Why we need an HIV cure and how we are trying to get there? Challenges, opportunities and ways forward for Persons Living with HIV

Dr Brumme is a co-principal-investigator on a $2-million, 5-year HIV Cure research grant from the Canadian Institutes for Health Research (CIHR) that seeks to Characterize and Understand the HIV Reservoir for Eradication (CURE). She is also a scientific member of the Pan-American BELIEVE (Bench-to-Bed Enhanced Lymphocyte Infusions to Engineer Viral Eradication) Cure Research Collaboratory. Her research team aims to characterize HIV strains that persist in the body even during successful antiretroviral treatment and map immune responses to these strains, towards the ultimate goal of developing individualized approaches to achieve HIV remission or cure.

Brad Jones – PhD Student at the University of British Columbia (UBC) and Bioinformatics Research Assistant at the BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS (BCCfE).

Originally trained in mathematics at Simon Fraser University, Brad’s current field of study is bioinformatics, which is the integration of biology and computer science. His four years as a research assistant at the BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS in Vancouver has led him to pursue a PhD at the University of British Columbia under the mentorship of Drs. Jeffrey Joy and Zabrina Brumme. Brad’s research involves modelling the evolution of HIV within a person by developing software tools in order to understand how HIV persists even in the presence of combined antiretroviral therapy. He investigates when, where and how long HIV integrates into a person’s genome and how HIV migrates throughout the body.

Terry Howard – CanCURE (Canadian HIV Cure Research Enterprise), BELIEVE Community Advisory Board (CAB) member, Principal of GlassHouse Consultants (Vancouver), and community-based research (CBR) leader.

Terry has lived with HIV of over 25 years. As past Secretary to the Board of Directors of the Canadian Association for HIV Research (CAHR, 2012-2019), his passion for HIV CBR within BC’s HIV Service and Support Agency community guides his work as Principal Consultant at GlassHouse Consultants (Vancouver). Terry’s work with persons living with HIV/AIDS (PLWH) over two decades directs his current focus of developing standards of support and training for Peer Researchers and brokering CBR partnerships among academic and community researchers. Terry’s current engagements include: “PRA Plus”, a PRA Mentor training project; co-Investigator and Vancouver Community Engagement Coordinator (CEC) Chair for the Momentum 2/Engage Study Gay Men’s Health Research Study; Peers4HIV- developing HIV/HCV prevention programs for Federal Corrections prisoners in BC; a member of the CanCURE Community Advisory Board, and member of the International Community Advisory Board for HIV Cure Research initiative of the Martin Delaney Collaboratory, the BELIEVE Collaboratory, based at Cornell University, NY.

Darren Lauscher – Community AIDS Treatment Information Exchange (CATIE) National Board of Directors, Canadian HIV Trial Network (CTN) Community Advisory Committee (CAC), University of British Columbia (UBC) a founding member of the non-profit Patients in Education in BC, and community-based researcher with the various organizations including the Pacific AIDS Network (PAN).

An HIV Advocate/Activist living with HIV since 1985, Darren sits at various tables throughout the country and has been in involved with research for over two decades. He has been a community representative on the CTN CAC, the oldest HIV Research Community Advisory Committee in Canada formed in 1993, since 2016. Darren’s involvement with UBC include Patient/Community Voice on the UBC Health Council, Co-Chair of the Patient Advisory Committee(PAC) to the UBC Health Council, and primary care health advocacy case studies in the medical school curriculum Providing his lived experience perspective, he speaks to UBC medical school faculty, residents and students. (Darren is a contributing author on an international collaborative study on Leadership, Resilience and Sustainability in Interprofessional Collaboration to be published in 2020.) His various volunteer and community leadership roles include: Steering Committees for the Positive Living Positive Homes, National Stigma Index, and BC Stigma Index; working for community change in participatory action research (PRA) and a number of CBR projects related to HIV; a long-time volunteer with McLaren Housing Society of BC and the PAN, of which the latter he is past Co-Chair of the Board of Directors.

Christine Urquhart – is a registered nurse and HIV Nurse Clinician with AVI Health Centre in Nanaimo BC, working as part of a multidisciplinary team.

Christine’s primary role is to provide nursing care, assist in primary care of HIV patients, offer support and facilitate understanding of HIV as a chronic health condition. Her role is also to promote testing for STIs including HIV and HCV, and she has been a strong advocate and moving force to propel Nanaimo forward in the availability of Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP). Christine has been a registered nurse for more than 34 years and has spent the last 15 years working in sexual health including coordinating a teen peer education program focusing on healthy sexuality. She is a member of the British Columbia College of Nursing Professional and holds a certified practice designation both in reproduction health and contraceptive management.