Mark Pitcher, Ph.D.

Chief of Staff, Office of the Director

Mark Pitcher, Ph.D., is the chief of staff at the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). In this role, Dr. Pitcher supports administrative and strategic operations and serves as a key liaison between NCCIH leadership and both internal and external stakeholders. He is also the specialty chief editor for the Non-Pharmacological Treatment of Pain section in Frontiers in Pain Research. 

Previously, Dr. Pitcher was the director of Health Sciences Interprofessional Research at the University of Bridgeport in Connecticut. In this role, he led the university’s health science research program, provided administrative oversight of the Institutional Review Board, and served as the university’s research integrity officer.

Dr. Pitcher completed his doctoral research in McGill University’s Integrated Program in Neuroscience, where he studied the neuroanatomy and neurophysiology of chronic pain. He then transitioned to NCCIH and NIH as a visiting fellow, focusing on the biopsychosocial dimensions of persistent pain and nonpharmacologic pain treatments. During his fellowship, Dr. Pitcher also worked as a policy analyst with the NIH Office of Pain Policy and Planning, contributing to the development of the U.S. National Pain Strategy. 

Throughout his career, Dr. Pitcher has been extensively involved in numerous steering committees, advisory boards, and working groups. His contributions have been recognized through several prestigious awards, including NIH’s Mitchell Max Award for Pain Research Excellence and a Mayday Pain & Society Fellowship. Dr. Pitcher is currently a contractor with Astrix Inc.