Shiqian Shen, M.D., Recipient of the 2024 James E. Cottrell, M.D., Presidential Scholar Award

Dr. Shiqian Shen, an associate professor of anaesthesia at Harvard Medical School (Boston, Massachusetts) and director of the Pathway to Research Independence through Mentorship and Education residency track at the Massachusetts General Hospital (Boston, Massachusetts), has been awarded the prestigious 2024 James E. Cottrell, M.D., Presidential Scholar Award. It has been our privilege to witness Shiqian’s stellar growth over the past decade. He has firmly established himself as a physician–scientist and is constantly pushing the frontiers of anesthesiology and pain medicine to generate new knowledge, such as his pioneering research on the gut microbiome and its influence on the “gut–brain” axis, providing novel insights into neuroimmune interactions. Dr. Shen earned a doctorate in medicine from Tongji Medical College at Huazhong University of Science and Technology in Wuhan, China, in 2002, training under Dr. Shi Chen, a pioneer in pancreatic transplantation and xenotransplantation.1,2 He completed postdoctoral training with Dr. Juan J. Lafaille at New York University School of Medicine (New York, New York) in 2007, focusing on regulatory T cells and the immune mechanisms underlying neurologic disorders, and with Dr. Allen Steere at the Massachusetts General Hospital, concentrating on translational immunology in 2009. These experiences provided him with a solid foundation in T-cell biology and set the stage for his independent research into immune system interactions with the central nervous system. During this period, Shiqian published his research in leading journals3–8 and received a fellowship from the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation to study Interleukin-23 in innate and adaptive immune activation. Dr. Shen returned to clinical duties and completed an internship at St. Raphael Hospital in New Haven, Connecticut, in 2009, where he was recognized as Best Intern. He then completed an anesthesiology residency followed by a pain medicine fellowship, both at the Massachusetts General Hopsital. After completing his clinical training, he was recruited to join the Department of Anesthesia, Critical Care and Pain Medicine at the Massachusetts General Hospital under the research mentorship of Dr. Jianren Mao. His research was initially supported by the Harvard-wide National Institutes of Health Research Training for Anesthetists T32 training grant (2014 to 2016) and later by a mentored research training grant from the Foundation for Anesthesia Education and Research (2017 to 2018). Dr. Shen has successfully integrated his immunology background with his expertise in the nervous system. His research team focuses on neuroimmune interactions and the influence of gut microbiota on these processes. They have demonstrated that the gut microbiota is a crucial mediator of neuroimmune interactions, underscoring the significance of the gut–brain axis. Notably, his team discovered that the gut microbiome is essential in driving tissue inflammatory responses initiated by the chemotherapy agent oxaliplatin9 and, subsequently, neuroinflammation associated with anesthesia and surgery.10 This initial finding garnered significant interest and was fundamental to launching his research laboratory in 2018 with the successful award of an R35 grant from the National Institute of General Medical Science (Bethesda, Maryland). Since establishing research independence, Shiqian has continued to innovate and push scientific boundaries. He identified distinct tissue-specific neuroimmune responses and uncovered fundamental differences between supraganglionic and infraganglionic injuries. While infraganglionic injuries are commonly used in animal pain models, supraganglionic injuries are more prevalent in chronic pain patients, such as those with lumbar radiculitis. This discrepancy has limited the translational value of many animal neuropathic pain models. Shiqian has taken a different approach by developing and validating animal pain models that comprehensively capture the multidimensional human pain experience. He has generated animal models that closely mimic human trigeminal neuralgia, with paroxysmal pain attacks, dental pain, emotional distress, and sexual dysfunction. Additionally, he has designed objective and quantitative assessment tools that can be used for rigorous assessment. Built on these models, Shiqian has been investigating the cortical mechanisms underlying pain.Using a customized intravital two-photon microscope to examine neuronal activities at single-cell resolution longitudinally, Shiqian’s team found that synchronized neural dynamics in the primary somatosensory cortex are crucial for spontaneous pain-like behavior in trigeminal neuralgia. Importantly, synchronized neural dynamics are a hallmark of seizure activity, likely explaining why carbamazepine has emerged as the first-line treatment for trigeminal neuralgia. Importantly, this research finding provides evidence supporting the use of antiseizure medication in pain treatment and an approach to screen for new drug compounds.11,12 Shiqian’s team has recently built a computer-vision machine-learning system to decode spontaneous pain behaviors. Traditionally, animal pain assessment relies on reflexive behavior, unlike spontaneous pain associated with human clinical complaints. Decoding spontaneous pain behavior promises objective and quantitative assessments of pain in animals that could bridge the translational gap between animal studies and humans. His team’s use of metabolomics, metagenomics, transcriptomics, and high-performance and stable brain-machine interface continues to shed new light on pain assessment and treatment. Shiqian is the principal investigator on several grants from the National Institutes of Health, including from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (R35), the National Institute on Aging (two R01s, R03, and R21), and the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (R61/33 and R61). He is also a recipient of the National Institutes of Health Helping to End Addiction Long-term Initiative award to build a multidisciplinary team to develop novel, safe, and effective analgesics. His use of machine learning to develop novel transdisciplinary tools for anesthesia research is supported by the EAGER award from the National Science Foundation. He serves on National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation, and the Department of Defense study sections. His research has been published in specialty journals including Anesthesiology, the British Journal of Anesthesia, Anesthesia & Analgesia,13–16 and nonspecialty journals such as Nature Neuroscience, the Journal of Clinical Investigation, Nature Communications, and JCI Insight.9,11,12 He has written many book chapters, including in Miller’s Anesthesia.17 His burgeoning body of work,18–20 evidenced by the growing quantity and significance of his publications, points to an intensifying pace of his prodigious research endeavors. Shiqian is a compassionate and dedicated clinician who deeply cares for his patients. One of the pioneers in telemedicine within our department, he has been providing virtual healthcare services to residents of Martha’s Vineyard since 2015,21 well before the COVID-19 pandemic made such services a necessity. Through his clinical practice, Shiqian has witnessed firsthand the devastating medical, social, and societal impacts of the opioid epidemic.22,23 Determined to combat this crisis, he continues to leverage his clinical and research expertise in the hope of developing effective treatment strategies. Patients and colleagues praise Shiqian for his empathy, attention to detail, and unwavering commitment to improving patient outcomes. His ability to combine technical proficiency with genuine compassion makes him an exemplary clinician, dedicated to delivering the highest quality care. Shiqian has also proven himself an outstanding teacher. Since joining our faculty, he has demonstrated remarkable dedication to teaching medical students, residents, and fellows, earning widespread praise for his engaging and effective instructional methods. He serves as the course director for our Harvard Medical School medical student pain medicine elective. As the director of our residency research track, Shiqian has helped recruit several promising residents who aspire to research careers. He has also demonstrated his commitment to further research in anesthesiology by writing for ASA Monitor to share his perspective and personal experiences in transitioning from a trainee to an independent physician–scientist.24 Given his outstanding track record, he was awarded the 2022 Best Academic Mentor award in the department, followed shortly by induction into the Academy of Research Mentors in Anesthesiology of the Foundation for Anesthesia Education and Research in 2023. In addition to his remarkable professional achievements, Shiqian enjoys spending time with his family. Alongside his wife, Kun Hu, M.D., a Tufts University Medical Center (Boston, Massachusetts) pathologist, he cherishes moments with their daughter, Iris. With immense pride, we congratulate Shiqian on receiving the James E. Cottrell, M.D., Presidential Scholar Award. His innovative research journey is just beginning, and we eagerly anticipate its lasting impact. Competing Interests The authors declare no competing interests.