Dr. Goodin is a clinical health psychologist with specialization in pain-related behavioral medicine. He examines the interactions of psychosocial and biobehavioral characteristics in relation to the experience of pain through the key pathways of stress-related hormones (neuroendocrine function) and immune function. His previous and ongoing projects are conducted in collaboration with colleagues at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, the University of Florida, as well as UAB.
Over the years, Dr. Goodin has been involved with several different studies that afforded him the opportunity to become very familiar with experimental models of evoked pain using quantitative sensory testing. As part of these studies, he has developed and refined methods to assess pain sensitivity and modulation (e.g., endogenous pain inhibition and facilitation) using dynamic experimental pain stimuli. This has led him to the next step in his research, which is to begin evaluating the impact of factors such as sleep disturbance and neuropeptides (e.g., oxytocin) on pain sensitivity and modulation across the adult lifespan.
