I have completed research in a number of important areas in obstetric anesthesia including: optimizing neuraxial techniques for labor and cesarean analgesia; predicting individual labor and cesarean pain and analgesic needs; evaluating pregnancy-induced and hormonal changes in pain perception; determining the role of cytokines and other biochemical mediators in incisional wounds; evaluating local anesthetic potency and anesthetic requirements during labor and cesarean delivery; determining epidural and spinal opioid applications and the role of long-acting neuraxial opioids in obstetric pain management; investigating peripartum hemostatic and coagulation changes; conducting cost-analyses of various obstetric anesthesia practices; optimizing the management of maternal cardiac arrest and other obstetrical emergencies; determining patient attitudes and ethnic preferences towards obstetric analgesia; determining the efficacy of peripheral wound drug administration; and pharmacokinetics/pharmacodynamics of drugs administered to pregnant women. My current area of research focus is in developing novel ways of improving post-cesarean and peripartum labor pain management, and developing detailed pharmacokinetics/pharmacodynamics models of key antenatal medications.