The Art & Science of Addiction
Join the Neuroscience and Mental Health Institute for an evening where science, art, and lived experience come together to explore the complexities of addiction. The unique insights of the panel members will offer a powerful and thought-provoking look at addiction from diverse perspectives.
Artist Tamara Deedman will share some pieces from her recent exhibit, “Crowded by your absence,” which explores notions of human attachment to objects that occupy memory, identity, coping mechanisms, addiction, and grief, and how they are embedded in our material worlds. Researcher and former public health nurse Heather Morris will share insights she learned from her recent study surveying the experiences of people who use illegal drugs in Edmonton’s inner city. Ms. Shanell Twan will provide lived/living perspective on the emerging trends and issues for people who use drugs in our Edmonton community. Clinician scientist Monty Ghosh will discuss the disease and medical model of addiction and why we need to rethink public perception and policy on it. Scientist Anna Taylor will discuss how biomedical research can provide valuable insights into complex human behavioural conditions, such as addiction.
Tamara Deedman (She/Her) is an artist and educator based in Treaty 6 Territory (Edmonton, Alberta). She received her Bachelor of Fine Arts from Nova Scotia College of Art and Design University in 2015, and her Master of Fine Arts with a specialization in printmaking at the University of Alberta in 2025. Ms. Deedman’s practice is rooted in what she calls empathetic making; the transformative care of personal histories, inherited archives, their handwritten corresponding records, mental illness, coping mechanisms, addictions, grief and healing, and how it is embedded in our material worlds. When not working in the studio, Ms. Deedman embeds herself in non-profits and artist run centers and is an advocate for creating safe and accessible spaces for communities who are looking to find wellness through the act of making. Her work includes printmaking, drawing, ceramics and installation, with a heavy emphasis in lithographic methods.
Heather Morris is an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Nursing, University of Alberta and a Research Scientist with the Inner-City Health and Wellness Program, Royal Alexandra Hospital. As a former public health nurse, her current research interests center around health service utilization by urban underserved populations, public perceptions of harm reduction and how individuals with lived and living experience, bereaved mothers in particular, shape drug policy reform in Canada.
Shanell Twan is currently Assistant Manager and the Core Team Supervisor at Streetworks, Edmonton’s Harm reduction program. She is a member of AAWEAR, a provincial network of people in Alberta with a history of substance use who build the capacity of people who use substances, so that their voices can be heard, and their health can be improved upon. Shanell is also the community liaison for the Royal Alexandra Hospital’s Addiction Recovery Community Health program, where she heads up a Community Advisory Group composed of members with lived experience, established to provide input and feedback on inner city health care issues. Shanell Twan resides in Amiskwaciwaskahikan, also known as Edmonton. More personally, Shanell’s family is from the interior region of British Columbia known as the Caribou Region. Shanell’s Indigenous ancestry stems from the Tl’etinqox-t’in people, known as “the people of the river.” From her maternal grandmother’s side, they are from the Anaham Indian band, and her maternal grandfather is from Esdilagh? (“Es-day-la”) First Nation, which is situated along both sides of the Fraser River located between Williams Lake.
Monty Ghosh is an Internist and Addiction Specialist. He works with multiple community based not for profit organizations to provide support for marginalized populations including The Alex and The Calgary Drop-In Centre. He also helps foster and create unique programs to support those living with substance use, experiencing homelessness, and with other vulnerabilities. He is the Medical Co-Lead for the AHS Rapid Access Addiction Medicine (RAAM) Program. He is an assistant professor at both The University of Alberta and the University of Calgary, and is heavily involved with provincial policy building in Alberta, as well as with research and is the primary recipient of grants from Health Canada, Alberta Innovates, Alberta Health, and the Canadian Institute of Health Research. He is the past president of the Section of Addiction Medicine of the Alberta Medical Association.
Anna Taylor is an associate professor in the Department of Pharmacology at the University of Alberta. She holds a Canada Research Chair in Pain and Addiction and the Alberta Cancer Foundation Chair in Palliative care. Dr. Taylor runs a biomedical research lab where she strives to provide mechanistic insight into chronic pain and addiction.