8 NOVEMBER 2025IN MY OPINIONGrace Kao, Ph.D., ABPP is a board-certified pain psychologist and associate professor at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. She is also the founding psychologist of the interdisciplinary chronic pain clinic at Texas Children's Hospital and former faculty clinician at Baylor College of Medicine. Professionally, she spends her time supporting patients and families who are navigating the journey of chronic pain, providing instruction and consultation and advisory board service in pain psychology, and writing about health and healing.Recognizing Grace Kao's extensive expertise in pain psychology at MD Anderson Cancer Center, this exclusive feature offers invaluable insights into the challenges of integrating behavioral health into pain management and strategies for fostering a patient-centered, multidisciplinary approach to enhance care and improve outcomes.When asked about motivations for entering the field of pain psychology, I often begin by describing a fascination with how closely in-sync our minds and bodies work. Indeed, over the past decade, my career as a pain psychologist has centered largely on the close integration of behavioral health and pain medicine. When I joined MD Anderson Cancer Center as a faculty clinician and pain psychologist just over a year ago, it was with an eagerness for the opportunity to help support a more integrated, patient-centered approach to pain care -- one that considers not only the biological dimensions of the pain experience but also the emotional, cognitive and behavioral factors that shape how our patients experience and cope with pain.Developing and promoting a multidisciplinary approach to healthcare service delivery often requires a multi-step, multi-pronged approach. Though addition of clinical programming may be the most prominent pathway for service expansion, strategic integration of a behavioral CARING FOR MIND AND BODY: EXPANDING THE SCOPE OF PAIN MANAGEMENT THROUGH INTEGRATED PSYCHOLOGY CAREBy Grace Kao, PhD, ABPP, Pain Psychologist | Associate Professor, MD Anderson Cancer CenterGrace Kao
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