This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx

Rather than treating addiction as a personal failure, a blame-and-shame worthy affliction, Dr. Vivek Kumar shows how genetics prove addiction to be, rather, a chronic brain disease. As such, he advocates for a total shift in our cultural view and social treatment of addiction.

Dr. Vivek Kumar is on faculty at the Jackson Laboratory and studies the genetics of addiction using mouse models. Dr. Kumar has a PhD from the University of California, San Diego and conducted postdoctoral research at Northwestern University and UT Southwestern. His work uses unbiased genetic approaches to discover new genes and pathways that regulate addiction. Dr. Kumar is also interested in communicating science to the lay public and has been an advocate for better long term treatment of addiction, much like other chronic illnesses.