Anna Taylor, PhD

Dr. Taylor holds a Canada Research Chair in Pain and Addiction and the Alberta Cancer Foundation Chair in Palliative Care. She is an associate professor in the Department of Pharmacology and member of the Neuroscience and Mental Health Institute at the University of Alberta.

Originally from Calgary, Alberta, she completed her training at McGill University in the McGill Pain Center and later at the University of California in the Hatos Center for Opioid Pharmacology. As such, her research spans the fields of opioid pharmacology and chronic pain, and research projects incorporate both of these models.

Graduate Students

Christian Faig, BSc

Christian is originally from Calgary, Alberta and completed his Undergraduate degree at the University of Alberta in 2020. Christian joined the lab as an undergraduate researcher where he investigated the role of the claustrum in chronic inflammatory pain. He is currently a PhD student in the Pharmacology program and is co-mentored by Dr. Jesse Jackson (Physiology).

Julia Nickols, BSc

Julia completed her BSc in Physiology at the University of Alberta in 2021 before joining the lab as an PhD student in the Pharmacology program. Julia’s project examines the alterations in the gut microbiome during opioid withdrawal, and the influence of these alterations on the symptoms of withdrawal.

Matthew Bolger, BSc

Matthew completed his BSc at Trent University in 2023, with a major in Biochemistry & Molecular Biology and a minor in Data Analytics. In 2024 he joined the lab as a MSc student in the Pharmacology department. He is currently investigating κ-opioid receptor signaling in the claustrum.

Undergraduate Students 

Jenna Lindner

Tom Wilson

Freya Blackie

Alumni

Elizabeth Sugiarto (BSc, Pharmacology)

Tristan Pidner (BSc, Psychology) – Medical Student University of Calgary

Holly Vogel (BSc, Pharmacology) – Trang lab, University of Calgary

Zoë Dworsky-Fried (MSc, Pharmacology) – Medical Student University of Alberta

Caylin Chadwick (MSc, Neuroscience) – Research Coordinator, Clinical Trials University of Alberta

Gloria Kim (BSc, Neuroscience)

Ethan Chen (BSc, Pharmacology) – Pharmacy student, University of Alberta

Maddison Russo (BSc, Neuroscience)

Adam Wass (MSc, Neuroscience) – Physiotherapy student University of Alberta