Afton L Hassett, PsyD

Dr. Hassett is a licensed clinical psychologist who is an Associate Professor and the Director of Pain and Opioid Research in the Department of Anesthesiology at the University of Michigan (UM). As a principal investigator at the renowned Chronic Pain & Fatigue Research Center at UM, she conducts interdisciplinary research related to exploring the role of cognitive, affective, and behavioral factors in chronic pain. She has published over 100 peer-reviewed articles and is a leader in the field of resilience and pain. Dr. Hassett is a Past President of the Association of Rheumatology Professionals – a division of the American College of Rheumatology. She is also the author of “Chronic Pain Reset: 30 Days of Activities, Practices and Skills to Help You Thrive,” an innovative pain self-management book for patients and their clinicians released in the fall of 2023.

Dr. Hassett's research has focused on exploring the role of positive emotions in people with pain, as well as novel interventions to promote resilience and better pain self-management. Her current NIH-funded research (over $14M) involves developing resilience-enhancing activities for people with chronic pain (NINR R01 AR070296), testing the mechanisms underlying treatments for chronic low back pain (HEAL BACPAC U19 Center and the BEST Study) and developing “prehabilitation” programs for anxious surgical patients to optimize outcomes (MiCarePath). Other collaborative projects exploring resilience enhancing interventions on which she is a Co-Investigator include Roadmap for BMT Caregivers (PI: Choi HL146354), Positive STEPS (PI: Janevic NRR02042) and RENEW for Scleroderma (PI: Murphy ACR Award).