LEWISTON – “Managing Cancer-Related Pain, ” a free program for cancer patients, cancer survivors and caregivers, will be offered by the Patrick Dempsey Center for Cancer Hope and Healing on Monday, Feb. 9.

The program will be presented from 1:30 to 3 p.m. in Conference Room I on the lower level of the 12 High Street Medical Office Building, adjacent to Central Maine Medical Center.

Medical oncologist Dr. Ann Traynor and licensed clinical social worker Emily Ecker will lead a discussion of the physical and psychological aspects of pain and medical interventions, including the role of anti-depressants. Self-care techniques such as relaxation and meditation will also be considered.

Before joining the Lewiston-Auburn area, Traynor practiced at Maine General Oncology Services in Waterville and Augusta. She has more than 18 years of experience in hematology, cancer care and research.

A graduate of Boston College in Chestnut Hill, Mass., she later completed the Boston University premedical curriculum. She earned her medical degree at George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences in Washington, D.C., where she was recognized for academic achievement in biochemistry, pharmacology, internal medicine and psychiatry.

She completed residency training in internal medicine at the University of Vermont School of Medicine in Burlington, Vt., where she was presented a National Research Service Award. She served a hematology fellowship at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. She also worked as a clinical and research fellow at Northwestern University in Chicago before entering the Northwestern University Medical School faculty, where she served for 12years before returning to New England.

Traynor’s professional background includes 16 years of experience teaching physicians as well as performing research, first at the Northwestern University School of Medicine and later at the University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester, Mass.

She is certified in internal medicine, hematology and medical oncology by the American Board of Internal Medicine.

Emily Ecker, a licensed clinical social worker at the Patrick Dempsey Center, has worked in the human services field in Maine for more than 30 years. She earned her graduate degree in social work at the University of New England in Biddeford and completed internship training with CMMC’s Hematology-Oncology Associates in Lewiston.

She works with patients, caregivers and survivors at Rumford Hospital, Bridgton Hospital and at the Patrick Dempsey Center.

Anyone with questions or wishing to preregister should call 795-8250 or 1-877-DEMPCTR.