Stephen Coombes, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Neuroscience
College of Medicine
Pain is often thought of as something that happens in the body, but much of the experience is shaped by the brain. Stephen Coombes’s research focuses on understanding how the brain processes pain and movement, revealing why some people develop chronic conditions and how those conditions might be treated more effectively.
Coombes studies how the brain’s motor and sensory systems interact in disorders that affect movement and function, including chronic pain and neurodegenerative disease. His work uses advanced imaging and measurement techniques to observe the brain in action, allowing researchers to connect changes in brain activity with real-world experiences such as discomfort, disability and recovery. As Coombes explains, his goal is to understand “how the central nervous system generates the experience of pain” and how those processes change over time.
A major focus of his research examines chronic musculoskeletal pain, particularly conditions such as low back pain. His studies show that pain is not static but constantly evolving, shaped by both brain function and behavior. For example, his work has demonstrated that people with chronic pain show different patterns of brain activity during movement and at rest, helping explain why pain can persist even after an injury has healed. His team has also found that day-to-day fluctuations in pain can affect how people remember their symptoms, raising important questions about how pain is measured and treated.
In parallel, Coombes has developed widely used tools that allow scientists to map brain connections in greater detail. These tools, which are freely available to researchers around the world, help identify structural markers of disease and track how conditions such as Alzheimer’s progress over time. His work has shown that certain brain changes can predict cognitive decline more accurately than some existing diagnostic approaches, opening new possibilities for early detection and inter vention.
That combination of innovation and impact, as department chair David Vaillancourt noted, reflects research that highlights “the dynamic nature of pain at both behavioral and neural levels” and provides a foundation for developing better treatments.
Through his work, Coombes is advancing a more complete understanding of how the brain shapes movement, pain and recovery, with the goal of improving quality of life for people living with chronic and neurological conditions.