Anna Taylor, PhD

Contact

Associate Professor, Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry - Pharmacology Dept

Email: ataylor1@ualberta.ca
Phone: (780) 492-3870
Address: 9-70A Medical Sciences Building
8613 - 114 St NW

Edmonton AB

T6G 2H7

Overview

Area of Study / Keywords

chronic pain opioid dependence addiction inflammation gut microbiome hyperalgesia affective disorders affective disorders reward motivated behaviour animal models

About

Dr. Taylor is an associate professor in the Department of Pharmacology at the University of Alberta. She holds a Canada Research Chair in Pain and Addiction and the Alberta Cancer Foundation Chair in Palliative Care. She is a member of the Neuroscience and Mental Health Institute and the Cancer Research Institute of Northern Alberta. She completed her PhD at the McGill Pain Center and postdoctoral training at the University of California Los Angeles 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 research questions.

Research

Dr. Taylor strives to understand how chronic pain and opioids impact affective and cognitive brain regions. Her research explores how these changes contribute to pain and whether they alter opioid efficacy. She explores strategies to improve the efficacy of opioids while minimizing abuse liability. Finally, she studies non-canonical opioid agonists to treat pain without abuse liability. This research comes at a critical juncture when safe and effective chronic pain management is increasingly challenging amidst the opioid overdose epidemic. Outcomes from this program will develop strategies for safe and effective opioid prescribing, and identify novel targets for the treatment of chronic pain.

Teaching

Pharmacology 200

Dentistry Course 1 (Intro to Pharmacology)

Courses

PMCOL 200 - Drugs - An Introduction to Pharmacology

Using examples of commonly used drugs (both therapeutic and illicit), we will explore what drugs do to the human body and in turn, what the body does to drugs. Recommended for students with an interest in pursuing medical science degrees and programs. Prerequisites: CHEM 101 and BIOL 107 or equivalent. Open to 2nd and 3rd year students only. In the case of over-subscription, preference will be given to students enrolled in Pharmacology BSc degree programs.

Winter Term 2026

Browse more courses taught by Anna Taylor