RESEARCH PROFILE

I an experienced and passionate Communication Studies and Disability Studies researcher.

My research involves collaborative oral history, podcasting, and arts-based research with people impacted by the opioid overdose crisis. Many of the individuals I collaborate with have disabilities. I also live and thrive with a recognized disability.

Other research methods and scholarly interests:

• Visual methods (photo-elicitation, Photovoice, digital storytelling, and more)
• Podcasting as a disability studies research method
• Photojournalism & documentary photography
• Interactive documentary production 

EDUCATION

I have a PhD in Communication Studies from Concordia University in Montreal, QC (2019). I also hold a Master of Journalism from the Graduate School of Journalism at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, B.C. (2001).

TEACHING

I have worked as a full-time faculty member in the Journalism and Communication Studies department at Kwantlen Polytechnic University in Surrey, B.C. since 2012. I have developed and taught courses focused on emerging and innovative forms of reporting, including multimedia storytelling, photojournalism, podcasting & audio storytelling, and video journalism. I also teach a wide range of communication studies courses focused on critical approaches to understanding, practicing, and engaging with social media, television, and journalism.

Previously, I worked as an assistant professor in the Journalism and Digital Media program at Wilfrid Laurier University in Brantford, ON. I was an instructor in Media Studies (MA program) in the Department of Communication Studies at Concordia University in Montreal, QC, and the Faculty of Journalism and Mass Communication at Thammasat University in Bangkok, Thailand. I also trained journalists taking part in the International Reporting Program at the Graduate School of Journalism at the University of British Columbia.

I have trained communications personnel working with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) across the Asia Pacific region. Following the earthquake in northern Pakistan in 2005 that killed over 70,000 people and left more than a million others homeless, I worked as a humanitarian advisor and program manager with Internews in the disaster zone for eight months. My role was to train a team of radio journalists reporting on the crisis and international relief and reconstruction effort. I also trained journalists from Myanmar, Vietnam and Cambodia for eight months with the Independent Journalism Foundation, the Cambodia Communications Institute (UNESCO training centre), and the Royal University of Phnom Penh.

PODCASTING AS A DISABILITY STUDIES RESEARCH METHOD

In 2021, I founded and continue to produce The Chemical Sensitivity Podcast.

The biweekly podcast reaches thousands of people across the world. It amplifies the voices and experiences of people with Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (MCS). The condition is also known as Environmental Illness, Chemical Intolerance, and Toxicant-Induced Loss of Tolerance (TILT).

The podcast is a form of qualitative research and part of growing phenomenon of audio storytelling in Critical Disability Studies.

Over a million people in Canada have been officially diagnosed with MCS. The province of Ontario and the Canadian Human Rights Commission recognize the illness as a disability.

In the US, as much as 36 per cent of the population reports having the condition. Many researchers believe it will become one ofthe most widespread illnesses in the coming decades.

The condition affects anumber of bodily systems and leaves people unable to tolerate chemicals, typically following exposure to large amounts of toxins or after frequent low-level exposures.

In spite of the prevalence of the illness, it remains widely misunderstood and stigmatized.

JOURNALISM AND DOCUMENTARY EXPERIENCE

I draw on nearly 20 years of experience as a journalist focused on disability, human rights, and social issues.

My documentary, Duterte's Hell, won a World Press Award, was nominated for a Grierson Trust Award, and was selected as a Vimeo Staff Pick. The film highlights the impacts of thousands of extrajudicial killings of alleged drug users and dealers in the Philippines. It was produced by Field of Vision, published online by The Intercept, premiered at MoMA in New York, and has screened at film festivals across North America and Europe.

My news, features, documentaries and live reports have been broadcast by CBC, Agence France Press Television, Reuters, Al Jazeera English, and CNN. My writing has been published by Reuters, AlertNet, the Toronto Star, National Post, Vancouver Sun, Ottawa Citizen, Calgary Herald, and Inter Press News Service. From 2008 to 2015, I worked as a video journalist with Associated Press Television News’ international features program, Horizons, producing, filming, editing, and writing dozens of stories in Thailand, Cambodia, Japan, and Canada.

I have reported on families searching for thousands of boys and men who were forcibly disappeared by government forces in Sri Lanka, as well as under-reported conflicts in southern Thailand and along the Thai-Myanmar border. I have produced stories about attacks on journalists and the humanitarian crisis at the height of Nepal's civil war, the legacy of the Khmer Rouge genocide in Cambodia, Tibetan refugees in Dharamsala, India, and violence waged by pro-Jakarta militias in the wake of East Timor's UN-sanctioned independence referendum and the country's transition to independence.

I have produced several documentaries for CBC Radio programs, including The Current and Outfront. My documentary, Nina and Arne, broadcast by Outfront, won a Gabriel Award from the Catholic Academy and a Dave Rogers Award from the Radio Television Digital News Association.

IN THE NEWS

Castillo, N. (2023, March 5). “KPU instructor launches podcast about multiple chemical sensitivity.”  The Runner.

Petersen, H. (2023, Jan 16). “New podcast to feature stories of Prince George overdose deaths.” Prince George Citizen.

Kwantlen Polytechnic University. (2023, Jan 16). “KPU researchers assist people in telling rare stories of the
opioid overdose crisis.” KPU News.

Kwantlen Polytechnic University. (2022, Feb 25). “KPU instructor to speak at annual Canadian student journalism conference. Aaron Goodman will speak about his project titled ‘Digitally Memorializing the
Overdose Crisis.’” The Runner.

BBC3. (2018, March 7). “Documenting the long road to recovery from addiction.”  

Hick, Gabrielle. (2018, Feb 4). “As opioid epidemic worsens, photographers are finding new ways to capture addiction.” Artsy.

CBC News. (2017, Sept 17). “B.C. filmmaker examines oppression of marginalized people in the Philippines. Aaron Goodman’s films seek to end international stigma around drug use.” 

Live interview with CBC Radio, On the Coast, Vancouver, B.C. (2017, Sept 12). Topic: Duterte’s Hell, my documentary about state-sanctioned killings of thousands of drug users and dealers in the Philippines, produced by Field of Vision.

Kwantlen Polytechnic University. (2017, Sept 12). “Documentary Duterte’s Hell featured in “Journalism instructor documents Philippines’ war on drugs.” KPU News.

All Sides Staff. (2017, Aug 22). “Telling the Stories of the Opioid Crisis.” WOSU Radio, All Sides with Ann Fisher.

A Whole World. (2017, Aug 15). “Documentary shows the consequences of Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte’s drug policy.” Television Switzerland.

National Post. (2016, March 15). “We need you to see we’re not just stereotyped monsters’: Vancouver heroin addicts in their own words.”