Corey Simon is an associate professor in the Duke Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, senior fellow in the Duke Center for the Study of Aging and Human Development, and member of the Duke Clinical Research Institute. He trained at the University of Florida (UF) Clinical and Translational Science Institute and UF Pain Research Intervention Center of Excellence; where he was mentored by physical therapist and PIPT expert Dr. Steven George, and pain psychologists Drs. Joseph Riley and Roger Fillingim. Since coming to Duke in 2016, Corey has been mentored by pain psychologist Dr. Francis Keefe – a pioneer in pain coping skills training and PIPT. 

As a geriatric pain researcher, Corey’s uses precision medicine science to identify older adults at risk for high-impact chronic pain (HICP) and disability; and subsequently, develop tailored biobehavioral interventions for this high-risk subgroup. As part of his principal work, Corey leads a multidisciplinary team examining the interface between stress, inflammation, and movement-evoked pain. This interface is quantified in a novel laboratory paradigm, where peripheral stress and immune biochemical biomarkers (e.g., serum cortisol, pro-inflammatory cytokines) are measured before and after evocation of an acute stressor (e.g., muscle injury, painful physical activity). Through this work, they have discovered novel inflammatory effects to acute pain and implications of high stress reactivity on movement-evoked pain, physical function, and psychological distress in older adults with HICP. 

In addition to his principal research, Corey has extensive experience in psychologically-informed intervention development, implementation, and education. In the AIM-Back Trial, he led the development of a sequenced-care treatment pathway of stratified and matched care for Veterans with low back pain at risk for disability based on psychological distress. Subsequently, this pathway was embedded in nine VA sites nationally and provided care to over 800 Veterans. Corey also developed the Duke Doctor of Physical Therapy foundational course in Pain Science; introductory PIPT elective for second-year Duke DPT students; and introductory PIPT module for Duke DPT orthopaedic PT residents.