Raymond W. Houde Lecture Award Recipients
2006: James L. Henry, PhD (McMaster University):
Pain Can Become a Disease Itself
2008: Charles Inturrisi, PhD (Weil Medical College of Cornell University):
Identification and Targeting of Pain Signaling Proteins
2010: Charles S. Cleeland, PhD (M.D. Anderson Cancer Center):
A Translational Pathway for Pain and Symptom Treatments
2012: Russell Portenoy, MD (Beth Israel Hospital, NYC):
What’s New in Cancer Pain?
2014: Gavril W. Pasternak*, MD, PhD (Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center)
The Role of Clinical Insights in Shaping our Understanding of Opioid Drug Action
2016: John T. Farrar, MD, PhD (University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine):
Issues in the Design of Clinical Trials for Studies of Opioids - The Future of
the Ray Houde Legacy
2018: Robert H. Dworkin, PhD (University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry)
A Difference is a Difference Only if it Makes a Difference:
What Constitutes Clinically Meaningful Opioid Sparing?
2020: COVID-19 Pandemic, no Houde Award
2021: Kathleen M Foley, MD (Member Emeritus, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center Professor of Neurology Emeritus, Weill Cornell Medical College):
How Well is Cancer Pain Treated Globally and Nationally, Challenges and Opportunities.
2022: William K. Schmidt, PhD
Profile of Three Drugs that Could Change the Profile of Pain Medicine.
2023: No award presented.
*Deceased
Criteria for selecting a nominee based in large part to reflect Ray Houde’s many
contributions to pain medicine:
1. Clinical use of opioids
2. Clinical assessment of opioid activity
3. Focus on cancer related pain
4. Contributed to development of first equianalgesic pain chart
5. Mentored an outstanding group of scientists and physicians who have themselves
become leaders in the field of pain medicine (Presidents of APS and EPA; recipients of
John J. Bonica award from EPA, APS, or other groups; founders of new groups which
focus on end of life care).
6. Developed analgesic assay methodology
7. Contributed to an understanding of clinical tolerance
8. Developed methods to assess clinical pain in the experimental and clinical situation
9. Taught medical students and residents and fellows about the clinical use of opioids
10. Worked with the FDA to develop guidelines for opioid analgesic studies
11. Insisted on rigorous statistical analysis and scientific method
12. Intellectual honesty and the perseverance to pursue it (it did not always make him
popular with his colleagues);
13. Willingness to try new approaches
14. An abiding and deep interest in the welfare of his patients throughout the entire course of
their disease;
a. An ability to look at the whole patient, including family context, fear of death,
etc. Rather than distracting him from the studies, it gave him insight to the factors
involved in the experience, management and relief of pain;
15. The ability to form and mentor a team that successfully prosecuted these aims.