutes of Health, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), private foundations, and industry sources. Currently he is the principal investigator of the Center of Excellence for Pain Education, he directs the evaluation component of Penn's current Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA), and he is a collaborator with the data coordinating center for the U54 multicenter Multidisciplinary Approach to the Study of Chronic Pelvic Pain (MAPP) study.  Nationally he has served on advisory boards for the FDA, on the National Academy of Science (NAS) committee on Missing Data in Clinical Trials, and on the Institute of Medicine’s (IOM) committee on Relieving Pain in America. He continues to serve roles as an ad hoc reviewer for NIH and the FDA, and as associate editor for the journal Pharmacoepidemiology and Drug Safety (PDS).

His current research is focused on the evaluation of new methodologies for understanding how patients report their pain, studies in a large population of patients with pelvic pain, and functional brain imaging in people with pain.  At the University of Pennsylvania, he also serves as the co-director of the Master of Science in Clinical Epidemiology program and of the Biostatistics and Epidemiology Consulting Center. He directs the Introduction to Epidemiology course for medical students.  In addition, he continues to see patients, predominately in a palliative care setting.

Content Area Specialties: 

• Clinical trial in pain therapuetics, brain function in painful conditions, complementary/alternative medicine, pharmacoepidemiology

Methods Specialties: 

• Clinical trial design, pain therapuetics, pain measurement methodology, functional brain imaging, research methods

Rosemary C. Polomano, PhD, RN, FAAN

Nationally and internationally known for advancing the science of understanding and treating pain, Rosemary C.  Polomano’s research has always been informed and inspired by her clinical practice and the patients she cared for as an advanced practice registered nurse.  In the mid-1990s, while a pain clinical nurse specialist at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Dr. Polomano promised a patient with cancer experiencing painful chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy that she would do all she could to research the woman’s complaints of burning hands and feet, a common condition associated with chemotherapy. 

Dr. Polomano’s subsequent research, funded by the National Institute of Nursing Research, investigated the mechanisms of peripheral neuropathy and the chemotherapy drug paclitaxel (Taxol). Keeping her bedside promise, Dr. Polomano designed a rat model investigating Taxol-induced peripheral neuropathy that was comparable to her patients’ experiences. This model is now used by investigators throughout the world to test analgesics and provide insights into understanding chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy.  

Dr. Polomano’s research into pain science soon expanded to include ways to measure pain and help patients communicate about their pain.  She developed and tested the American Pain Society- Patient Outcomes Questionnaire-Revised (APS-POQ) that is now translated into several languages and used worldwide to conduct quality improvement for pain management in hospitalized patients. 

In 2014, in recognition of her career-long work to advance pain science, Dr. Polomano received Penn Nursing’s Norma M. Lang Award for Scholarly Practice and Policy. She has published over 85 peer-reviewed journal articles and more than 30 chapters in nursing and medical textbooks.  

“Almost all of my research is inspired by patients and I work with two of the most amazing populations – military veterans and cancer patients.”

Elliot V. Hersh, DMD, MS, PhD

Dr. Hersh runs a very active clinical research program that plays a key role in developing and carrying out clinical protocols. His analgesic research team was instrumental in the granting of FDA approval to a number of analgesic and anesthetic agents such as ibuprofen liquigels (Advil Liquigels), OTC ketoprofen (Orudis KT), extended-release etodolac (Lodine XL), 4% articaine with 1:200,000 epinephrine (Septocaine 1:200,000) the transoral lidocaine patch (Dentipatch), and phentolamine mesylate (OraVerse) for the reversal of soft tissue sensory and functional deficits induced by commonly employed local anesthetic solutions, and most recently intranasal tetracaine/oxymetazoline (Kovanaze), a needle-free technology to provide local anesthesia of the maxillary teeth.

His studies of analgesic agents have been published in peer review journals such as the Journal of the American Dental Association, Oral Surgery, Oral Medicine and Oral Pathology, Clinical Therapeutics, and Current Medical Research and Opinion. He was the 2007 recipient of the International Association of Dental Research Pharmacology, Therapeutics and Toxicology Distinguished Scientist Award. Dr. Hersh directs and lectures in the undergraduate pharmacology and clinical therapeutics courses, the postgraduate clinical pharmacology course, and delivers presentations to the undergraduate Penn Dental Medicine students in the pain control and geriatrics series.

He also teaches continuing education courses for Penn Dental Medicine and has been awarded the University’s highest teaching honor, the Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching, and the Dental School’s Excellence in the Teaching of Basic Science Award 20 times. For 16 years he served as chairperson of IRB #3, of the University’s Committee on Studies Involving Human Beings, and for seven years on the University’s Standing Conflict of Interest Committee and the Human Research Advisory Committee to the Vice Provost of Research. In 2016 he was co-recipient along with John Farrar MD, PhD and Rosemary Polomano RN, PhD of the University One Health Award, for establishing an NIH-funded interdisciplinary Pain Science Course.

Michelle R. McCarthy, MSW, MPH

Michelle McCarthy is a Research Manager at the Clinical Center for Epidemiology and Biostatistics (CCEB) at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine and has been an important component to the CoEPE since early 2016. Ms. McCarthy’s expertise include health promotion and health education and her past experiences have involved promoting health among certain populations in the U.S. and in underdeveloped countries through counseling, education, and clinical research. She has worked to develop five comprehensive pain modules as part of this project: Breast Pain, Facial Pain, Pediatric Pain, Trauma Pain, and Sickle Cell Pain.