Pain Research & Management

Biography

Kalpna Gupta, PhD is a Professor of Medicine in the Division of Hematology, Oncology and Transplantation; and co-Leader of the Tumor Microenvironment Program in the Masonic Cancer Research Centre; and Molecular and Cellular Engineering Program at the Institute for Engineering in Medicine, at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA. She obtained her PhD from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi, India. She was an Associate Professor of biochemistry at AIIMS until she moved to the United States. Dr Kalpna Gupta is a leading investigator in research on pain and vascular biology in sickle cell disease (SCD). Her seminal observations on morphine signaling in endothelium laid down the foundation to understand the role of opioids in cancer progression. Simultaneously, she initiated investigation on understanding the neurobiology of pain in SCD. Her basic findings are under clinical studies/trials currently. She has a strong track record of receiving highly competitive NIH funding for pain and opioid biology research. She is a receipient of the Excellence in Hemoglobinopathies Research Award from NHLBI, NIH, to study, “Cannabinoid-based therapy and approaches to quantify pain in sickle cell disease.” Her research interests are global. She received the “Science without Borders” award from the Government of Brazil to advance their endeavors in sickle cell disease research. Dr Gupta is a standing member of the, “Hypertension and Microcirculation” study section and serves as an ad-hoc member for several study sections at NIH. She is a member of the Advisory Council for Sickle Cell Disease at NIH. She is a reviewer for several high impact peer reviewed journals including, Nature Publising group, Lancet, Blood, Cancer Res, J Biol Chem, etc. She has authored over 60 peer-reviewed publications, several reviews and book chapters. Dr Gupta is highly involved in the graduate teaching programs for Fellows in Medicine and graduate students in the Cancer Centre. She has mentored several Fellows and Post-docs. She is extremely active in promoting diversity in medicine. She serves as a member of the Admissions Executive Committee for MD admissions, University of Minnesota.

Research Interest

Opioid activity in endothelium in sickle cell disease,Oncology