Pamela P. Palmer, MD, PhD

Dr. Palmer has dedicated her career to researching and treating pain, first as an anesthesiologist at the University of California, San Francisco and now in her current role as Chief Medical Officer and a member of the board of directors of Talphera, a company she cofounded in July 2005. She gained extensive experience in the treatment of pain during her tenure as the Director of the UCSF Pain Center for Advanced Research and Education (PainCARE) from 2005 to 2009, during which time the American Pain Society named the UCSF Pain Management Center and PainCARE jointly as 1 of only 6 centers of excellence nationwide.

Prior to PainCARE, from 1999 to 2005, Dr. Palmer was Medical Director of the UCSF Pain Management Center, which uses a comprehensive and multidisciplinary approach to treat patients with various stages and types of complex acute and chronic pain. From 1996 to 1999, she worked as a faculty member at UCSF, where she conducted research on basic science mechanisms of pain transmission in her NIH-funded laboratory.

In 1994, Dr. Palmer cofounded Omeros Corporation, a biopharmaceutical company that develops small-molecule and protein therapies to improve pain management and clinical outcomes in patients undergoing a wide range of surgical and medical procedures.

Dr. Palmer received her medical degree and doctorate in neuroscience at Stanford University and continued on to UCSF for her anesthesia residency. She has an undergraduate degree in electrical engineering. Dr. Palmer is board certified in anesthesiology and pain medicine by the American Board of Anesthesiology.