British Columbia Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS

08/31/2026

As BC’s public health emergency on the toxic drug crisis enters its second decade, we pause today to honour the lives lost to, and impacted by, overdose, and the families, friends and communities who carry them in their hearts. Behind each overdose is a person not a statistic, and while overdose deaths are down thanks to harm reduction efforts, there are still too many lives needlessly cut short or dramatically altered by overdose.

International Overdose Awareness Day provides a space to mourn, but to also honour the resiliency and indefatigable spirit of those on the frontlines. It also reminds us all, that we have a role to play in advocating for harm reduction services and addiction treatment that meet people where they are at, to connect with the healthcare services they deserve. The root of substance use and addiction is myriad and complex, but often reflects unmet health or socio-economic needs, reminding us of the importance of holistic, wrap-around care woven throughout all society. We must demand better.

These tenets have been woven through the work of the BC-CfE since our inception, and we remain committed to eliminating the stigma of substance use, using harm reduction as a pathway to addressing the root causes of substance use to ensure everyone can reach their fullest, healthiest potential. We take a moment to also thank our staff at Hope to Health, particularly at our supervised consumption site whose unwavering commitment to our clients is an inspiration.

If you use substances or need care in the Downtown Eastside, Hope to Health has a supervised consumption site and primary care clinic in the 600 block of Powell Street, offering low-threshold harm reduction services, healthcare and access to addiction treatment. Learn more by visiting https://bccfe.ca/the-hope-to-health-research-innovation-centre/.

To learn more about how you can raise aware this International Overdose Awareness Day, visit https://www.overdoseday.com/.

08/28/2026

Thanks to CATIE for highlighting our recent publication in Nature Communications Health led by Dr. Viviane Dias Lima, which built a microsimulation model to project the health trajectories among people living with HIV in BC forecasting a sharp increase in multimorbidity.

Check out CATIE's great recap below and visit https://www.nature.com/articles/s44528-026-00004-7 if you want to check out the full paper.

08/28/2026

Join us Wednesday, September 16th from 12-1pm for the first BC-CfE Learning Series of the Fall.

We’re excited to have Dr. Gina Ogilvie joining us to present "The Path from PAP Smear to HPV-Based Self Collection: Building the Evidence for Change in BC". Her presentation will provide the evidence base for the transition from Pap screening to HPV-based screening, discuss the role of knowledge translation in influencing policy change and identify the opportunities presented by HPV-based screening in global settings.

Join us online or in-person at Cullen Family Lecture Theatre at St. Paul's Hospital. Visit https://bccfe.ca/events/the-path-from-pap-smear-to-hpv-based-self-collection-building-the-evidence-for-change-in-bc-2/ for more information and to register.

08/21/2026

Less than a month left to share your input and help us evaluate HIV-related healthcare and services in BC! The SHAPE 2.0 survey is closing on August 31st and we want to hear from you!

The SHAPE (STOP HIV/AIDS Program Evaluation) Study 2.0 aims to better understand the experiences and concerns of people living with HIV to evaluate how care is delivered across the province.

This short questionnaire takes approximately 30 minutes to complete, and can be done online, over the phone or in-person. A $40 honorarium will be provided for everyone who completes the survey.

You may be eligible if you:
• Are living with HIV
• Currently reside in BC
• Are 19 years of age or older
• Can complete the survey in English or Spanish
• Have not completed the survey yet

Visit https://bccfe.ca/research/SHAPE, text us at 604-561-5836, call us at 1-855-506-8615, or email [email protected] to participate or learn more about how you can be a part of important research in BC.

*Note: By interacting with this post (following, liking or commenting), you may be identified with the study.

08/01/2026

Honoured to have Dr. Zabrina Brumme's work included in this fantastic showcase of HIV research at ! Thank you to the team at Canadian Foundation for AIDS Research (CANFAR) and designer Curtis Matysek for including this in the Global Village showcase.

Never has research looked so fashionable!

07/29/2026

Each year on July 28th, we recognize World Hepatitis Day by raising awareness about the impact of hepatitis, particularly hepatitis B and C which are currently the leading causes of liver cancer. With more than 287 million people living with hepatitis globally, it remains the world’s deadliest communicable disease, yet remains one of the most invisible.

The barriers to hepatitis prevention are rarely actioned to create change, despite already having effective testing and treatments available. World Hepatitis Day encourages us all to do our part in breaking down these obstacles in order to end the stigma and advocate for more resources to eliminate the virus by 2030.

Today, our BC-CfE research teams at Hope to Health spent the day engaging with community members in the neighbourhood, raising awareness that hepatitis C is treatable and curable, and providing resources to connect with testing – putting decision-making back in the hands of the people. Through games, quizzes, and creative prompts, we learned that knowledge is high in the neighbourhood and people are willing to get tested if provided a simple, low-barrier opportunity.

Thank you to Rain or Shine Ice Cream who once again generously donated a tub of ice cream which was a huge hit and facilitated great conversation.

07/09/2026

Less than two months left to share your input and help us evaluate HIV-related healthcare and services in BC! The SHAPE 2.0 survey is closing on August 31st and we want to hear from you!

The SHAPE (STOP HIV/AIDS Program Evaluation) Study 2.0 aims to better understand the experiences and concerns of people living with HIV to evaluate how care is delivered across the province.

This short questionnaire takes approximately 30 minutes to complete, and can be done online, over the phone or in-person. A $40 honorarium will be provided for everyone who completes the survey.

You may be eligible if you:
• Are living with HIV
• Currently reside in BC
• Are 19 years of age or older
• Can complete the survey in English or Spanish
• Have not completed the survey yet

Visit https://bccfe.ca/research/SHAPE, text us at 604-561-5836, call us at 1-855-506-8615, or email [email protected] to participate or learn more about how you can be a part of important research in BC.

*Note: By interacting with this post (following, liking or commenting), you may be identified with the study.

07/04/2026

Thank you to Canadian Institutes of Health Research for funding this important community-engaged work at the intersection between HIV and harm reduction.

Congratulations to Dr. Robert Hogg, Claudette MorinCardinal and all the co-investigators of the Partners in knowledge exCHANGE, on their successful application!

As the drug poisoning crisis across Canada worsens, a new study by the British Columbia Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS being led by Claudette Cardinal and Dr. Robert Hogg is gearing up to equip communities across BC in how to better respond to drug .

Many people who use drugs (PWUDs) rely on their peers for overdose care, yet there are not enough programs that offer the proper peer training and support needed to take on these first responder roles.

Called ‘Partners in Knowledge exCHANGE’, this project will see investigators (including CTN+ scientist Dr. Kathleen Inglis) teaming up with PWUDs to create community-led and tailored training and tools to help respond to drug overdoses and connect people to care, including care.

These peer-run tailored programs will help people feel safer and more comfortable getting health care — an important step in reducing shame and judgment— while building stronger community networks. We'd like to offer our congratulations to the whole team on receiving funding from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research for this exciting project; we can't wait to see what you'll build!

Want to learn more? Click here: https://tinyurl.com/39n4hvh9

06/20/2026

Congratulations to Dr. Harrison Omondi who successfully defended his PhD thesis earlier this Spring and received his doctorate last week at SFU’s Faculty of Health Sciences convocation!

Originally working at the Kenya Medical Research Institute for the Centre for Global Health Research, Dr. Omondi’s previous experience includes clinical trial research studies such as HIV Prevention Trials Network (HPTN), the AIDS Clinical Trials Network (ACTG), and the HIV Vaccine Trials Network (HVTN).

He joined SFU Faculty of Health Sciences in 2017 to undertake graduate studies under the supervision of Dr. Zabrina Brumme, where his thesis reflected a shift from clinical implementation science to basic science research. Inspired by what he had seen through his work in Kenya, where interventions were developed and translated to bedside science, his thesis focused on increasing the representation of diverse and underrepresented populations in HIV persistence research.

Dr. Omondi's goal through his continued work with both BC-CfE and SFU laboratories is to contribute to our growing base of knowledge to inform a safe and effective HIV cure strategy that will benefit all people.

Join us in congratulating Dr. Omondi on this milestone, and your continued dedication to this important work!

06/06/2026

Congratulations to Claudette Cardinal whose work with the Feast Centre for Indigenous STBBI Research received an Honorary Mention recognition as an Emerging Community-Based Researcher at the 2026 Community-Based Research Canada (CBRCanada) Awards!

We would do Claudette a disservice by trying to synthesize CBRCanada’s great description of all that she does, so we include it unedited below:

“Claudette Cardinal is an Indigenous Community Fellow with the Feast Centre for Indigenous STBBI Research whose community-based research demonstrates excellence through Indigenous-led, relational, and ethically grounded practice. Her work centres Indigenous people living with HIV and prioritizes community leadership, cultural safety, and relational accountability across all stages of research. In multiple community-driven projects, she ensures community members co-define priorities, shape methods, interpret findings, and guide knowledge sharing, aligning research with community-identified needs. Grounded in Indigenized ethnography, her work integrates Elder-led teachings, autoethnography, community dialogue, and arts-based methods to reflect holistic understandings of health and lived experience. A key contribution is the Community at the HeART Framework, which supports ethical, community-led research while resisting extractive approaches. Through arts-based projects such as The Stat’s Talk Back and The ART of the Matter… Double Vision, she mobilizes knowledge using storytelling and visual art to share experiences with HIV treatment in accessible, trauma-informed ways, translating research into action that reduces stigma and strengthens community care and advocacy.”

Join us in congratulating Claudette for this well-deserved honour, and learn more about all the incredible recipients of the 2026 Awards at https://www.communityresearchcanada.ca/posts/meet-the-recipients-of-the-2026-community-based-research-excellence-awards