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Collectively they have a wealth of experience in the management of patients with chronic pain, but most importantly they all share a common goal, to provide high quality care to their patients in keeping with the values and high standards of Ä¢¹½tvÊÓƵ Teaching Hospitals.

Pain consultants

The Ä¢¹½tvÊÓƵ PAIN Service has five pain consultants:

Dr Baranidharan

Dr Baranidharan (Dr Barani) is a Consultant in Anaesthesia and Pain Medicine practicing at Ä¢¹½tvÊÓƵ Teaching Hospitals since 2006. He is the clinical lead for Pain Medicine and holds an appointment as Honorary Clinical Associate Professor at the University of Ä¢¹½tvÊÓƵ.

Dr Baranidharan completed his MBBS from Madras Medical College (1996), Madras, India. He pursued his Anaesthesia and Pain Medicine training from Yorkshire Deanery, UK and McMaster University, Canada (1999-2006). He has a Fellowship in Anaesthesia (FRCA) and Pain Medicine (FFPMRCA) from the Royal College of Anaesthesia and the Faculty of Pain Medicine.

Dr Baranidharan developed the Neuromodulation Centre in Ä¢¹½tvÊÓƵ from a small service to one of the biggest units in Europe. He is active in research and teaching. Most of his research activities are on Neuropathic pain and Neuromodulation. He has a special interest in managing pain of visceral origin. He has had a significant contribution in developing a National Neuromodulation Registry for the UK and currently chairs the Data set Committee and the Clinical Governance Committee. 

Dr Baranidharan is an elected Board Member of the Faculty of Pain Medicine and the Vice Chair of the Board of Examiners. He is part of the professional standards committee and has contributed to various national initiatives. He has successfully run his annual cadaver workshop in Ä¢¹½tvÊÓƵ since 2008.

Dr Black

Dr Black is a Consultant in Anaesthesia and Pain Medicine at Ä¢¹½tvÊÓƵ Teaching Hospitals.

She completed her Undergraduate medical training at The University of Aberdeen and her anaesthesia and pain medicine training within the Yorkshire Deanery and is a Fellow of the Royal College of Anaesthetists and Faculty of Pain Medicine.

She is the current Regional Advisor for Pain Medicine and has clinical interests in neuromodulation, cancer pain and transitional pain. Her clinical interests include cancer pain management, paediatric transition into adult pain services, and neuromodulation.

Her specialist research interest area involves the study of the autonomic nervous system and how it is influenced by chronic pain and neuromodulation, both spinal cord stimulation and peripheral nerve stimulation.

Dr Titterington

Dr Titterington is originally from the South of England and moved to Ä¢¹½tvÊÓƵ for university and has stayed. He is a fully qualified anaesthetist and interventional pain consultant (MB ChB, FRCA, FFPMRCA) at Ä¢¹½tvÊÓƵ Teaching Hospitals and has completed a Fellowship in cancer pain and neuromodulation.

His main interests are: chronic low back pain and sciatica, neck pain, chronic post-surgical pain, cancer pain treatment with intrathecal infusions and neurolytic techniques, treatment of nerve pain with neuromodulation (spinal cord stimulation), knee and shoulder pain. He does not believe in high dose opioids as a long-term option for pain management.

He is involved in teaching as the local pain medical educational supervisor and lead for audit. He also recruits patients for our research studies and contributes to our publications.

Nursing

The Nursing Team consists of Clinical Nurse Specialists and a Clinical Support Worker. Their Service is Mon – Fri 8am – 4pm and they provide services for Spinal Cord Stimulator (SCS) patients pre and post implant. They run telephone, video and face to face clinics that include Information Sessions, advice with medications and post implant, they provide assessment, support and programming of SCS.

Jenny Jennings, team leader

Jenny Jennings is the nursing team leader and has worked as a Specialist Nurse in Pain since 2008. Prior to this, she worked in acute surgery and critical care. She has always had a keen interest in Pain Management and is aware of the huge impact chronic pain has on patient’s lives and aims to provide a service that helps people to improve their pain, quality of life and help to manage living with chronic pain as best as possible.

Pharmacy

Lis Farquhar is an Advanced Clinical Pharmacist for Chronic Pain Management and provides input to the PAIN Service. She also runs clinics on medication management often helping patients reduce the amount of strong opioids they are taking.

Psychology

°Õ³ó±ðÌýPain Psychology Team are highly skilled and have considerable experience working with patients suffering with chronic pain. Within the Ä¢¹½tvÊÓƵ PAIN Service they work with patients to reduce the secondary effects of chronic pain and provide assessments for patients who are under consideration for neuromodulation.

Research

The Research Team works closely alongside the Ä¢¹½tvÊÓƵ Pain and Interventional Neuromodulation Service offering patients with long term pain the opportunity to take part in clinical research trials exploring treatments for a variety of pain conditions. The aim of these studies is to improve our understanding of pain conditions and to establish new treatments for our patients.

Dr Baranidharan,ÌýDr Black,ÌýDr Montgomery,ÌýDr TitteringtonÌý²¹²Ô»åÌýDr Whelan are all investigators on our research studies and work with our research team:

Emma Binns, Senior Research Nurse

Emma Binns is the Senior Research Nurse for the Pain Management team. She has worked in the Trust since 2017, initially on a Bone Marrow Transplant Unit, and then moved to work in Research, first in Haematology and then Rheumatology. She is passionate about improving patients’ quality of life through the development of new treatments.

Lisa Speight, Research Nurse 

Lisa Speight is a Clinical Research Nurse within the Pain Research Team. She joined Ä¢¹½tvÊÓƵ in 1997 and began her career in acute surgery, including working within the Surgical High Dependency Unit. She subsequently spent several years in the Occupational Health Department before joining the Pain Research Team, where she continues to contribute her extensive clinical experience and pain research expertise.

Jason Lindop, Research Nurse

With over 30 years of experience as a Registered Nurse, Jason’s career is built on a diverse foundation of clinical expertise, patient care, and clinical research. Having worked in Research and Innovation at LTHT since 2018, Jason currently works as a Research Nurse within the Pain Research team. In this role, his nursing experience allows him to support and deliver clinical pain research trials, and he enjoys contributing to advancements in patient pain management and therapeutic care.

Dr Bretherton, Research Fellow

Dr Bretherton is a Research Fellow in the Pain Research Team. She is involved in developing and delivering research to improve the management of persistent pain, including study set-up, grant development, collaborative projects, and research outputs. She leads the Patient and Public Involvement and Engagement (PPIE) activities within the team and oversees the Ä¢¹½tvÊÓƵ Pain Partnership, a group of individuals with lived experience of persistent pain from West Yorkshire and beyond. She joined the Trust in 2020 following a postdoctoral research position at the University of Ä¢¹½tvÊÓƵ. Dr Bretherton completed her PhD at the University of Ä¢¹½tvÊÓƵ and holds a BSc (Hons) in Psychology.

Adam Ley, Clinical Trials Assistant

Adam is a Clinical Trials Assistant within the Pain Research team. He joined the team in 2024 after graduating from King’s College London with an MSc in Psychiatric Research, and has since gained valuable experience in research delivery and patient-centric translational research.