Midwest D-CFAR Investigator Examines the Relationship Between Sleep and Pain in PLWH

May 20, 2026

Burel Goodin, PhD

Burel Goodin, PhD is a pain scientist whose work has helped illuminate a frequently overlooked issue in HIV care: chronic pain among people living with HIV. While advances in antiretroviral therapy have transformed HIV into a manageable chronic condition for many, persistent pain remains common and can substantially reduce quality of life. Goodin’s research has focused on understanding why pain occurs, what factors worsen it, and how resilience may improve outcomes for affected individuals.

A major contribution of Goodin’s work has been highlighting that chronic pain in people with HIV is not simply a biological symptom but a complex biopsychosocial experience. His studies suggest that people living with HIV may experience heightened sensitivity to pain, sometimes linked to measurable physiological processes such as viral load, inflammation, and altered pain modulation systems. This work has helped researchers better understand the biological mechanisms that may contribute to persistent discomfort in HIV populations.

Beyond physiology, Goodin’s scholarship has emphasized the psychological and social realities of chronic pain in HIV. His research on intersectional stigma has explored how living with both HIV and chronic pain can amplify emotional distress, depression, sleep problems, and healthcare-related challenges. Rather than viewing pain solely as a physical sensation, this work frames pain within the lived experience of stigma, invalidation, and chronic stress that many patients face.

More recently, Goodin’s research has increasingly focused on the relationship between sleep and pain in people with HIV. His work builds upon broader sleep-pain science demonstrating that poor sleep is not merely a consequence of chronic pain but may actively worsen pain sensitivity and long-term symptom burden. Current projects from his research group are examining insomnia, objective sleep quality, and experimental pain sensitivity in people living with HIV, with the goal of understanding how disrupted sleep contributes to chronic pain and cognitive functioning.

His recently funded NIH clinical trial (R01MD021001) has been supported in part through collaborations and research infrastructure provided by the Midwest Developmental Center for AIDS Research, particularly the Clinical Sciences Core and the ID-CRU, which have helped facilitate participant recruitment, clinical coordination, and interdisciplinary HIV research efforts.

Taken together, Burel Goodin’s work has helped move chronic pain in HIV from the margins of scientific attention to an important interdisciplinary area of study that blends biology, psychology, sleep science, stigma, and resilience to improve the lives of people aging with HIV.