Tonya M. Palermo, PhD

Overview

Medical/Professional School

Case Western Reserve University , Cleveland, Clinical Psychology

Fellowship

Clinical Psychology, Rainbow Babies and Children's Hospital, Cleveland

Clinical Interests

Pediatric chronic and recurrent pain, sleep disorders in children Psychological treatment of pediatric chronic pain, use of innovative technology to deliver treatment, sleep-wake disturbances

Research Description

Children can develop chronic pain from an injury or as a consequence of a disease process. Pain can also be the problem itself without any specific identifiable injury or disease and is an important public health problem, with estimates of chronic pain in almost a quarter of youth worldwide. Dr. Tonya Palermo, a pediatric psychologist and Professor of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, has had a long-standing interest in how pain affects the lives of children and their families. One aspect of her NIH-funded research has focused on the interrelationships of pain, sleep, and behavioral/psychological factors. This research has found that many adolescents with chronic pain suffer with significant insomnia symptoms that have a major impact on their quality of life and that persist over time. Dr. Palermo is interested in developing sleep interventions for this population to reduce sleep problems and to enhance pain management interventions.

Another aspect of Dr. Palermo's NIH-funded research concerns innovative approaches to pain assessment and intervention in youth. Because of the lack of available resources in many parts of the world to provide specialized pain care to children with chronic pain, there has been an increasingly recognized need to consider alternative modes of delivering interventions to children and their families. Dr. Palermo has developed and tested a cognitive-behavioral intervention delivered online for youth with chronic pain (Web-MAP), finding that adolescents who received this intervention had improvements in their pain levels and in their ability to participate in physical activities. She is now carrying out a new trial of the internet program to further test the efficacy of the intervention in a large sample of children and adolescents recruited from around the U.S. and Canada.

Dr. Palermo is an international expert in pediatric pain management; she is the author of over 80 original research articles and has a book on cognitive-behavioral therapy in children with chronic pain that is in press. Dr. Palermo is also active in professional societies and holds several elected leadership positions including President-elect of the Society of Pediatric Psychology and Chair of the American Pain Society Special Interest Group on Pain in Infants, Children, and Adolescents.

Lab URL

http://www.seattlechildrens.org/research/child-health-behavior-and-development/palermo-lab/

Publications

Research Funding