Kimberly Stephens

Kimberly Stephens serves as an Assistant Professor in Pediatrics at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences College of Medicine, with divisional specialization in Pediatric Infectious Diseases. Her research bridges clinical pediatrics with molecular neuroscience, focusing on chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy and chronic pain mechanisms through spinal cord stimulation and epigenomic approaches.

Her primary research domains include:

• Neuropathic pain pathophysiology
• Spinal cord stimulation mechanisms
• Epigenetic regulation in sensory neurons
• Sex differences in pain processing
• Gut microbiome-pain interactions
• Paclitaxel neurotoxicity models

She employs integrated methodologies spanning animal behavior, chromatin accessibility mapping, and transcriptomic profiling to develop novel analgesic strategies.

Analysis of her 15 most recent publications (2018-2025) reveals a cohesive trajectory toward mechanistic pain neuroscience, with increasing emphasis on multi-omics integration. Key themes include CX3CL1-mediated neuroprotection in chemotherapy pain, sex-specific transcriptional regulation after nerve injury, and clinically translatable neuropathy models. Her work consistently bridges molecular discoveries (e.g., H3K23 methylation, C/EBPγ function) with therapeutic applications.

No scientific awards are documented in current professional profiles.

Dr. Stephens serves as Principal Investigator for UAMS ACHRI grant GR039073 (2020-2021) on neuropathic pain mechanisms. While specific student mentorship details are unavailable, her collaborative projects engage interdisciplinary teams across UAMS departments including Anesthesiology, Oncology, and Basic Neuroscience, indicating active research group leadership.