PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT This is an application for the Mentored Clinician Scientist Career Development Award (K08) for Dr. Maggie Waung, a Clinical Instructor in Neurology at the University of California, San Francisco. Dr. Waung is establishing herself as a young investigator in the translational field of headache disorders. This proposal describes a 5-year training program (coursework, conferences, national presentations, clinical development, and mentored research) geared towards the development of an academic career focused on studying the mechanisms of chronic headache, with a particular focus on migraine. This award will provide the core support necessary to acquire further expertise in advanced neuroscience methods and develop the leadership skills required to successfully run an independent laboratory. To achieve these goals, Dr. Waung has outlined a detailed plan and assembled a mentoring team composed of experts in the field of pain, addiction, and complex neural circuits. The Candidate: Dr. Waung is a neurologist and neuroscientist who graduated from the Medical Scientist Training Program at the University of Texas, Southwestern Medical Center, where she excelled in both her medical and graduate school studies. She was elected to the Alpha Omega Alpha (AOA) medical honors society and received the American Academy of Neurology Medical Student Prize for Excellence in Neurology. Her graduate work uncovered a novel mechanism underlying persistent postsynaptic changes in a unique form of hippocampal synaptic plasticity. This led to a first-author publication in a major neuroscience journal, Neuron. She continued on to complete neurology residency training at UCSF, where she served as chief resident. In her proposed training plan, Dr. Waung will apply her understanding of neuronal plasticity and learn new methods of circuit analysis in order to build a solid scientific program towards the study of headache. Mentorship Environment and Formal Instruction: Dr. Waung's proposal draws on the resources and expertise of the Fields lab in conjunction with the mentorship of Drs. Elyssa Margolis and Allan Basbaum. Dr. Howard Fields is a Professor of Neurology and Director of the Wheeler Center for the Neurobiology of Addiction. He has made seminal contributions to the understanding of neuropathic pain and the role of endogenous opioids in these circuits, not to mention his tremendous track record in mentoring successful neuroscientists, many who have gone on to pursue academic careers in research. Dr. Allan Basbaum is Professor and Chair of the Department of Anatomy at UCSF, who has devoted his career to understanding the neurobiological basis of pain. Dr. Waung's advisory committee also includes an expert in midbrain opioid signaling (Elyssa Margolis) and Dr. Frederic (Woody) Hopf, who has pioneered the use of optogenetics in novel addiction paradigms. In addition to a remarkable group of mentors, Dr. Waung will participate in formal workshops aroun...