Clifford Woolf

Clifford Woolf, MB, BCh, PhD, is Director of the F.M. Kirby Neurobiology Center at Boston Children's Hospital and Professor in Neurobiology at Harvard Medical School. His research focuses on neuronal plasticity mechanisms underlying pain, regeneration, neurodegenerative disorders, and developmental neurobiology using multidisciplinary approaches including genetics, electrophysiology, and stem cell technology.

Research interests include neuro-immune interactions, transcriptional control of neuronal function, and targeted therapies for chronic pain and neural injuries. His lab uses bioinformatics and human stem cell models to identify novel analgesic targets.

Awards include the Javits Neuroscience Investigator Award, Bristol-Myers Squibb Pain Research Award, and election to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2020).

Recent work explores tetrahydrobiopterin pathways in pain, genetic pain phenotyping, and optogenetic modulation of inflammation.