Claire E. Lunde

I am a DPhil student in the Nuffield Department of Women's and Reproductive Health. I am also affiliated with the Biobehavioral Pediatric Pain Lab at Boston Children's Hospital. 

The study of women has been historically neglected in biomedical research. To help close this gap in knowledge, I am investigating women’s and reproductive health with the guidance of Drs. Katy Vincent, Elaine Fox, and Christine Sieberg. One particular interest I have within women's and reproductive health is exploring the relationship between traumatic experiences and endometriosis-associated pain. Additionally, I am interested in investigating the areas of interest in the brain regarding the functional and structural changes in patients with endometriosis and chronic pelvic pain using fMRI. My past research experiences have been varied in their methodologies and areas of study, such as placebo mechanisms underlying smoking behavior and relapse processes; factors that influence caffeine physical dependence and withdrawal; food access and policies in cities; and adolescent and young adult suicidology.

I am currently working with Dr. Vincent and Dr. Sieberg on a subproject of the Innovative Medicines Initiative-PainCare Consortium, collecting translational research in pelvic pain (TRiPP), which has a specific focus on endometriosis-associated pain and bladder pain syndrome. The main hypothesis of TRiPP is that the pain symptoms experienced by women with these conditions are generated and maintained by mechanisms similar to those found in other chronic pain conditions, but occur in combination with specific pathological lesions and symptoms. I am dedicated to working towards deeply phenotyping women with these conditions by combining detailed clinical, biological, physiological, and psychological data. I plan to more deeply analyze a subgroup of TRiPP that could describe the mechanisms underlying the relationship between the biological impact of early childhood trauma and the pathophysiology of endometriosis, as well as the impact on endometriosis treatment success.