Nobel Conference 51Addiction: Exploring the Science and Experience of an Equal Opportunity Condition
Oct. 6 & 7, 2015
Addiction permeates our society. With the scourge of methamphetamine, increasing use of heroin, and the ubiquity of alcohol, addiction is an “equal opportunity condition.” The substances and behaviors to which people become addicted continue to grow as well, with investigations into the possibilities of addictions to food, the Internet, and sex. But what does it mean to be addicted? Is it a brain condition? A psychological and sociological problem? What are the treatment options available? How do the various understandings of addiction influence public policy decisions?
The 51st Nobel Conference at Gustavus Adolphus College, “Addiction: Exploring the Science and Experience of an Equal Opportunity Condition,” which is scheduled for October 6 & 7, 2015, will bring together experts in medicine, neuroscience, sociology, economics, and philosophy to explore the science and experience of addiction.
Presenters
Owen Flanagan, PhD
Philosopher
James B. Duke Professor and Faculty Fellow in Cognitive Neuroscience at Duke University, Durham, N.C.
Carl Hart, PhD
Neuroscientist
Associate professor of psychology in the Departments of Psychology and Psychiatry at Columbia University, New York; director of Residential Studies and Methamphetamine Research Labs at the New York State Psychiatric Institute
Denise Kandel, PhD
Medical sociologist
Professor of sociomedical science in psychiatry at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, New York; research scientist in the Department of Psychiatry and head of the Department of Epidemiology of Substance Abuse at the New York State Psychiatric Institute
Eric Kandel, MD
Neuropsychiatrist
2000 Nobel laureate in physiology/medicine; University Professor, Kavli Professor of Brain Science, and professor of biochemistry and cellular biophysics at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, New York; Senior Investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute; founding director of the Center for Neurobiology and Behavior at Columbia; director of the Kavli Institute for Brain Science and co-director of the Mind-Brain Behavior Initiative
Marc Lewis, PhD
Developmental neuroscientist
Professor of developmental psychology at Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands; author of The Biology of Desire: Why Addiction Is Not a Disease
Sheigla Murphy, PhD
Medical sociologist
Director of the Center for Substance Abuse Studies, Institute for Scientific Analysis, San Francisco, Calif.
Panelists
William Cope Moyers
Vice president of public affairs and community relations, Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation; author of Broken: My Story of Addiction and Redemption and Now What? An Insider’s Guide to Addiction and Recovery
Michael V. Pantalon, PhD
Psychologist
Co-founder, Center for Progressive Recovery and senior research Scientist, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, Conn..
Mark Willenbring, MD
Physician
Founder of Alltyr Clinic in St. Paul, Minn., and former director of the Division of Treatment and Recovery Research of the National Institute on Alcohol and Alcohol Abuse, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Md.
Anne M. Fletcher, MS, RD
Author
Author of Sober for Good and Inside Rehab: The Surprising Truth about Addiction Treatment and How to Get Help That Works