Interview: A clinical pharmacologist's journey in pain research and treatment

Paul Rolan speaks to Roshaine Gunawardana, Commissioning Editor: Paul Rolan graduated in Medicine (MBBS) from the University of Adelaide, Australia, in 1979 and trained in internal medicine and clinical pharmacology. In 1987, he went to the UK to work at the Wellcome Research Laboratories where he was responsible for the exploratory development of a range of compounds, some of which became marketed (atovaquone, zolmitriptan). He was awarded an MD degree from the University of Adelaide in 1995 for novel conceptual work on the use of biomarkers in exploratory development for work performed while at Wellcome. In 1984, he was appointed Medical Director of Medeval (now part of ICON Clinical Research), a clinical pharmacology contract research organization spun out of the University of Manchester, UK. At Medeval the emphasis was on quantitative pharmacodynamics, especially in neuroscience, and increasingly focused on pain. In Manchester, his clinical practice was in management of complex headache cases and this is continued in his practice back in Australia following his return in 2005. At the University of Adelaide he continues to focus on translational research in pain especially focusing on potential immunologically directed biomarkers and therapies for pain and headache. He is a cofounder of the Pain and Anaesthesia Research Clinic at the University of Adelaide and is a member of the Australian National Medicines Policy Committee. He has been principal investigator in over 700 clinical pharmacology studies including 70 first-in-man studies.