Kristy Themelis is a Research Fellow working on the ‘WITHIN’ project (Warwick Study of Mental Defeat in Chronic Pain) with Dr Nicole Tang. Kristy used to work as a physiotherapist in the Netherlands, before moving to the UK to complete an MSc in Pain; Science and Society at King’s College London. She completed her PhD in Psychology at the University of Nottingham in 2017 and subsequently worked as a Research fellow in the Department of Neuroscience in the Brighton and Sussex Medical School exploring mechanisms of chronic pain and fatigue.

 

Research

Kristy's long-term research interests focus on chronic pain and fatigue using a biopsychosocial and interdisciplinary approach. In particular, she is fascinated by why people differ markedly in their perception and experience of pain and fatigue, even when stimulus intensity is controlled for within an experimental paradigm. This line of research builds upon her PhD work, investigating analgesic effects of multisensory illusions in people with osteoarthritis and her postdoctoral work focusing on the contribution of inflammation and the ‘fight and flight’ response to chronic pain and chronic fatigue. Understanding these differences are crucial as they can have important implications for tailoring treatment and guiding decisions throughout the treatment process.