Mark Tommerdahl

Equity Interest - Non-publicly traded entity ( e.g., stock, stock option, or other ownership interest)

Neurosensory Assessments of Headache

RELEVANCE TO PUBLIC HEALTH The overall goal of the proposed work is to investigate the utility of novel sensory-based methodologies that are currently being used in both basic and clinical research to track recovery in headache patients post- treatment. Recently, utilizing state-of-the-art technology, we built a multi-site tactile stimulator that allows for investigation of central nervous system (CNS) health and advanced methods in sensory perceptual metrics. These metrics have been demonstrated to be sensitive to changes in centrally mediated mechanisms; and systemic alterations of cortical health (via neurodegenerational, neurodevelopmental, pharmacological or trauma induced changes) robustly change the measures. It is anticipated that clinicians will be able to utilize these measures to improve diagnostic performance and enable assessment of efficacy of treatment. The study itself will serve to validate the utility of a number of these measures in headache and eventually provide health workers with a means to detect when an individual is under-reporting or over-reporting pain symptoms, and to track the recovery of an individual from headache. Better methods for measuring the progression of headache and response to treatment could lead to better diagnostics and therapeutics. Additionally, the information from this study could aid in understanding centrally mediated mechanisms that undergo significant alterations with headache.