Shanell Twan, University of Alberta

Research

Community-Engaged Research Compulsory Drug Treatment Focused Ethnography Illegal Drug Use Structural Vulnerability

Latest papers

Factors associated with willingness of people who smoke unregulated drugs to use supervised inhalation sites.
The International journal on drug policy · 2026
Staff perspectives on the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the provision of emergency department care for patients who use opioids.
CJEM · 2026
Co-creating health system innovation with people who use drugs.
Harm reduction journal · 2025

All 7 publications

Latest funding

Expanding compulsory drug treatment in Alberta: Perspectives of people who use drugs and healthcare providers
CIHR · 2025 · Principal investigator
$200,000
Addressing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on people who use drugs through health system innovation
CIHR · 2022 · Principal investigator
$194,369
Evaluating the impact of a novel acute care-based supervised injection service on patient outcomes
CIHR · 2022 · Co-investigator
$661,726

All 5 grants and awards

7 publications.

01

Factors associated with willingness of people who smoke unregulated drugs to use supervised inhalation sites.

Connolly D, Salvalaggio G, Bulut O, Cottrell-McDermott C, Hyshka E, Taylor M, Piggott B, Staines A, Issa T, Collins Z, Gehring ND, Twan S, Morris H

The International journal on drug policy2026

DOI: 10.1016/j.drugpo.2026.105445 PMID: 42537554

02

Staff perspectives on the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the provision of emergency department care for patients who use opioids.

Gehring ND, Weicker SA, Hyshka E, Lail P, Mrochuk M, Rittenbach K, Speed KA, Salvalaggio G, Harvey G, Twan S, Dong K

CJEM2026

DOI: 10.1007/s43678-025-01042-w PMID: 41217727

03

Co-creating health system innovation with people who use drugs.

McBeth R, Sandberg C, Varewny V, Piggott B, Ajani A, Auger S, Campbell-Scherer D, Dong K, Hyshka E, Srinivasan C, Twan S, Umpherville L, Salvalaggio G

Harm reduction journal2025

DOI: 10.1186/s12954-025-01326-5 PMID: 41126202

04

The relationship between COVID-19 and opioid-related emergency department visits in Alberta, Canada: an interrupted time series analysis.

Speed KA, Bwala H, Gehring ND, Ahmed M, Dong K, Lail P, Twan S, Harvey G, McLane P, Salvalaggio G, Wild TC, Dmitrienko K, Hathaway J, Hyshka E

Health promotion and chronic disease prevention in Canada : research, policy and practice2025

DOI: 10.24095/hpcdp.45.9.01 PMID: 40960730

05

"You don't have to squirrel away in a staircase": Patient motivations for attending a novel supervised drug consumption service in acute care.

Kosteniuk B, Salvalaggio G, McNeil R, Brooks HL, Dong K, Twan S, Brouwer J, Hyshka E

The International journal on drug policy2021

DOI: 10.1016/j.drugpo.2021.103275 PMID: 34020865

06

[Not Available].

Andermann A, Bloch G, Goel R, Brcic V, Salvalaggio G, Twan S, Kendall CE, Ponka D, Pottie K

Canadian family physician Medecin de famille canadien2020

PMID: 32817047

07

Caring for patients with lived experience of homelessness.

Andermann A, Bloch G, Goel R, Brcic V, Salvalaggio G, Twan S, Kendall CE, Ponka D, Pottie K

Canadian family physician Medecin de famille canadien2020

PMID: 32817028

Expanding compulsory drug treatment in Alberta: Perspectives of people who use drugs and healthcare providers

Principal investigatorCIHR2025Project Grant - PA: Patient-Oriented Research - POR equity-focused

Principal investigators: Hyshka, Elaine; Dong, Kathryn A; Salvalaggio, Ginetta L; Twan, Shanell

Keywords: Community-Engaged Research; Compulsory Drug Treatment; Focused Ethnography; Illegal Drug Use; Structural Vulnerability

$200,000

Addressing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on people who use drugs through health system innovation

Principal investigatorCIHR2022Training Grant: Patient-Oriented Research Training Grant - Health System Stream

Principal investigators: The Boyle Street Service Society, .; Taylor, Marliss L; Twan, Shanell; Umpherville, Les; Salvalaggio, Ginetta L

Keywords: Community-Based Participatory Research; Pandemic Recovery; Patient-Oriented Research; People Who Use Drugs

$194,369

Evaluating the impact of a novel acute care-based supervised injection service on patient outcomes

Co-investigatorCIHR2022Project Grant

Principal investigators: Hyshka, Elaine

Keywords: Acute Care; Community-Engaged Research; Health Services Research; Injection Drug Use; Population Health; Supervised Consumption Services

$661,726

Responding to dual public health crises in the Emergency Department: Advancing patient-centered care for people who use opioids during COVID-19

Co-investigatorCIHR2020Op Gr: COVID-19 MH/SU - Developing Innovative Adaptations of Services/Delivery

Principal investigators: Hyshka, Elaine; Dong, Kathryn A

Keywords: Addiction Medicine; Administrative Health Data; Covid-19; Emergency Department; Naloxone; Opioid Agonist Treatment; Opioid Use Disorder; Overdose; Patient-Oriented Research; Qualitative Research

$196,366

Implementing supervised consumption services in acute care: Evaluating a novel opioid crisis intervention

Co-investigatorCIHR2018Operating Grant: Evaluation of Interventions to Address the Opioid Crisis

Principal investigators: Hyshka, Elaine; Dong, Kathryn A; Salvalaggio, Ginetta L

Keywords: Acute Care; Evaluation; Harm Reduction; Injection Drug Use; Opioid Use; Qualitative Interviews; Supervised Consumption Service

$99,996

From CIHR, NSERC and SSHRC funding decisions: CIHR since 2008, NSERC since 1991 and SSHRC since 1998, including their latest published competition results.

Frequent collaborators

Family Medicine
Medicine
Emergency Medicine
Other

Co-authors at University of Alberta, colored by department. Thicker lines mean more shared papers; select anyone to open their profile and their own map.

Ginetta Salvalaggio

Faculty

7 shared papers, latest 2026

Elaine Hyshka

Medicine

5 shared papers, latest 2026

Kathryn Dong

Faculty

4 shared papers, latest 2026

David Ponka

Family Medicine

2 shared papers, latest 2020

Gillian Harvey

Faculty

2 shared papers, latest 2026

Patrick McLane

Emergency Medicine

1 shared papers, latest 2025

Denise Campbell-Scherer

Family Medicine

1 shared papers, latest 2025

Marliss Taylor

Faculty

1 shared papers, latest 2026

Write to this professor

A short, specific email works best. This draft uses one of their recent papers; replace the parts in brackets with your own details before sending.

Applying for

Paper to mentionMention their CIHR grant from 2025

Subject: Prospective PhD student: Community-Engaged Research Dear Professor Twan, My name is [your name], and I am a [your current degree or role] at [your institution]. I am applying for a PhD position starting in [term and year]. I read your paper "Factors associated with willingness of people who smoke unregulated drugs to use supervised inhalation sites." (2026), and it connects closely to my own work on [your research topic]. [One or two sentences on what you did and what you learned.] I also saw your CIHR-funded project "Expanding compulsory drug treatment in Alberta: Perspectives of people who use drugs and healthcare providers" (2025), and I would be glad to contribute to work in that direction. Are you accepting new PhD students for [term and year]? I have attached my CV and transcripts, and I would be glad to talk at a time that suits you. Thank you for your time. Kind regards, [your name]