Chris Peck
Prosthodontics
Current Position
Dean of Faculy of Dentistry, NUS
Professor Chris Peck is a globally recognized leader in orofacial pain and the Dean of the Faculty of Dentistry at the National University of Singapore. He also serves as Treasurer of the Orofacial and Head Pain Special Interest Group of the International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP), reflecting his strong influence within the international pain community.
With a distinguished career spanning academia, research, and healthcare leadership, Professor Peck has held prominent roles including Dean at the University of Sydney. He is widely known for driving impactful collaboration across disciplines—bridging clinical practice, research innovation, and community engagement to advance oral health and overall wellbeing.
As an internationally renowned clinical pain researcher, his work focuses on uncovering the mechanisms of persistent orofacial pain and translating these insights into better patient care. He has contributed to global pain classification systems, led major international research networks, and continues to shape the future of interdisciplinary pain management.
Keynote Speaker 4
Connect, Collaborate, Cure: Why Orofacial Pain Care Must Be Sociopsychobiological
(DAY 2 - Sunday, 27 September 2026)
Orofacial pain is a complex chronic condition shaped by biological, psychological, and socio-cultural factors. While biomedical assessment remains important, persistent pain is not well explained by this alone. In Asian settings, cultural norms, communication patterns, and a possible tendency to under-report pain may limit the value of conventional descriptors and intensity ratings. Important issues such as distress, coping, beliefs, and disruption to social roles may then be missed. A sociopsychobiological framework provides a more complete basis for chronic orofacial pain care, integrating symptom burden with function, psychological impact, and social participation. This approach is in line with research that emphasise multidisciplinary, goal-directed care and long-term functional recovery. It also encourages reflection on the limitations of fragmented, procedure-driven models for chronic conditions. Program-based care may offer a more coherent pathway to continuity, coordinated intervention, and meaningful return to work, family, and community life