Dr. James Paul is a Professor at McMaster University and is Chair of the Department of Anesthesia at McMaster University, Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine. He completed medical school at the University of Calgary, and his Anesthesia residency training and a Masters in Health Research Methodology at McMaster University. He has been on faculty since 2000. He served as the Medical Director for the Acute Pain Service for three acute care Hamilton Health Sciences hospitals from 2002 until 2019. His primary research interests involve acute pain, and persistent post-surgical pain as a model of chronic pain. He is a scientific advisor for the International Pain Research Institute and on the Governing Board for the Centre for Medicinal Cannabis Research at McMaster. He recently joined the Centre for Excellence for Chronic Pain for Veterans and will be serving as the Chair of the Informatics Sub-committee for that Centre. He’s had a long interest in clinical informatics and has previously helped develop an acute pain service database and a perioperative EMR optimized for preoperative consultations by anesthesiologists. He became interested in the Centre of Excellence because of its focus on veterans, research and improving their care. This research will be very practical, pragmatic and focused on making the best possible evidence-based care programs for veterans with chronic pain. Being involved is important to him as it’s a way of giving back for the service that the veterans provided the country.