Steven E Harte, PhD

Dr. Steven Harte
Associate Professor of Anesthesiology and Internal Medicine
Associate Director, Chronic Pain and Fatigue Research Center

Dr. Harte is a pain neuroscientist at the University of Michigan Medical School with over 25 years of experience advancing the understanding and treatment of chronic pain through innovative research and education. His NIH-funded research program employs a multidisciplinary approach—integrating preclinical models, psychophysics, inflammatory biomarkers, patient-reported outcomes, wearable technology, and functional brain imaging—to investigate chronic pain mechanisms and develop novel analgesic treatments. His specialized research interests include multisensory amplification and neural integration, neural-immune interface in chronic pain, endo-/cannabinoid and psychedelic analgesics, influence of built and natural environments on pain perception, pain affect, and mechanisms of pain modulation.

Dr. Harte has contributed to several major national pain research initiatives, including the Multidisciplinary Approach to the Study of Chronic Pelvic Pain (MAPP) Research Network, the Symptoms of Lower Urinary Tract Dysfunction Research Network (LURN), the HEAL BACPAC and BEST initiatives, and the AURORA Study on trauma, where he led multi-site quantitative sensory testing development. At the University of Michigan, he holds faculty affiliations with the Neuroscience Graduate Program, Michigan Neuroscience Institute, Opioid Research Institute, Sensory Science Initiative, and Michigan Psychedelic Center (M-PsyC). He serves as Director of the Postdoctoral T32 in Translational Science at the Michigan Institute for Clinical and Health Research (MICHR) and Co-Director of the HEAL National K12 Clinical Pain Career Development Program.

Committed to translating research into practical solutions, Dr. Harte co-founded Arbor Medical Innovations, where he serves as Chief Scientific Officer. His work in developing novel medical devices, research technologies, and eHealth applications has resulted in multiple patents related to pain measurement and wearable technology, furthering his mission to improve the lives of individuals suffering from chronic pain.

- Quantitative sensory testing and multisensory sensitivity
- Preclinical pain assessment
- Functional and chemical neuroimaging
- Neuropsychopharmacology
- Neural-Immune interactions
- Consciousness neuroscience
- Cannabinoids/Endocannabinoids
- Environmental influences on pain
- Biomedical technology development