Tai Huynh is creative director at OpenLab at the University Health Network, Canada’s largest research hospital. He works with an inter-disciplinary team to come up with creative solutions to advance health and its social determinants. He is also the editor-in-chief at TheLocal.to, an independent magazine exploring urban health and social issues in Toronto. Tai has a Master of Design from OCAD University and an MBA from York University.

Talk

'Overdose: Service Design in the Time of Crisis'

Opioid overdoses have risen dramatically around the world. In this talk, I will discuss the major obstacles hampering current efforts to curb the crisis, including stigma, toxic street drug supplies, NIMBYism and the politics of indifference. The talk will describe a project in Toronto's inner city that brought together close to 100 harm reduction workers, people who use drugs, as well as service designers and developers to come up with a technology-driven, yet decidedly human solution. Through the window of the opioid crisis, the talk will draw connections between service design, participatory design and grassroots activism in advancing a just society.