John C. Liebeskind
University of California, Los Angeles
February 2, 1935 - September 10, 1997
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Scientific Discipline: Psychological and Cognitive Sciences Membership Type:
Member
(elected 1995)
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A pioneer in pain relief research, John C. Liebeskind contributed significantly to the fields of behavioral neuroscience and psychoneuroimmunology. He was one of the first psychologists to research the correlation between brain activity and the sensation of pain. He established the existence of natural, neurological pain-inhibition systems and their neurochemical bases (opioid and nonopioid). Liebeskind’s lab was the first to suggest that opiate drugs and stress cause analgesia, or the inability to feel pain, by activating the pain inhibitory circuits in the brain. This discovery laid the foundation for the treatment of chronic, debilitating pain. They were also the first to determine that endorphins (inhibitory neuropeptides) facilitated the immune-suppressing and tumor-enhancing effects of stress. In his article published in 1993, Liebeskind demonstrated that unmanaged pain wasn’t only capable of suppressing the human immune system, but that it could also promote the spread of cancerous tumors.
In 1957, Liebeskind received his B.A. degree from Harvard University. He left to attend the University of Michigan where he earned his M.A. and his Ph.D. (both in psychology) in 1959 and 1962, respectively. He began his teaching career as an assistant professor of psychology at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) in 1965. He became a full professor in 1976, and in 1978, he accepted his final educational position as professor of psychology and anesthesiology. Along with his several positions on editorial boards of scientific publications, Liebeskind was a member of the Society for Neuroscience, the American Psychological Society, the International Association for the Study of Pain, and the American Pain Society of which he was president from 1990-1991. He also received several commendations, including the John J. Bonica Award of the Eastern Pain Association in 1983, the Jacob K. Javits Neuroscience Investigator Award from NIH in 1985, and the F.W.L. Kerr Award from the American Pain Society in 1995.
