She has published extensively in the scientific literature on substance use disorder in chronic pain patients on opioid therapy, and the pain responses of opioid addicts with and without chronic pain. Having worked in several public treatment settings, she is especially expert in the use of methadone, buprenorphine and naltrexone in the treatment of opioid use disorder. Compton has devoted her own NIH-funded research program to exploring pain and opioid addiction from both neurophysiological and clinical perspectives, with a specific interest in how the presence of one affects the expression of the other.