Chair in Paediatric Psychology at the University of Southampton and an Honorary Consultant Paediatric Psychologist, at the Paediatric Chronic Pain Clinic, Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Trust, London, UNITED KINGDOM

Professor Christina Liossi has worked as an academic and clinician in the UK and abroad and has cared for children with various chronic medical conditions including cancer, cystic fibrosis, chronic kidney disease, epidermolysis bullosa, and sickle cell disease.

 

Christina is one of the world experts in paediatric pain. Her research and clinical practice dovetail and focus on three intertwined themes:

  • The cognitive and affective neuroscience of pain- in particular, the emotional modulation of attention in chronic pain.
  • The development of theory driven psychological interventions for the management of acute and chronic pain in young people-currently cognitive bias modification training.
  • The evaluation of the efficacy and effectiveness of psychological interventions in young people’s pain management-specifically cognitive-behavioural interventions, delivery of psychological treatment via the Internet, parent/family factors.
    Christina’s randomized controlled clinical trials have been critical to the establishment of hypnosis as an evidenced-based intervention in the care of children with cancer. Christina has contributed to national and international evidence-based guidelines on acute and chronic paediatric pain, pain in epidermolysis bullosa, pain in children with cancer and sedation in children. She is currently Deputy Chair of the UK National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Clinical Research Network-Children,  Pain and Palliative Care Clinical Studies Group. Christina has written a book on procedure-related cancer pain in children, and is a content author on the NHS e-PAIN project http://www.e-lfh.org.uk/programmes/pain-management/.