Cecile A. Feldman

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Photography: 
courtesy of Cecile A. feldman

The National Institutes of Health has awarded the Rutgers School of Dental Medicine (RSDM) an $11.7 million grant to study how combining ibuprofen and acetaminophen compares to using opioids for managing pain. Smaller studies have demonstrated that the two medications can treat acute pain as effectively as opioids, but the six-year RSDM study will be longer  in duration and involve 1,800 subjects. Principal investigator Cecile A. Feldman, dean of the dental school, says that dental clinics are an ideal setting for opioid research because dentists and oral surgeons, in helping patients manage acute and chronic pain, prescribe the drugs at higher rates than many other medical practitioners.