Temple's Tasuku Akiyama, PhD, Earns Research Award from International Association for the Study of Pain

Tasuku Akiyama, PhD, Assistant Professor of Dermatology and Anatomy & Cell Biology at Temple University School of Medicine, and a researcher at the Temple Itch Center, has been awarded the 2014 Ronald Dubner Research Prize by the International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP). Dr. Akiyama received the prestigious award October 7 at the IASP 15th World Congress on Pain in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

The Ronald Dubner Research Prize was first given out in 1993 and has been awarded to only 10 researchers. The award "recognizes the best clinical or basic science research paper, series of papers, or doctoral thesis in the field of pain, published or in press while in training as a student, intern, resident, predoctoral fellow, postdoctoral fellow, or equivalent."

IASP cited Dr. Akiyama's contributions to pain research in awarding him the research prize. Dr. Akiyama's research has focused on the neural mechanisms of itch and pain sensations. He has published numerous research papers, nearly all as first author, including several in the journal PAIN. His work addresses itch and pain processes at the systems, cellular and molecular level.