Tim Hales graduated with a BSc (Hons) in Physiology from King’s College London in 1986 and a PhD from the University of Dundee in 1990. He completed postdoctoral training in the Department of Anesthesiology, University of California in Los Angeles and in 1997 was appointed Assistant Professor at the George Washington University in Washington DC where he gained tenure in 2002.  He became Professor in the Departments of Pharmacology and Anesthesiology & Critical Care Medicine and Director of Research in Anesthesiology at GWU in 2006.

Tim returned to Dundee in 2009 as Professor of Anaesthesia and non-clinical head of the Division of Neuroscience.  He was elected Fellow of the Royal College of Anaesthetists in 2011 and was appointed Associate Dean for Research-Led Teaching in the School of Medicine in 2017. His research group studies the mechanisms of action of anaesthetics and opioid analgesics, drugs that modulate neuronal communication through ion channel modulation. The group’s work on metastatic colon cancer cells identified voltage-activated Na+ channels as potential targets for anticancer medications. Inhibition of these channels by local anaesthetics inhibits cell invasion.

Tim’s goal is to improve anaesthesia and analgesia by 1) educating future researchers and anaesthetists and 2) by identifying molecular targets responsible for the desirable and detrimental effects of anaesthetics and analgesics. His research has received support by grants from Tenovus Scotland, the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health, USA and the National Institute of Academic Anaesthesia, UK.

Tim leads the Consortium Against Pain Inequality investigating the impact of childhood adversity on chronic pain and responses to treatment.

Pain was an unavoidable consequence of injury, disease and infection before the advent of clinical anaesthesia. Now, thanks to skilled anaesthetists, pain-ameliorating analgesics and general anaesthetics (GAs), millions of people undergo surgery every year and most recover with relatively minor discomfort. While only a small minority of patients experience major negative consequences all anaesthetics have side effects. Most cause respiratory depression and some may cause neurodegeneration, a particular concern in the elderly. Analgesic agents also have severe side effects. Opioids such as morphine and fentanyl are commonly used to treat both perioperative and chronic pain; however their prolonged use leads to physical dependence and a loss of potency due to tolerance. Morphine can also cause hyperalgesia, a paradoxical increase in pain. There is a pressing need to develop better GAs and analgesics.

We are studying the mechanisms of action of opioids and GAs, drugs that influence neuronal excitability by binding to membrane proteins and thereby directly or indirectly regulating the activity of ion channels. By identifying the proteins responsible for their therapeutic and detrimental effects we hope to offer a strategy for improved safety and efficacy.