Senior Directors
The BC-CfE comprises a dedicated and professional team of physicians, health care providers, researchers, operational and administrative staff. Following our list of Directors, you will find an alphabetical listing of many of our longer-term staff and collaborative partners.
Dr. Julio Montaner
Executive Director and Physician-in-Chief, BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS;
Head, HIV/AIDS Program, St. Paul’s Hospital, Providence Health Care;
University of British Columbia (UBC) and St. Paul's Foundation Chair in AIDS Research; and Killam Professor, Faculty of Medicine, University of British Columbia
Dr. Montaner received his MD with Honours in 1979 at the University of Buenos Aires, Argentina. In 1981, he joined the University of British Columbia as a post-doctoral fellow, completed a residency in Internal Medicine and Respiratory Medicine and was Chief Resident for the Department of Medicine in 1986/1987.
Dr. Rolando Barrios
Senior Medical Director, BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS
Director STOP HIV/AIDS® Program
Principal Investigator, Pharmacovigilance Initiative,
Interim Director, Epidemiology and Population Health & DTP
Dr. Rolando Barrios is the Senior Medical Director of the BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS. He is also the principal investigator of the Pharmacovigilance Initiative and co-chair of the Therapeutic Guidelines Committee at the BC-CfE.
Mark Helberg
Senior Director, Internal and External Relations & Strategic Development
Mark comes to the BC-CfE bringing a wealth of experience from BC Cancer with the Provincial Health Services Authority (PHSA). He worked there as the Manager in Medical Affairs Administration and was responsible for supporting the Director of Medical Affairs Administration and Medical Leadership in Physician Administration.
Directors
Dr. Zabrina Brumme
Director, Laboratory
Dr. Zabrina Brumme received her PhD from the University of British Columbia in 2006 and subsequently completed a post-doctoral fellowship at Harvard's Ragon Institute.
Dr. Val Montessori
Director of Clinical Education, BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS
Head, Division of Infectious Diseases, St. Paul’s Hospital;
Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases, University of British Columbia;
Associate Medical Director, Immunodeficiency Clinic, BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AID
Dr. Montessori certified as a specialist in Internal Medicine at UBC and then continued her training as an Infectious Diseases Fellow with a subsequent Research Fellowship with the Canadian HIV Trials Network.
Dr. Peter Phillips
Medical Director, Urban Health Acute Care Unit
Dr. Peter Phillips is the medical director of the Urban Health Acute Care Unit, a collaboration between the BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS and Providence Health Care; and a member of the AIDS Research Program, a collaboration between St. Paul's Hospital and the University of British Columbia.
Junine Toy
Senior Manager for the Drug Treatment Programs (DTP)
Dr. Junine Toy is the Senior Manager of the Drug Treatment Programs at the BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, a Clinical Pharmacy Specialist with St. Paul’s Hospital Ambulatory Pharmacy, and a clinical instructor for UBC Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences. She has specialized in HIV care and antiretroviral therapy since 2002. She is a member of the BC-CfE's Committee for Drug Evaluation and Therapy and is co-chair of the Data Quality Committee.
Beide Bekele
Director, Core Operations
Beide Bekele is the Director of Core Operations at BC Center of Excellence in HIV AIDS. He oversees the business operations portfolio which includes Finance, HR, IT, Facilities and PMO. Beide is a versatile leader with over two decades of leadership experience driving strategic initiatives in healthcare, IT and International Human Rights with the United Nations, International Justice Mission, NTT DATA, and various Health Authorities in British Columbia.
Dr. Ron Joe
Head, Health Information Management and Assistant Director of the Epidemiology and Population Health Program
Dr. Ron Joe is the Head of Health Information Management and Assistant Director of the Epidemiology and Population Health Program at the BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS (BC-CfE). He is a family physician and a leading expert in substance use disorders, practicing medicine in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, where he has led multiple addictions teams. Until recently, he also served as the Medical Director for Substance Use Services at Vancouver Coastal Health.
Dr. Chanson Brumme
Assistant Director, Research Laboratories
Dr. Chanson Brumme is the Assistant Director of the Research Laboratories at the BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS and an Assistant Professor in the Division of Infectious Diseases of the University of British Columbia. Dr. Brumme received his PhD in Experimental Medicine from the University of British Columbia in 2015 and has trained at the Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard, the Broad Institute and Microsoft Research.
Dr. Cole Stanley
Innovation and QI Lead for the Hope to Health R&I Centre's primary care clinic
Dr. Cole Stanley is the Medical Lead for the Hope to Health R&I Centre. He is also the Medical Lead for a number of Quality Improvement initiatives for both the BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS and Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH) Community and is a family physician at the John Ruedy Clinic in Vancouver.
Dr. David Hall
Medical Lead for the The Hope to Health Research & Innovation Centre
Scientists
Dr. Robert Hogg
Senior Research Scientist
Robert Hogg is a Professor in the Faculty of Health Sciences at Simon Fraser University and a Senior Research Fellow at the BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS. He holds graduate degrees in Anthropology from the University of Victoria (Victoria, BC, Canada) and in Demography from the Australian National University (Canberra, ACT, Australia). Dr. Hogg’s research primarily focuses on the overdose crisis in British Columbia and its effects on individuals living with HIV.
Dr. Jeff Joy
Research Scientist
Dr. Jeffrey Joy is a research scientist (evolutionary genetics and bioinformatics) at the BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS (BCCfE) in the laboratory program and an Assistant Professor of medicine at the University of British Columbia.
Dr. Viviane Dias Lima
Scientist and Senior Methodologist
Viviane Dias Lima is an Associate Professor in the Department of Medicine at the University of British Columbia and joined the British Columbia Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS in 2006 as a Research Scientist and Senior Statistician. She has several ongoing collaborations with researchers across Canada, the US, and Europe. She also supervises and guides a group of statisticians, epidemiologists and mathematical modellers.
Dr. David Moore
Research Scientist; Epidemiology and Population Health Program
Dr. David Moore is a Research Scientist at the BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, and a Professor in the Department of Medicine, Division of Infectious Disease at UBC. He has been conducting health service and population health research in HIV, other sexually transmitted infections, mental health and substance use since 2004.
Dr. Surita Parashar
Research Scientist
Surita Parashar is a Research Scientist with the Division of Epidemiology and Population Health program, and an Adjunct Professor with Simon Fraser University’s Faculty of Health Sciences.
Her research advances strengths-based approaches to understanding and addressing social structural factors that shape health inequities amongst people living with HIV.
Kate Salters
Senior Research Scientist
Kate is a Senior Research Scientist with the Epidemiology and Population Health program at the BC-CfE and an Assistant Professor in the Division of Infectious Disease, Department of Medicine at UBC. Her program of epidemiological and health services research focuses on how we can improve health care engagement and health outcomes among people living with HIV, hepatitis C, and related conditions.