Supporting Research in Pain Management for Veterans and Military Service Members
Supporting Research in Pain Management for Veterans and Military Service Members

Insights from PMC Leadership: Driving Better Pain Care for Veterans

Pain/Opioid Consortium of Research (CORE) Interviews with Robert Kerns, PhD

PMC’s Robert Kerns, PhD, talked with VA Health Systems Pain/Opioid CORE about the PMC’s mission to advance pain care research.  The interview below is reprinted in its entirety, with permission from the Pain/Opioid CORE newsletter.

In an interview with one of the Pain Management Collaboratory (PMC) Coordinating Center directors, Dr. Kerns discussed the PMC’s mission and approach to advancing pain research. The PMC is designed to evaluate whether nonpharmacological approaches to pain management are effective when delivered through real-world VA and military health systems.

Why focus on pragmatic clinical trials (PCTs)?

Unlike traditional efficacy trials, PCTs are designed to inform clinician practice and policy decisions. In pain research, they better reflect clinical reality by including patients with multiple comorbidities, high disability, or ongoing opioid therapy making results more generalizable and potentially easier to implement. PMC trials are also shaped by close engagement with clinicians, health system leaders, and Veterans.

Why the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) and Defense Health Agency (DHA)?

Pain is highly prevalent among service members and Veterans, and both VHA and DHA prioritize nonpharmacological approaches to pain care. The VHA’s role as a learning health system – with strong research infrastructure and rich electronic health record data – makes it an ideal setting for large-scale pragmatic trials.

Key Lessons Learned

Over nearly a decade, the PMC has learned that flexibility and coordination are essential. During COVID-19, investigators successfully pivoted to virtual recruitment, intervention delivery, and data collection. The PMC has also prioritized harmonized outcomes across trials, enabling cross-study learning and reinforcing a shared impact model.


What sets the PMC apart is its emphasis on community building – bringing investigators together to solve problems in real time and advance pain research collectively.

“The [PMC] allows us to all be in tune with one another and benefit from the addition of all our projects together, rather than just from the individual project alone.”

– PMC investigator

“VHA is well positioned to successfully support the PMC PCTs due to its commitment as a learning health system and its enviable research infrastructure.”

– Dr. Kerns

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