Pain Clinical Research Center

The UCSF Pain Clinical Research Center (PCRC) at Mount Zion is one of the first university-based clinical research units devoted to the study of neuropathic pain. This world-renowned clinical research center has conducted groundbreaking studies on the mechanisms of PHN and pioneered studies on its treatment.

The goal of the internationally acclaimed center is to improve treatment of chronic pain through cutting-edge clinical research. Many painful conditions have been studied at the PCRC, including:

• Post-herpetic neuralgia (PHN), chronic pain after a "shingles" attack
• Acute herpes zoster, or shingles
• Painful peripheral neuropathy (PN)
• Diabetic neuropathy (DN)
• HIV-related neuropathy
• Complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS), also called RSD
• Spinal cord injury pain
• Post-stroke pain, or thalamic pain
• Multiple sclerosis (MS) pain
• Migraine and chronic daily headache
• Fibromyalgia
• Acute sports injury pain

In order to join any study at the PCRC, you must be able to speak and read basic English, be in relatively stable physical and mental health, and be able to travel to our center in San Francisco for visits.