On World AIDS Day, December 1st, we askedDr. Surita Parashar, a BC-CfE research scientist of the Epidemiology and Population Health Programabout her work and how it relates to this year’s World AIDS Day theme of ‘End Inequalities. End AIDS. End Pandemics’.
On December 1st we celebrate World AIDS Day, an opportunity to reflect on our challenges and successes four decades into the battle against HIV/AIDS. Around the world there are nearly 38 million people living with HIV and about 1.5 million new infections per year. A recent report by the World Health Organization estimates the number of people with the virus being treated with antiretrovirals had risen to 27.5 million – an increase of almost 10% over the last year. Encouraging but not enough.
Ahead of World AIDS Day on December 1st, we asked several BC-CfE researchers about their work and how it relates to this year’s World AIDS Day theme of ‘End Inequalities. End AIDS. End Pandemics’.
Ahead of World AIDS Day on December 1st, we asked several BC-CfE researchers about their work and how it relates to this year’s World AIDS Day theme of ‘End Inequalities. End AIDS. End Pandemics’.
Ahead of World AIDS Day on December 1st, we asked several BC-CfE researchers about their work and how it relates to this year’s World AIDS Day theme of ‘End Inequalities. End AIDS. End Pandemics’. Dr. Kate Salters, a BC-CfE research scientist, leads the Viral Hepatitis Research Program.
Dr. Peter Cheung, a staff scientist in the BC-CfE laboratory, recently published a paper as a co-first author on the topic of a novel antiviral compound discovery.Dr. Cheung worked with researchers at the University of BC and the University of Toronto to characterize chemical compounds that inhibit HIV in novel ways compared to antiretroviral agents currently used. Specifically, the molecules discussed in the paper “2-Trifluoromethylthiazole-5-carboxamides: Analogues of a Stilbene-Based Anti-HIV Agent that Impact HIV mRNA Processing” impact the processing and production of mRNA “messages” that instruct a cell to make proteins.
Understanding the dynamics within HIV transmission clusters is critical information that can help prioritize public health resource allocation. Although HIV sequence clustering is routinely used to identify subpopulations experiencing elevated transmission, there’s a risk of over-simplifying transmission dynamics within clusters as well as the risk that clustering methodology influences outcomes.
The Canadian HIV Women’s Sexual and Reproductive Health Cohort Study (CHIWOS) prioritizes community-based research with a heavy focus on increasing the meaningful involvement of people living with HIV/AIDS in research, particularly women.
The BC-CfE’s Clinical Education and Training Program recently saw a change in leadership from Dr. Silvia Guillemi, who started leading the program when it began back in 2011, to Dr. Val Montessori. Dr. Montessori has multiple roles, as she will be leading the Clinical Education and Training Program while also serving as the Head of the Division of Infectious Diseases at St. Paul’s Hospital and as the Co-chair of the Committee for Drug Evaluation and Therapy. Dr. Montessori also works as a Clinical Associate professor in the Division of Infectious Diseases at the University of British Columbia. The Clinical Education and Training Program was designed to provide learning opportunities on the diagnosis, treatment, management and care of HIV/AIDS and related conditions through personalized learning programs.
BC-CfE researchers recently published a study comparing rates and trends of HIV diagnoses among Indigenous Peoples in Canada, Australia, the USA, and New Zealand.
The study is titled “Rates of new HIV diagnoses among Indigenous Peoples in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the United States: 2009-2017” and the researchers used publicly available surveillance data to estimate the rate of HIV diagnoses per 100,000 people. Each of the four countries examined have passive population-based HIV surveillance programs.
The BC-CfE Laboratory is streamlining reporting processes for certain tests in order to simplify distribution and record-keeping, and to ensure completeness of results. Beginning September 2, 2025, results for the ‘Resistance Analysis of HIV-1 Protease and Reverse Transcriptase’ (Protease-RT) and ‘HIV-1 Integrase Resistance Genotype’ tests will be combined into a single ‘HIV-1 Resistance Genotype Report’.
For more details and example reports, please click on the button below
