Laura E. Simons PhD

Laura Simons, PhD, is a Professor in the Department of Anesthesiology, Perioperative, and Pain Medicine at Stanford University School of Medicine in Palo Alto, California, USA. Dr. Simons is a clinical psychologist whose program of research focuses on pain-related fear. She demonstrated that heightened and generalized avoidance of harm in youth with pain is associated with maladaptive functional outcomes and altered affective and reward-related brain circuit connectivity. Dr. Simons' work embodies the biopsychosocial model spanning neural underpinnings of emotion and behavior, assessment scale development to guide treatment targets, and innovative treatment using graded exposure for youth with chronic pain.