Alyssa Lebel, MD
Director, Chronic Headache Program; Senior Associate in Pain Medicine, Department of Anesthesiology, Critical Care and Pain Medicine
Associate Professor of Anaesthesia, Harvard Medical School
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Alyssa Lebel, MD
Director, Chronic Headache Program; Senior Associate in Pain Medicine, Department of Anesthesiology, Critical Care and Pain Medicine
Associate Professor of Anaesthesia, Harvard Medical School
Medical Services
Languages
English
Education
Medical School
Tufts University School of Medicine
1983
Boston
MA
Internship
Boston Floating Hospital for Infants and Children, New England Medical Center
1985
Boston
MA
Residency
Boston Floating Hospital for Infants and Children, New England Medical Center
1985
Boston
MA
Residency
Child Neurology
Massachusetts General Hospital
1989
Boston
MA
Fellowship
Pain Management
Massachusetts General Hospital
1991
Boston
MA
Media
Caregiver Profile
Meet Dr. Alyssa Lebel
Certifications
American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology (Child and Adolescent Neurology)
American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology (Pain Medicine)
Professional History
Dr. Lebel earned a degree in Neurobiology from Wellesley College with highest honors as a Durant Scholar in 1979 and then received her MD from Tufts University School of Medicine in 1983, elected into Alpha Omega Alpha (AOA) membership in her third year and awarded the Outstanding Senior Clinical Clerk in Neurology. She completed a residency in Pediatrics at The Floating Hospital for Children, New England Medical Center, followed by completion of fellowship training in Child Neurology and Pain Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) in 1989. She then was recruited to stay at MGH in the Departments of Neurology and Anesthesia, developing novel pediatric pain rehabilitative and cancer pain consultative services as well as serving as an Instructor in Neurology and Anesthesia with clinical contributions as a pediatric neurology attending and a pain medicine attending for the MGH Pain Service. She was awarded Teacher of the Year in Pediatric Neurology in 1994, and, in 1996, the Pain Service LeBel Award for Excellence in Teaching was established at MGH. In Philadelphia from 1996-2001, she established a chronic pediatric pain service at St. Christopher's Hospital for Children and at Hahnemann Hospital. She was appointed Assistant Professor of Neurology at MCP Hahnemann University and Assistant Professor of Neurology and Anesthesia at the University of Pennsylvania. She returned to Boston in 2001 and has been an Assistant and now an Associate Professor of Anesthesia (Neurology) and Senior Associate in the Department of Anesthesiology, Division of Pain Medicine to date. During her most recent time at Boston Children's Hospital, she has developed into a national and international leader in the field of pediatric neuropathic pain, pediatric headache, and functional neuroimaging of pediatric pain disorders.
Approach to Care
As with many caretakers' histories, my family's experiences focused my early interest in the neurology on understanding the mechanisms of persistent pain and investigating potential treatments for this compelling problem. A psychologist parent provided a balanced introduction to cognitive science and the value of psychological therapies. A mother's central pain disorder following severe infection challenged me to understand pain related to nerve damage. A sister's struggles with the complex symptoms of terminal cancer secured my decision to become a clinician first and, then, a clinician- investigator, with a practice enriched by a comprehensive specialty team, ready access to expert colleagues, academic research, and inquisitive and caring trainees to truly advance the field. My patients are amazing, resilient, and have taught me all I know.
Publications
The Photo- and Phonosensitivity Avoidance Behavior Scales: Evaluating Clinical Utility in Pediatric Primary Chronic Headache. View Abstract
Pediatric Pain. View Abstract
Hippocampal volume changes across developmental periods in female migraineurs. View Abstract
Placebos in pediatrics: A cross-sectional survey investigating physicians' perspectives. View Abstract
OnabotulinumtoxinA for Pediatric Migraine. View Abstract
Evidence of Chronic Complement Activation in Asymptomatic Pediatric Brain Injury Patients: A Pilot Study. View Abstract
Alterations in the structure and function of the brain in adolescents with new daily persistent headache: A pilot MRI study. View Abstract
Integrated Features for Optimizing Machine Learning Classifiers of Pediatric and Young Adults With a Post-Traumatic Headache From Healthy Controls. View Abstract
Health Mindsets in Pediatric Chronic Headache. View Abstract
Biological laterality and peripheral nerve DTI metrics. View Abstract
DTI and MTR Measures of Nerve Fiber Integrity in Pediatric Patients With Ankle Injury. View Abstract
From One Pain to Many: The Emergence of Overlapping Pains in Children and Adolescents. View Abstract
Left to themselves: Time to target chronic pain in childhood rare diseases. View Abstract
Pediatric Episodic Migraine with Aura: A Unique Entity? View Abstract
Pain stickiness in pediatric complex regional pain syndrome: A role for the nucleus accumbens. View Abstract
Altered Brain Network Connectivity Underlies Persistent Post-Traumatic Headache following Mild Traumatic Brain Injury in Youth. View Abstract
Biological and behavioral markers of pain following nerve injury in humans. View Abstract
The Impact of Sleep on Disability and School Functioning: Results From a Tertiary Pediatric Headache Center. View Abstract
Parenting, self-regulation, and treatment adherence in pediatric chronic headache: A self-determination theory perspective. View Abstract
Pediatric Headache and Sleep Disturbance: A Comparison of Diagnostic Groups - A Response. View Abstract
Shifting brain circuits in pain chronicity. View Abstract
Migraine in the Young Brain: Adolescents vs. Young Adults. View Abstract
Predictors of Primary Intracranial Hypertension in Children Using a Newly Suggested Opening Pressure Cutoff of 280 mm H2O. View Abstract
Design and Reporting Characteristics of Clinical Trials of Select Chronic and Recurrent Pediatric Pain Conditions: An Analgesic, Anesthetic, and Addiction Clinical Trial Translations, Innovations, Opportunities, and Networks Systematic Review. View Abstract
Differences in Pediatric Headache Prescription Patterns by Diagnosis. View Abstract
Rapid Screening of Risk in Pediatric Headache: Application of the Pediatric Pain Screening Tool. View Abstract
Pediatric Headache and Sleep Disturbance: A Comparison of Diagnostic Groups. View Abstract
The Sleep Hygiene Inventory for Pediatrics: Development and Validation of a New Measure of Sleep in a Sample of Children and Adolescents With Chronic Headache. View Abstract
Age- and sex-related differences in the presentation of paediatric migraine: A retrospective cohort study. View Abstract
In child and adult migraineurs the somatosensory cortex stands out … again: An arterial spin labeling investigation. View Abstract
Parental Attitudes About Placebo Use in Children. View Abstract
Autonomic dysfunction in pediatric patients with headache: migraine versus tension-type headache. View Abstract
Cerebral Proliferative Angiopathy. View Abstract
"Headache Tools to Stay in School": Assessment, Development, and Implementation of an Educational Guide for School Nurses. View Abstract
Psychosis following traumatic brain injury and cannabis use in late adolescence. View Abstract
Fear and Reward Circuit Alterations in Pediatric CRPS. View Abstract
The migraine brain in transition: girls vs boys. View Abstract
Depression as a mediator of the relation between family functioning and functional disability in youth with chronic headaches. View Abstract
Butalbital and pediatric headache: stay off the downward path. View Abstract
Rapid treatment-induced brain changes in pediatric CRPS. View Abstract
"Pain Can't Stop Me": Examining Pain Self-Efficacy and Acceptance as Resilience Processes Among Youth With Chronic Headache. View Abstract
Intrinsic brain networks normalize with treatment in pediatric complex regional pain syndrome. View Abstract
Harnessing the placebo effect in pediatric migraine clinic. View Abstract
Pediatric migraine prescription patterns at a large academic hospital. View Abstract
The responsive amygdala: treatment-induced alterations in functional connectivity in pediatric complex regional pain syndrome. View Abstract
Fear of pain in pediatric headache. View Abstract
Sex and the migraine brain. View Abstract
The interplay of pain-related self-efficacy and fear on functional outcomes among youth with headache. View Abstract
Habenula functional resting-state connectivity in pediatric CRPS. View Abstract
Transient and persistent pain induced connectivity alterations in pediatric complex regional pain syndrome. View Abstract
Relations between pain characteristics, child and parent variables, and school functioning in adolescents with chronic headache: a comparison of tension-type headache and migraine. View Abstract
School functioning and chronic tension headaches in adolescents: improvement only after multidisciplinary evaluation. View Abstract
The young brain and concussion: imaging as a biomarker for diagnosis and prognosis. View Abstract
Mapping pain activation and connectivity of the human habenula. View Abstract
Pediatric analgesic clinical trial designs, measures, and extrapolation: report of an FDA scientific workshop. View Abstract
Commentary: health and behavior codes in a pediatric headache program: reimbursement data and recommendations for practice. View Abstract
The pediatrician's guide to managing the difficult pediatric headache patient. View Abstract
Recommendations for the pharmacological management of neuropathic pain: an overview and literature update. View Abstract
Neuropathic pain in children: Special considerations. View Abstract
Challenges of functional imaging research of pain in children. View Abstract
Pharmacology. View Abstract
fMRI reveals distinct CNS processing during symptomatic and recovered complex regional pain syndrome in children. View Abstract
Complex regional pain syndromes in children and adolescents. View Abstract
Patterns of spread in complex regional pain syndrome, type I (reflex sympathetic dystrophy). View Abstract
Functional G-CSF pathways in t(8;21) leukemic cells allow for differentiation induction and degradation of AML1-ETO. View Abstract
Locations