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Rachel Wurzman: Can Social Isolation Lead To Opioid Addiction?

Part 4 of the TED Radio Hour episode Accessing Better Health.

About Rachel Wurzman's TED Talk

Circumstances like who we are and where we live can impact our health. But Rachel Wurzman says another critical factor is loneliness. She studies the connection between isolation and opioid addiction.

About Rachel Wurzman

Rachel Wurzman is a neuroscientist and neuroethicist by training. She is also the director of SeekHealing, a nonprofit which implements creative ways to connect people in order to build communities resilient to addiction.

She has given her advice and insights into neurocognition while serving as a neuroscience and neuroethics advisor to the Pentagon, an intern in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy under the Obama administration, and through her involvement with the International Neuroethics Society.

Wurzman completed her doctoral and postdoctoral training at Georgetown University and the University of Pennsylvania, respectively.

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NPR/TED Staff