Event Details
Patient–Clinician Relationship and the Role of Hyperscanning in Understanding of the Therapeutic Alliance in Pain Care
Alessandra Anzolin, PhD
Instructor, Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital, Dept. of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Harvard Medical School
Date: Tuesday, October 7, 2025
Time: 8:00 – 9:00 am ET
Online via Zoom
Cost: Free. CME credit available. Please email your name, degree title and institution if applicable to [email protected] during the event to claim credit.
Description:
The quality of the patient–clinician relationship, encompassing empathy, mutual trust, and therapeutic alliance, has a profound impact on treatment outcomes, particularly in chronic pain populations. While positive interactions foster adherence to treatment and improved outcomes, negative ones can contribute to miscommunication, distrust, and burnout. Yet the neurophysiological mechanisms underlying these dynamics remain underexplored. Using two-person neuroscience approaches such as hyperscanning, which simultaneously records brain activity from interacting individuals, we can examine how the clinical context affects pain management and treatment.
Speaker Bio:
Dr. Alessandra Anzolin (she/her) is a neuroscientist and junior faculty member at Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital, Harvard Medical School, specializing in pain neuroimaging, patient–clinician interactions, and non-pharmacological interventions for chronic pain. With a background in biomedical engineering and expertise in brain imaging techniques, such as EEG and fMRI, she leads innovative projects that explore the neural mechanisms of pain processing and its social dimensions. Her research utilizes EEG hyperscanning (simultaneous multi-brain recordings) to examine brain-to-brain connectivity during clinical interactions.