Research principles
I offer health research consulting services to biomedical R&D teams, healthcare organizations, nonprofits, and academic institutions. My goal is to help your organization design and deliver high-quality, patient-centered research without the overhead of large agencies.
Making Research More Meaningful
There are still many unanswered questions when it comes to chronic pain and other long-term health conditions. Too often, people living with these conditions struggle to access effective treatment — or even receive a meaningful diagnosis. We need not only more research, but also better research: studies that center the priorities and experiences of the people most affected.
Planning for the Unplannable
Research is rarely straightforward. From recruitment delays to data challenges, even well-designed studies can encounter unexpected hurdles. With experience across a range of methodologies and populations — from behavioral neuroscience to clinical trials — I’ve learned how to plan for the unpredictable and adapt with rigor.
Consulting, not contracting
I work alongside your team rather than apart from them — offering adaptable support that keeps research in-house while building capacity. This approach ensures your organization retains ownership of its projects, while benefiting from external expertise when and where it’s needed.
Examples of previous research
Over the past decade, my research has explored how chronic illness — particularly chronic pain — affects the brain, behavior, and emotional well-being. With a foundation in behavioral neuroscience and health psychology, I’ve investigated topics ranging from neural mechanisms and fear learning to uncertainty and the patient experience. My work combines experimental methods with clinical relevance, aiming to better understand how we think, feel, and adapt when living with long-term health conditions.
Designing novel experimental paradigms
Creating research designs that capture the complexity of real-world health conditions. Enabling projects to move beyond standard measures and address unique challenges faced by patients or organizations.
Advanced neuroimaging (fMRI, structural MRI, diffusion imaging)
Integrating multiple brain imaging methods. Providing deeper insights into the biological and psychological mechanisms underpinning health and behavior.
Meta-analyses
Synthesizing evidence across studies to provide clear insights into the state-of-the-art. Positioning work in the broader evidence base and identifying where innovation is most needed.
Assessing diversity and representation
Developing methods to ensure research samples reflect the populations they aim to serve. Supporting inclusive practices and increasing the relevance and impact of findings.
Psychophysiological measures
Using indicators such as startle responses, skin conductance, heart rate, cortisol levels, cytokine levels, and others. Capturing objective markers of stress, emotion, or cognitive effort alongside self-reported data.
Ecological momentary assessment (EMA)
Tracking experiences and processes in real time. Gaining a more accurate picture of how interventions, products, or behaviors unfold in daily life.
Integrating qualitative and quantitative data
Combining numbers with lived experience. Ensuring research outputs are both robust and grounded in the realities of the people they affect.
Together, these approaches allow me to help clients generate evidence that is innovative, rigorous, and actionable—whether the goal is to evaluate a new product, understand patient experiences, or strengthen the evidence base for healthcare solutions.
Services
Every project is different and calls for a custom approach. Here are a few examples of the kinds of work I can help with. Whether you’re in the early stages of project planning or need help navigating a tricky analysis, I’m happy to explore how we might work together.
Mixed methods integration
Blending numbers with lived experience so results are both reliable and grounded.
Recruitment & engagement
Helping to find, engage, and retain participants in your research projects.
Protocol development
Designing solid research plans, whether that’s novel study designs or real-world tracking.
Representation
Checking whether research samples are inclusive and making sure results apply to the people they’re meant to serve.
Research sprints
Short, focused projects to quickly gather evidence, spot gaps, or provide clear next steps.
Evidence reviews
Pulling together existing research to show what’s already known and where the opportunities lie.
Publications
Below are a number of my previous publications and current works in progress. I have presented this research at a number of interntional conferences and invited lectures. For further information about any of these studies please feel free to get in contact.
Radua J.,... Biggs, E. E., ... (in press). Neural correlates of human fear conditioning and sources of variability in 2199 individuals. Nature Communications. https://osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/73ra8_v1
Webster, S. N., Biggs, E. E., ... Heathcote, L. C. (in press). Bracing for the worst? Real-time scanxiety and uncertainty management during cancer surveillance. Health Psychology.
Biggs, E. E., Timmers, I., Heathcote, L. C., Tremblay-McGaw, A. G., Noel, M., Borsook, D., & Simons, L. E. (2025). Emotional memory bias in adolescents with chronic pain: examining the relationship with neural, stress, and psychological factors. Pain, 166(3), 527-538.
Tremblay-McGaw, A. G., Biggs, E. E., Sokol, O. E., Miner, A. W., Goya Arce, A. B., & Simons, L. E. (2025). Who is being represented in research? A researcher-driven method for assessing diversity and representation in prospective research cohorts. Pain Medicine.
Sokol, O. E., Biggs, E. E., Berger, A. S., Simons, L. E., & Bhandari, R. P. (2025). The Relationship Between Fatigue, Pain Interference, Pain-Related Distress, and Avoidance in Pediatric Hypermobile Ehlers–Danlos Syndrome. Children, 12(2), 170. https://doi.org/10.3390/children12020170
Timmers, I., Biggs, E. E., Bruckert, L., Tremblay-McGaw, A. G., Zhang, H., Borsook, D., & Simons, L. E. (2024). Probing white matter microstructure in youth with chronic pain and its relation to catastrophizing using neurite orientation dispersion and density imaging. Pain, 165(11), 2494-2506.
Steinbach, T., Eck, J., Timmers, I., Biggs, E. E., Goebel, R., Schweizer, R., & Kaas, A. L. (2024). Tactile stimulation designs adapted to clinical settings result in reliable fMRI-based somatosensory digit maps. BMC neuroscience, 25(1), 47.
Simons, L., ... Biggs, E. E., … (2022). Protocol: Signature for Pain Recovery IN Teens (SPRINT): protocol for a multisite prospective signature study in chronic musculoskeletal pain. BMJ Open, 12(6).
Biggs, E. E., Timmers, I., Meulders, A., Vlaeyen, J. W., Goebel, R., & Kaas, A. L. (2020). The neural correlates of pain-related fear: a meta-analysis comparing fear conditioning studies using painful and non-painful stimuli. Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews.
Biggs, E. E., Meulders, A., Kaas, A. L., Goebel, R., & Vlaeyen, J. W. (2020). The acquisition and generalization of fear of touch. Scandinavian Journal of Pain.
Timmers, I., Kaas, A. L., Quaedflieg C. W. E. M., Biggs, E. E., Smeets, T. & de Jong, J. R. (2018) Fear of pain and cortisol reactivity predict the strength of stress-induced hypoalgesia. The Journal of Pain. doi:10.1002/ejp.1217
Biggs, E. E., Meulders, A., Kaas, A. L., Goebel, R., & Vlaeyen, J. W. (2017). The acquisition and extinction of fear of painful touch: a novel tactile fear conditioning paradigm. The Journal of Pain. doi: 10.1016/j.jpain.2017.08.002
In revision & preparation:
Pascual Diaz, L. S., ... Biggs, E. E., ... (in revision). Studying the association between brain activation during a multisensory task and hypersensitivity to multisensory stimuli and quality of life in pediatric chronic pain patients.
Biggs, E. E., Timmers, I., Heathcote, L. C. & Simons, L. E. (in revision) Neural signatures of extinction of a learned threat after disruption of reconsolidation: an fMRI study in chronic pain. Communications Psychology.
Gaydos, E., ... Biggs, E. E., .... Simons, L. E. (in revision). Cytokines and depresive symptoms in adolescent chronic pain. Pain reports.
Guardino, K., ... Biggs, E. E., ... Simons, L. E. (in preparation). The intersection of chronic pain and hypermobility in youth: Sensory, neural and functional metrics.
Biggs, E. E., Vervliet, B., Van Oudenhove, L. & Beckers, T. (in preparation) A physiological marker of prediction error confirms the error-correcting nature of human associative learning.
Biggs, E. E., Vervliet, B., Van Oudenhove, L. & Beckers, T. (in preparation) Behavioral memory updating: Neural networks underlying the attenuation of emotional memories.
Biggs, E. E., Neville, A., Kaas, A. L., Meulders, A. & Vlaeyen, J. W. (in preparation) The experience of (un)predictability in Complex Regional Pain Syndrome: Using mixed methods to inform future directions of experimental research.
Using (f)MRI to understand the mechanisms underlying chronic pain. Invited oral
presentation at the Cook Children’s Pediatric Pain Management Conference
(September 2022).
The phenomenology of (un)predictability in Complex Regional Pain Syndrome.
Symposium at American Psychosomatic Society (2022).
The third interval response as a physiological index of prediction error. Oral
presentation at the Expert Meeting on the Attenuation of Emotional Memories
(June 2019).
The reduction of pain-related fear through extinction and exposure. Workshop at
the 10th Congress of the European Pain Federation (EFIC, September 2017).
A neuro-cognitive perspective on pain-related fear. Invited oral presentation at
the Seminars on Contextual Psychiatry, KU Leuven (March 2017).
The role of predictability in the acquisition and extinction of pain-related fear: a
fear-conditioning paradigm using tactile stimuli. Oral presentation at the Pain
Research Meeting (September 2015).
Poster presentations
Biggs, E. E., Heathcote, L. C., Timmers, I., Noel, M. & Simons, L. E. (September 2022)
The neural correlates of threat-related memory bias in adolescents with chronic
pain. Poster at the IASP World Congress on Pain.
Tremblay-McGaw, A.G., Biggs, E.E., Timmers, I., Moulton, E., & Simons, L.E.,
(September 2022). The role of the cerebellum in threat learning in youth with
chronic pain. Poster at the IASP World Congress on Pain.
Tremblay-McGaw, A.G., Biggs, E.E., Goya Arce, A., Sokol, O., Wiseman Miner, A.,
& Simons, L.E. (September 2022). Representation of chronic pain populations in
experimental research. Poster at the IASP World Congress on Pain.
Tremblay-McGaw, A.G., Biggs, E.E., Simons, L.E., & Timmers, I. (May 2022).
Alterations in white matter microstructure for youths with chronic pain relate to
pain catastrophizing: an evaluation of diffusion MRI data using multi-
compartment modelling. Poster at the Association for Psychological Science
Annual Convention.
Webster, S.N., Biggs, E.E., Tanna, V., Mattke, E., Spunt, S.L., Sweeny, K., Mueller, C.,
& Heathcote, L.C. (August 2022) Bracing for the worst? A longitudinal experience
sampling study of how expectation management strategies predict scanxiety in
childhood cancer survivors. Poster at the 23rd Annual World Congress of the
International Psycho-Oncology Society.
Mattke, E., Biggs, E.E., Webster, S.N., Tanna, V., Spunt, S.L., Mueller, M., &
Heathcote, L.C. (August 2022) Social connectedness as a buffer against fear of
cancer recurrence among adolescent and young adult survivors of childhood
cancer. Poster at the 23rd Annual World Congress of the International Psycho-
Oncology Society.
Biggs, E. E., Vervliet, B., Van Oudenhove, L., & Beckers, T. (May 2019) The third
interval response as a physiological index of prediction error. Poster at the 11th
European Meeting on Human Fear Conditioning.
Biggs, E. E., Kaas, A. L., Meulders, A., Vlaeyen, W. S. & Goebel, R. (June 2017) The
neural correlates of the acquisition of fear of touch-related pain. Poster at the
Organization for Human Brain Mapping.
Eck, J., Timmers, I. Biggs, E. E., Steinbach, T., Bouwsema, H., Seelen, H.,
Noirhomme, Q., Schweizer, R. & Kaas, A. L. (June 2017) Comparing
somatosensory mapping designs for clinical rehabilitation assessment. Poster at
the Organization for Human Brain Mapping.
Biggs, E. E., Meulders, A., Kaas, A. L., Goebel, R. & Vlaeyen, W. S. (September
2016) The generalization of fear of touch-related pain. Poster presented at the
Pain Research Meeting.
Biggs, E. E., Meulders, A., Vlaeyen, J. W. S., Goebel, R. & Kaas, A. L. (June 2015)
Fear of Visual Stimuli: An ALE Meta-Analysis of fear conditioning studies. Poster
presented at the Organization for Human Brain Mapping.
Biggs, E. E., Meulders, A. & Vlaeyen, J. W. S. (2016) The Neuroscience of Fear and Pain. In M. A. Flaten & M. al’Absi (eds.) The Neuroscience of Fear, Stress, and Emotion. Elsevier. ISBN: 9780128005385.
Biggs, E. E. (2013). Functional and anatomical connectivity in Complex Regional Pain Syndrome: A Multi-modal magnetic resonance imaging study. The Maastricht Student Journal of Psychology and Neuroscience, 2, 98-115.