Presenter: Kira Mazel, Nursing, Global Public Health Scholars
For my practicum project, I worked in the Colloca Lab at the University of Maryland, School of Nursing in Baltimore. The Colloca Lab specializes in pain and pain perception by specifically studying participants with Temporomandibular Disorder (TMD), a chronic pain disorder that can make daily activities such as eating, smiling, talking, and yawning, painful experiences. The lab seeks to find alternative solutions to medication to decrease the suffering caused by chronic pain and work towards significantly increasing quality of life. As a research assistant, I worked on various PI-delegated tasks including phone screening, study procedures, data entry and analysis, manuscript preparation, and administrative duties. Through my time working at the lab, I learned about the innovative mechanisms to reduce daily pain experiences without the use of opioids or other pain-relieving medications.