WN@tL: “The Opioid Crisis: A Historical Perspective”

March 28 - 7:00PM - 8:15PM 

UW Biotechnology Center, 425 Henry Mall, Room 1111,  Madison, WI 53706 
Cost: Free 

Speaker

June Dahl, professor emerita of neuroscience, UW–Madison School of Medicine and Public Health

About the talk

Our understanding of the origin of pain has undergone dramatic changes since the times of Plato and Aristotle, both of whom thought that pain was an emotional — not a sensory — experience. Descartes (1596–1650) was more accurate when he described pain as an internal mechanical process. Fortunately, the treatment of pain was not delayed by a lack of understanding about the mechanisms underlying its origins. In fact, Hippocrates (460–370 BC) reported the painkilling properties of opium. In her talk, June Dahl will provide a review of opioids and their use, and she will address the importance of maintaining a balance so that efforts to reduce abuse of these drugs today do not interfere with their appropriate medical use.

About the speaker

Dahl arrived in Madison with her husband when he joined UW–Madison’s Department of Chemistry. At that time, she conducted research with faculty members in the Department of Pharmacology in the School of Medicine and Public Health and was later asked to teach medical students. In 1984, she was appointed to the Controlled Substances Board, Wisconsin’s drug regulatory authority. It was service on that board — along with a bill introduced into Congress in 1986 to make heroin available for pain treatment for the dying — that led to her focus on educational and policy issues directed at improving the management of pain. Dahl earned her doctorate in physical chemistry from Iowa State University.

Parking Information

Parking is available in Lot 20, located at 1390 University Avenue. Lot 20 is a three-level parking structure on the right side of University Avenue, just before Henry Mall. Lot 20 is attached to the Genetics/Biotechnology Center.

Parking in Lot 20 is one of the most convenient parking experiences on campus. Park on the top level, and you can enter the building without going up any steps. Convenient, close and step-free parking are three big reasons we hold WN@tL at the Genetics/Biotechnology Center.

Questions?

• Email wednite@biotech.wisc.edu.
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