Joel Kent, MD

Dr. Joel Kent’s general area of research interest is in promoting symptom relief and functional restoration of patients with chronic nonmalignant pain. Within this realm, he has two focused areas of clinical interest. The first is in the critical assessment of outcomes associated with the use of chronic opioid therapy for the treatment of non-malignant pain. Opioid therapy is potentially helpful, but also carries significant potential liabilities. Despite the widespread use of opioids in this patient population, clinicians have relatively little objective medical evidence to guide their use of these agents in chronic pain patients. Thus, some of Dr. Kent’s research efforts are geared to identifying strategies to optimize this therapy and to ensure optimal outcomes when opioids are used to treat patients with chronic nonmalignant pain. He also has an interest in the treatment of neuropathic pain and has participated in studies evaluating treatments for this common condition.