Tues. April 9, 2019
Opening reception, 5:30 - 6:30 p.m., and panel discussion, 6:30 - 8:00 p.m.
Parsons School of Design, The New School
Arnold and Sheila Aronson Galleries + Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen Auditorium
66 Fifth Ave. @ 13th St., New York City
Art, Media, Research, and Advocacy: What Shapes Public Opinion and Drug Policy?
Part of the Open Society Foundations' Dialogues on Drug Policy series at The New School
Drug use and addiction have long been treated as a crime in the U.S., but with record numbers of people dying of overdoses and legally prescribed medications implicated in many of those deaths, attitudes are beginning to shift. Yet decades of media coverage and laws reflecting a drug war mentality may take longer to change. Panelists will discuss how art, media, research, and advocacy can influence how we respond to problematic drug use—through treatment, harm reduction, and other services—and help people rebuild their lives after addiction.
PANELISTS
Susan Stellin, MPH (moderator)
Reporter, Researcher and Adjunct Professor
Journalism + Design, The New School
Susan is a reporter and the author of Chancers, a dual memoir written with her husband Graham MacIndoe about his struggle with addiction, incarceration, and recovery, published by Random House in 2016. She teaches ethics and media history in the Journalism + Design department at The New School and recently earned a master's in public health from Columbia University. In 2014, Susan and Graham were awarded a fellowship from the Alicia Patterson Foundation for their project American Exile, photos and interviews documenting the stories of immigrants who have been ordered deported from the United States. She was a regular contributor to The New York Times for 15 years and has written for New York magazine, The Guardian, TheAtlantic.com, The Los Angeles Times, Nieman Reports, and many other publications. Susan earned a B.A. in political science from Stanford University.
Tracie Gardner
Vice President of Policy Advocacy, Legal Action Center
Tracie spearheads major initiatives and fosters strategic partnerships that support LAC’s mission: to fight discrimination against people with histories of addiction, HIV/AIDS, or criminal records, and to advocate for sound public policies in these areas. From 2015-2017, Tracie served as the Assistant Secretary of Health for New York State, where she oversaw the state’s addiction, mental health and developmental disabilities agencies. She has worked for almost 30 years in the health and social services policy arena as a policy advocate, trainer and lobbyist. She has led advocacy campaigns that won substantial increases in funding for substance use, HIV and alternatives to incarceration and reentry services, landmark HIV confidentiality and testing legislation, and landmark criminal justice reforms. Tracie received a B.A. from Mount Holyoke College.
Graham MacIndoe
Photographer and Assistant Professor of Photography at Parsons
Graham is a photographer based in New York City who has taught at Parsons since 2011. His work has been published and exhibited widely, including solo exhibitions at the Contemporary Arts Center in Cincinnati in 2018 and the Scottish National Portrait Gallery in 2017, which was chosen by the Guardian as one of the most important exhibits to see in the U.K. Graham has spoken about his photography, incarceration, and depictions of addiction at MoMA, Aperture, TEDxStanford, and other venues, and his series All In – Buying Into the Drug Trade was shown at Little Big Man Gallery in Los Angeles in 2014. His photographs have appeared in many newspapers and magazines, including The New York Times, The Guardian, New York, The Financial Times, Harpers, Rolling Stone, W, I.D., Vice, and Esquire. Born in Scotland, Graham studied painting at Edinburgh College of Art and received a master's degree in photography from the Royal College of Art in London.
Pedro Mateu-Gelabert, PhD
Principal Investigator and Deputy Director, Institute of Infectious Disease Research
National Development Research Institutes, Inc.
Pedro has over 20 years of research experience in New York City and internationally spanning the epidemiology of drug use, urban studies, crime, immigration, social networks, and HIV/Hepatitis C prevention. He has collaborated with various interdisciplinary research teams and worked on projects in countries including Colombia (emerging heroin markets leading to HIV epidemics among young injectors), Spain (HCV prevention among injection drug users) and Ukraine (HIV treatment access and care cascade for people who inject drugs). He is currently Principal Investigator of three ongoing NIDA-funded research projects titled: Accessible Care Intervention for Engaging People Who Inject Illicit Drugs (PWID) in Hepatitis C Care; HIV, HCV and STI Risk Associated with Nonmedical Use of Prescription Opioids; and Staying Safe Intervention: Preventing HCV Among Youth Opioid Injectors. Pedro is a founding member of the Social Art Collective, creators of the Heroin Stamp Project exhibition, which combined art and public health messaging about injection drug use and harm reduction.