# Research and Mentoring in Innovative Patient Oriented Pain and Opioid Science

> **NIH NIH K24** · STANFORD UNIVERSITY · 2022 · $122,826

## Abstract

Project Summary: The primary goals of this K24 application are to allow Beth Darnall, PhD to (1) provide high-
quality and intensive mentorship of early-career investigators in patient-oriented research (POR); and (2)
acquire new training in research methodologies to support expansion of digital health research in populations
on the continuum of opioid use disorder. A K24 award will provide Dr. Darnall with the critical protected time for
POR and mentoring that would otherwise be spent on administrative and clinical responsibilities. Dr. Darnall is
Associate Professor and Director of the Stanford Pain Relief Innovations Lab at the Stanford University School
of Medicine. Dr. Darnall proposes to extend her line of research on scalable digital behavioral medicine to
people with comorbid chronic pain and prescription opioid misuse, and then conduct a national virtual
randomized controlled trail to investigate impacts on pain and opioid outcomes. Her mentoring plan includes
structured mentoring in: (1) designing and implementing POR studies; (2) preparing scientific papers and
presentations; (3) writing and submitting successful research grant applications; (4) ethical and responsible
conduct of research; and (5) professionalism and successful navigation of the academic process to achieve
scientific independence. Trainees will be derived from multiple current sources including the Stanford Clinical
and Translational Science Award (CTSA), the Pain Division's NIDA T32 program on pain and substance use
disorder, the Pain Division's pain psychology and board certified pain physician fellowship programs, the
Stanford fellowship for the Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education (VPUE), and her multiple active national
and international research collaborations. Dr. Darnall will accomplish her mentoring plan through a combination
of individual and group meetings, collaborative mentoring, role modeling, and participation in interdepartmental
lectures and at national meetings. Additionally, she will closely integrate her mentees into the Stanford CTSA
mentoring program and the extensive offerings of the Stanford Office for Faculty Diversity and Development,
including the NIH K-series and R-series grant intensive writing programs. Her career development plan
includes training in digital health design to optimize digital behavioral treatments for enhanced user
engagement and response, as well as trainings in implementation science, opioid policy, and advanced
mentoring from the Stanford Faculty Leadership Program. Dr. Darnall has outstanding resources, long-
standing successful research collaborations, and a substantial active funding portfolio. The proposed K24
research and other planned projects are expected to lead to new directions and innovations in research on
pain and the continuum of opioid use disorder, and significantly contribute to our scientific understanding of
these disabling conditions. Dr. Darnall will leverage the K24 and her existing resources t...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10397108
- **Project number:** 5K24DA053564-02
- **Recipient organization:** STANFORD UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Beth Denise Darnall
- **Activity code:** K24 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $122,826
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2021-05-01 → 2026-04-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10397108

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10397108, Research and Mentoring in Innovative Patient Oriented Pain and Opioid Science (5K24DA053564-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10397108. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*