Maryland Professor Luana Colloca Recognized with Lifetime Achievement Award

Dr. Luana Colloca has been awarded the 2024 Giovan Giacomo Giordano-NIAF Lifetime Achievement Award for Ethics and Creativity in Medical Research by the National Italian American Foundation (NIAF) and the Sbarro Health Research Organization (SHRO). This prestigious honor recognizes Dr. Colloca’s groundbreaking contributions to medicine and public health, particularly her research into the behavioral, neural, and pharmacological mechanisms of pain modulation, including the placebo and nocebo effects.

The award was presented by NIAF Board Members Dr. Antonio Giordano, M.D., Ph.D., Founder and Director of SHRO and Professor at Temple University, and attorney Alan D’Ambrosio.

Dr. Colloca serves as the MPower Distinguished Professor at the University of Maryland, Baltimore, and Director of the Placebo Beyond Opinion Center at the University of Maryland School of Nursing. She holds an M.D., a Master’s degree in Bioethics, and a Ph.D. in Neuroscience, with advanced training completed at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm and a senior research fellowship at the National Institutes of Health.

Her extensive body of research, featured in leading journals such as Biological Psychiatry, Nature Neuroscience, JAMA, The Lancet Neurology, and The New England Journal of Medicine, has garnered over 19,500 citations (H-index 64). Dr. Colloca’s work has also been highlighted in renowned media outlets including National Geographic, The New Scientist, The Washington Post, The New Yorker, The Guardian, and The Wall Street Journal.

Among her numerous accolades, Dr. Colloca has received the Dubner and Patrick Wall awards from the International Association for the Study of Pain and was recently named the 2024 Researcher of the Year at UMB. Beyond her scientific achievements, she is a passionate science communicator, connecting with diverse audiences through podcasts—including one with Seinfeld’s Jason Alexander—and a widely viewed TEDx talk.