Dr Hemakumar Devan

Senior Lecturer & Pain Management Physiotherapist, University of Otago & Te Whatu Ora Capital, Coast & Hutt Valley, NZ

Dr Hemakumar Devan (he/him) is a clinical academic in pain management from New Zealand, working as a Senior Lecturer at the Rehabilitation Teaching and Research Unit (RTRU), University of Otago and as a Pain Management Physiotherapist at the Wellington Regional Pain Service, Te Whatu Ora Capital, Coast and Hutt Valley.

With equity and valuing lived experience expertise at the centre, Dr Devan’s research programme aims to foster self-management support to empower people with persistent pain and their whānau (family and significant others). He currently co-leads a HRC Health Delivery Project Grant to co-develop and implement a story-based, whānau-focused, opioid tapering intervention for people with chronic non-cancer pain. Strategically, his goal is to address health inequities and improve health outcomes for people with persistent pain and their whānau.

In the past five years, Dr Devan has secured over $3.5M in funding, published 45 peer-reviewed articles, and delivered 70+ national and international presentations in pain management. He is a co-chair of the IASP Sex, Gender and Race SIG, council member of the New Zealand Pain Society and the Deputy Director of Pain@Otago research theme. Dr Devan is a passionate science communicator often presenting his work in pain conferences and in social media (@HemDevan).