Vani Mathur

Dr. Vani Mathur is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences at Texas A&M University, affiliated with the Institute for Neuroscience and the Diversity Science cluster. Her research focuses on social and cultural influences on pain disparities, empathy mechanisms, and health equity. She employs behavioral, neuroimaging, and psychophysical methods to study how social factors like discrimination affect pain physiology and empathy.

• Education: PhD in Neuroscience/Psychology
• Affiliations: Institute for Neuroscience, Diversity Science Cluster

Key research areas include:

• Racial/ethnic disparities in pain perception and treatment
• Social pain mechanisms (ostracism/empathy)
• Cross-cultural pain studies
• Health equity interventions

Recent grants include a $1M Presidential Clinical Research Partnership Grant addressing maternal health equity and a NSF grant for nature-based PTSD therapy. Her work has been featured in The Journal of Pain, PAIN, and Clinical Journal of Pain.

Dr. Mathur supervises 12 active graduate students and maintains an NIH-funded lab. She co-authored the landmark ACTION-PR guidelines for antiracist pain research methodologies.