Dr. Ian Meng received his ScB and Ph.D. in Neuroscience at Brown University. Following completion of his Ph.D., he worked as a postdoctoral fellow with Dr. Howard Fields in the Department of Neurology at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), studying the brain circuits mediating the analgesic properties of cannabinoids.
Dr. Meng joined the University of New England (UNE) in 2003 where he is currently a professor of Biomedical Sciences, Director of the Center for Excellence in the Neurosciences (CEN), and the Director of the National Institute of Health (NIH) funded Center for the Study of Pain and Sensory Function.
While at UNE, he has maintained a continuously funded research program with the aim of understanding trigeminal sensory processing underlying headache and ocular pain and homeostasis, with an emphasis on two conditions: headache and dry eye.
Dr. Meng’s lab is currently investigating sensory neurons that regulate tearing and ocular pain under both normal and pathological conditions such as the dry eye. Additional projects are exploring the ability of corneal afferents to promote corneal hearing by providing trophic support to the injured cornea in dry eye.
He is also working as Principal Investigator of Interdisciplinary Center of Excellence for the Study of Pain and Sensory Function, Maine