Katie Zaman, PhD

Biography

Katie Zaman joins us from Madison, Wisconsin. She received her PhD in Sociology from UW-Madison, where she used comics in her dissertation research as a way to humanize research participants and communicate findings to a broad audience. She currently works as the Project ECHO coordinator at Hennepin Healthcare. Katie is developing comics based on the lived experiences of people who have journeyed through substance use disorders to reduce stigma.

Katie’s presentation is titled Telling Stories to Reduce Stigma: Comics and Harm Reduction. Stigma is a major barrier to recovery for people with substance use disorders, because it makes people reluctant to reach out for help for fear that they will be stigmatized by friends, family, and even health care providers. One way to reduce stigma is to listen to the experiences of people with substance use disorders and learn about what they are going through. Comics are a great way to tell these stories and encourage compassion and empathy.