Annual Nobel Conference at Gustavus explores science and experience of addiction

Photo: Suzy Rook

Gustavus Adolphus College hosts the 51st annual Nobel Conference Oct. 6-7." inform Suzy Rook, Regional Managing Editor of The Le Center Leader, Le Sueur News-Herald, St. Peter Herald and Waseca County News.
 

Photo: Southernminn.com

This year’s conference will bring together physicians, neuroscientists, psychologists, sociologists, philosophers, and treatment experts to discuss the topic of Addiction: Exploring the Science and Experience of an Equal Opportunity Condition. “Addiction is an equal opportunity condition because it can affect each one of us, whether we develop our own addiction or are affected by the addictions of others including family, friends, co-workers, or members of our communities,” Professor of Philosophy and Gender, Women, and Sexuality Studies and 2015 conference chair Peg O’Connor said.

This year’s Nobel Conference is unique because it connects experts on the causes of addiction with experts in the treatment of addiction. “This combination of highly respected and provocative speakers will challenge each other and all of us in the audience to rethink our understanding of addiction and effective treatments,” O’Connor said.

The two-day conference will feature addiction professionals from Columbia University, Duke University, the Yale School of Medicine, the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation, and the Alltyr Clinic in St. Paul, Minn. The opening speaker is 2000 Nobel laureate in medicine, Dr. Eric Kandel. Kandel is a professor of brain science, biochemistry, and cellular biophysics at the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Columbia University, the founder of Columbia’s Center for Neurobiology and Behavior, and a senior investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

Visit gustavus.edu/nobel for the full schedule and speaker biographies.

Tickets are still available for the Nobel Conference. Reserved seats on the main floor are available for $120 and general admission tickets are $75. Tickets may also be purchased for Wednesday evening’s Nobel Conference Banquet for $30. A buffet lunch is available for $12.50 per person per day. Tickets for the conference and meals can be purchased online at gustavustickets.com or by calling the Gustavus Office of Marketing and Communication at 507-933-7520. Media passes are available upon request.

Source: Southernminn.com