Comités

Dr. Jonathan Angel

Président, Comité de direction; Membre, Comité de financement

Dr. Angel is a senior scientist in the Chronic Disease Program at the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute and the director of the HIV Clinic at the Ottawa Hospital. He is a a Professor of Medicine as well as the chair and chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases at the University of Ottawa. Dr. Angel is the principal investigator for the Canadian HIV Cure Enterprise (CanCURE).

Dr. Angel earned his medical degree at the University of Toronto and went on to a residency in internal medicine. He received his clinical research and infectious diseases training at the New England Medical Center/Tufts University in Boston.

His primary interests are HIV immunopathogenesis and immune-based therapies for HIV. His research focuses on three main areas: (1) mechanisms of HIV-induced cellular immune dysfunction, (2) the impact of antiretroviral and immune-based therapies on immune function in patients with HIV, and (3) studies of immune-based therapies including HIV vaccines.

He is the principal investigator for CTN 173, which looked at the impact of therapeutic HIV vaccination before an interruption of antiretroviral therapy on immune function and virologic rebound. He was a co-investigator for CTN 256, a study that tested the effectiveness and safety of AGS-004, an experimental immunotherapy, in controlling HIV replication. He is also a co-investigator for CTN 247 and 257 and has contributed to numerous CTN research publications.

Enrico Mandarino

Président, Comité consultatif auprès de la communauté; Membre, Comité de direction

Enrico has over 25 years of experience as a healthcare professional within the hospital, educational and pharmaceutical industries.  His breadth of experience in healthcare includes progressive positions in diagnostic and clinical research, health policy and quality assurance.

Enrico holds an associates degree in Medical Laboratory Science and a postgraduate certificate as a Clinical Research Associate from the Michener Institute of Applied Health Sciences. As a Regulated Health Professional, he maintains an active practicing registration with the College of Medical Laboratory Technologists of Ontario.  Enrico has contributed to numerous public policy and clinical research initiativesand co-authored several published clinical and public policy papers.

Since the early 2000s, Enrico has been on the forefront of informing cannabis public policy and setting a research agenda.  Enrico has been a both a participant in cannabis research and a community advisor/researcher on protocol development and knowledge translation.

In 2019, Enrico was appointed as the Chair of the Community Advisory Committee of the CIHR Canadian HIV Trials Network (the CTN).  The committee reviews all protocols and informed consents submitted to the Network & makes recommendations to the Steering Committee (SC).

In 2020, the Co-Infection and Related Conditions Core created a COVID-19 Research Development Team, and Enrico participates as a Community Co-Chair on this team.

Enrico is currently the Canadian Director of Training & Quality Assurance with MJardin Canada and is the Quality Assurance Person & Responsible Person for a License Holder.

In 2012, Enrico was awarded the Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Medal, by the Governor General, for his significant contributions to Canada.

Shari Margolese

Team Co-Lead, Community Engagement Teams; Member, Steering Committee

Shari Margolese has been an active advocate for people living with HIV since shortly after her own diagnosis in 1993. Shari currently serves as the community co-lead for CTN’s Community Engagement Teams, along with Dr. Catherine Worthington. Shari is the past chair of the CTN’s Community Advisory Committee and is the current co-chair of the Canadian Cure Enterprise (CanCURE) community advisory committee. Shari lives in rural southwestern Ontario.

Dr. Fiona Smaill

Coprésidente, Comité de financement; Membre, Comité de direction

Dr. Smaill is a professor of pathology and molecular medicine, an acting associate vice-president of the Faculty of Health Sciences, and a co-director at the Special Immunology Services/HIV Clinic at McMaster University.

She earned her medical degree at Otago University in New Zealand and followed with training in general medicine at the Wellington Hospital. She then made the move to McMaster University in Hamilton where she trained in medical microbiology, internal medicine, and infectious diseases before completing a master’s degree in design, measurement & evaluation.

Dr. Smaill’s research interests include evaluating the efficacy and side effects of different antiretroviral regimens as well as gender differences in the management of HIV. Beyond HIV, she is actively involved in clinical trials focused on the development of vaccines for tuberculosis and the management of infections in pregnancy.

With the CTN, she is most involved in the CTN’s Clinical Care and Management Core. She is a co-investigator for CTN 273: Brain Health Now!, CTN 254: Inflammation as a predictor of HIV disease progression, and CTN 240: VALIDATE trial. She is also a co-investigator for CTN 247: Canadian cohort of HIV+ slow progressors, which is in the Vaccines and Immunotherapies core.

Dr. Naveed Janjua

Président, Comité d’évaluation scientifique; Membre, Comité de direction; Membre, Comité de financement

Dr. Naveed Janjua is a Clinical Associate Professor at the School of Population and Public Health at the University of British Columbia, and he is also an epidemiologist and senior scientist in clinical prevention services at the British Columbia Centre for Disease Control.

Dr. Janjua is a Medical Doctor who obtained his MSc degree in epidemiology and biostatistics, and he also has his doctorate in public health. His work at the BCCDC involves surveillance, research, and policy advice related to hepatitis B and C. His research interests include hepatitis B and C epidemiology, disparities in treatment access, and disease outcomes, and his global health research includes unsafe medical injectors and transmission of blood borne pathogens, socio-economic disparities in health and nutritional transition in developing countries.

Dr. Lehana Thabane

Coprésident, Comité de financement; Membre, Comité de direction

Dr. Lehana Thabane is a professor and associate chair of the Department of Clinical Epidemiology & Biostatics at McMaster University, the director of the Biostatistics Unit of the Centre for Evaluation of Medicine, and a senior scientist in the Population Health Research Institute at McMaster University. He is also a biostatician at the centre for Evaluation of Medicines at St. Joseph’s Healthcare, and an associate member of both the Department of Pediatrics and Department of Anesthesia at McMaster University.

He completed his undergraduate studies, obtaining first class in mathematics and statistics, at the National University of Lesotho, his master’s degree in statistics at Sheffield University in the United Kingdom, and his PhD in statistics at the University of Western Ontario. He also completed a diploma in pure science in the Department of Probability and Statistics at the University of Sheffield, England.

Dr. Thabane is a research methodologist with research interests in the development and application of statistical methods health research. His research covers a wide spectrum of areas including clinical trials, research ethics, and conjoint analysis of patient preferences for colorectal cancer screening. He has mentored over 100 Msc, PhD, and Postdoc trainees.

Dr. Thabane serves on two CTN committees, and has acted as supervisor for numerous CTN Postdoctoral Fellows in recent years. He has also contributed to several CTN research publications, most of which discuss various HIV-related issues in the context of sub-Saharan Africa.

Dr. Aslam Anis

Directeur national; Membre, Comité de financement; Membre, Comité de direction

Dr. Aslam Anis is the National Director of the CTN. He is also a professor at the School of Population and Public Health at the University of British Columbia, the Director of the Centre for Health Evaluation and Outcome Sciences, and a senior scientist at Arthritis Research Canada. In 2011, Dr. Anis was inducted as a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences.

He earned his bachelor’s degree in economics at Dhaka University in Bangladesh before following with an MA and PhD in economics at Carleton University in Ottawa.

Dr. Anis’ work and research activities have been directed primarily to the field of pharmacoeconomics. He has been instrumental in shaping economic policies in Canada, notably those governing access to antiretroviral therapy (ART) for people living with HIV. He was one of the first scholars worldwide to demonstrate the cost-effectiveness of ART, and his research in the area of pharmaceutical pricing policies in Canada has attracted worldwide attention since the 1990s.

More specifically, his research activities have been focused on health services, measuring patient-reported outcomes, clinical trials including pragmatic and pharmacoeconomic trials, Canadian competition policy in the pharmaceutical industry, and the cost-effectiveness of treatments for HIV/AIDS, rheumatoid arthritis, and other conditions.

Dr. Anis has contributed to numerous CTN research publications on subjects including ART resistance, the cost-effectiveness of HIV treatments and care, quality of life of people living with HIV, health utilities, influenza vaccination for those living with HIV, and more.

Dr. Curtis Cooper

Membre, Comité de direction

Dr. Cooper is the director of the Ottawa Hospital and Regional Hepatitis Program, a scientist in the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute’s Clinical Epidemiology Program, and an associate professor in the Department of Medicine at the University of Ottawa. Dr. Cooper is the past president of the Canadian Association of HIV Research.

He received his Bachelor of Science degree in biology from the University of Regina, and his medical degree at the University of Saskatchewan before going on to specializations in internal medicine and infectious diseases at the University of Manitoba. Later, he completed an HIV Research Fellowship and a master’s degree in epidemiology at the University of Ottawa.

Dr. Cooper’s research surrounds HIV, viral hepatitis and vaccine development. He is working towards the development of new therapeutic agents and the delivery of treatment that maximizes safety and adherence.

He is involved in many CTN studies, all within the Co-infections and Related Conditions Core, for which he is the Co-lead. He was a co-author of the CTN 2016 HIV-HCV Co-infection Guidelines. He is the principal investigator and for CTNPT 019, CTN 289, CTN 237, and CTN 253, and a co-investigator for CTN 286, CTN 222, CTN 260, and CTN 264.

Dr. Cecilia Costiniuk

CO-DIRECTRICE DE L'ÉQUIPE, Vaccins et immunothérapies; MEMBRE, COMITÉ DE DIRECTION

Dr. Cecilia Costiniuk is an associate professor in the Division of Infectious Diseases at McGill University and an associate investigator in the Infectious Diseases and Immunity in Global Health Program at the McGill University Health Centre. She is Co-Lead of the CTN’s Vaccines and Immunotherapies Core along with Dr. Mario Ostrowski.

She completed a Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology at the University of Western Ontario, and also completed a Bachelor of Science degree in pharmacy at the Memorial University of Newfoundland. Dr. Costiniul then continued on to medical school at McMaster University followed by training in internal medicine and infectious diseases, and a master’s degree in microbiology and immunology at the University of Ottawa.

Dr. Costiniuk was a CTN Postdoctoral Fellow from 2012 to 2014, during which time her supervisor was Dr. Jonathan Angel. She has contributed to six CTN research publications since 2015. She is the principal investigator on CTNPT 028: Safety, tolerability and effect on immune function of cannabinoids.

Dr. Jason Brophy

Co-directeur de l'équipe, Perfectionnement de la gestion clinique; Membre, Comité de direction

Dr. Brophy is a Clinical Investigator at the CHEO Research Institute, a Physician at the Division of Infectious Diseases in the Department of Pediatrics, an associate professor in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Ottawa, and the past chair of the Canadian Pediatric & Perinatal HIV/AIDS Research Group. He is the new co-lead (as of 2019) of the CTN’s Clinical Care and Management Core.

Dr. Brophy completed his medical degree and his pediatrics residency at Memorial University in Newfoundland, and his infectious diseases fellowship and HIV research training the University of Toronto. He also earned a master’s degree in health research methodology from McMaster University, and a Diploma of Tropical Medicine.

His research interests include the epidemiology and clinical care of HIV in pediatrics within Canada and globally, as well as the investigation of long-term toxicities that are related to antiretroviral therapy (ART) and HIV.

Dr. Brophy is involved with a number of studies with the CTN. He is a co-principal investigator in CTN 281, which focuses on the early use of ART in vertically transmitted cases of HIV, as well as of CTN 315, which will investigate neurocognition and neuroanatomical effects of in utero antiretroviral exposure on children who are HIV-exposed but uninfected. He is also the principal investigator for CTNPT 003, a pilot study which aims to better understand the effects of tenofovir and zidovudine on infants’ health.

Dr. Ann Burchell

Co-directrice de l'équipe, Co-infections et affections reliées; Membre, Comité de direction

Dr. Burchell is the Research Director at the Department of Family and Community Medicine, a Canada Research Chair in Sexually Transmitted Infection Prevention and a Scientist with the MAP Centre for Urban Health Solutions, Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute at St. Michael’s Hospital, Toronto.

She holds degrees in epidemiology from the University of Toronto (MSc) and McGill University (PhD) and is an associate professor in the Department of Family and Community Medicine and Division of Epidemiology, Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto. She is also appointed as an adjunct professor in the Division of Cancer Epidemiology at McGill University and holds the position of Co-Lead of the Co-Infections and Related Conditions Core for the Canadian HIV Trials Network. She is currently an adjunct Scientist with the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Medicine in Toronto.

Dr. Burchell is a Canada Research Chair in Sexually Transmitted Infection Prevention. Dr. Burchell’s research program focuses on the epidemiology of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection, human papillomavirus (HPV), syphilis, and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs). Her Enhanced Syphilis Screening among HIV+ Men (ESSAHM; CTN 275) trial with the CTN assess the feasibility, usefulness, and cost-effectiveness of improving syphilis screening among HIV-positive men by introducing syphilis screening as a part of regular HIV testing. This trial is the first of its kind in Canada and knowledge gained during the study may be applicable to other sexually transmitted and blood-borne infections in men living with HIV like chlamydia, gonorrhea, and viral hepatitis.

Erin Cherban

Chef de la recherche clinique; Membre, Comité de direction; Membre, Comité d’évaluation scientifique; Membre, Comité de financement

Ms. Erin Cherban is the Chief Clinical Research Officer for the CTN and the Centre for Health Evaluation and Outcome Sciences (CHÉOS). In the past, Ms. Cherban worked for CHÉOS and the CTN for over ten years and in the interim, served as Director of Clinical Research Operations at the Rick Hansen Institute. Her clinical support expertise includes clinical trial concept and protocol development; international, multi-centre clinical trial project management; monitoring/auditing clinical trial sites; and collaborative leadership of multidisciplinary teams.

Ms. Cherban holds an M.Sc. from the University of Bradford. She is on the Board of Directors for the Network of Networks, and is a member of the Society of Clinical Research Associates (SoCRA) (she previously served on the SoCRA Board of Directors).

Dr. Éric A. Cohen

Membre, Comité de direction

Dr. Éric A. Cohen is an adjunct professor in in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology and an adjunct professor in the Division of Experimental Medicine at McGill University. Additionally, he is a research professor in the Montreal Clinical Research Institute (IRCM) and a professor of virology in the Department of Microbiology in the University of Montreal. He is also a member of the editorial board of a number of journals including Retrovirology, The Open Virology Journal, and Current HIV Research.

Dr. Cohen earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Biochemistry in McGill University. Following that, he received his Master in Clinical Sciences and Doctor of Philosophy in Molecular Biology.

He has many research interests, including: HIV/AIDS, Cellular Defense, Cell Signaling and Infectious and Immune Diseases, Biological and Biochemical Mechanisms, Antivirals, Immunotherapy, and Vaccine Development.

Dr. Catherine Worthington

CHEF D'ÉQUIPE, ÉQUIPES D'ENGAGEMENT COMMUNAUTAIRE; Membre, Comité de direction; Membre, Comité de financement

Dr. Catherine Worthington is a professor in the School of Public Health and Social Policy at the University of Victoria. She obtained a Bachelor of Arts and Science from Trent University in Honours Administrative and Policy Studies, before going on to a Master of Health Administration, a PhD in social work, and a post-doctorate in public health sciences at the University of Toronto.

Her primary research and professional interests lie in the area of services. “How do people engage with systems? How can we make this engagement better?” These are questions her work revolves around. Specific topics of research include program evaluation, access to health care, recipient views of services, social-structural drivers of health, HIV/AIDS, homelessness, adolescent health, community-based participatory research, survey methods, qualitative methods, and research ethics.

She has co-authored several CTN publications in recent years. One was an evaluation of a web-based tailored intervention to support people living with HIV in the adoption of health promoting behaviours. Another looked at the importance of clinic contact factors in HIV research participation among both white and non-white populations.

Dr. Madeleine Durand

CO-DIRECTRICE DE L'ÉQUIPE, Perfectionnement de la gestion clinique; MEMBRE, COMITÉ DE DIRECTION

Dr. Madeleine Durand is an assistant clinical professor at the Université de Montréal and a principal scientist at the Centre de recherche du Centre hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal. She is the Core Co-Lead for the CTN’s Clinical Care and Management Core, along with Dr. Jason Brophy.

She earned her medical degree from the Université de Laval, as well as a diploma as a Fellow in Internal medicine at the Université de Montréal. She also obtained two master’s degrees: one in biomedical sciences from the Université de Montréal, and one in epidemiology from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.

Dr. Durand’s research interests include co-morbidities related to aging in patients living with HIV and medico-administrative health care databases.

She is a principal investigator for CTN 272 along with Cécile Tremblay. The study is investigating accelerated aging in people living with HIV, looking in particular at cardiovascular disease. It is also looking to develop tools for analyzing chemical signals in the blood that may help further understanding of many aging related health issues like heart disease, diabetes, kidney disease, memory loss, and brittle bones.

Dr. Durand is also involved with CTN 268: ANRS IPERGAY, an international study involved participants and investigators from both Canada and France.

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Dr. Troy Grennan

Membre, Comité de direction

Dr. Jonathan Troy Grennan is a clinical assistant professor in the Department of Medicine at the University of British Columbia, and a physician lead in the HIV/STI Program at the British Columbia Centre for Disease Control.

Dr. Grennan completed his undergraduate studies at McGill University, earning a Bachelor of Science in psychology, and obtaining a Bachelor of Science in nursing at the University of Toronto before going on to earn a master’s degree in medicine at McMaster University. He was a CTN Postdoctoral Fellow from 2011 to 2013. He also has training in tropical and travel medicine, having completed the Gorgas course in tropical medicine, and holds certification from the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.

HIV has long been an area of interest for Dr. Grennan, dating back to his undergraduate days when he completed a research study in West Africa. He has since completed both clinical and research work in Swaziland and South Africa.

He is a principal investigator for CTN 292A and CTN 292B: HPV-SAVE, which is looking at the efficacy, safety, and tolerability of ablative therapies for anal dysplasia in HIV-positive men who have sex with men.

Dr. Trevor Hart

Co-directeur de l'équipe, Prévention; Membre, Comité de direction

Dr. Hart is a professor in the Department of Psychology at Ryerson University in Toronto and a researcher at the HIV Prevention Lab at Ryerson University.

He earned a Bachelor of Arts in psychology at the University of Michigan, and a PhD in clinical psychology at Temple University in Philadelphia.

Dr. Hart’s research interests include (1) the identification of risk factors for unprotected intercourse among adolescent and adult population at high risk for HIV contraction or transmission, (2) examining the relationship between physical health and psychological outcomes among people living with HIV, and (3) testing of behavioural interventions for people at high risk for HIV and people living with HIV that promote sexual health and life expectancy and reduce risk outcomes.

He is the principal investigator for CTN 265, a study evaluating an HIV prevention intervention for HIV-negative gay and bisexual men who experience problems with social anxiety, which is a risk factor for unprotected anal intercourse among men who have sex with men. He has contributed to several CTN research publications.

Dr. Marina Klein

Co-directrice nationale; Membre, Comité de direction

Dr. Klein is a professor in the Division of Infectious Diseases at McGill University and a senior scientist in the Infectious Diseases and Immunity in Global Health Program at the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre. She also acts as an associate member in the Division of Clinical Epidemiology at the Royal Victoria Hospital, and an associate member in the Department of Epidemiology, Biostatistics, and Occupational health at McGill University.

Dr. Klein first completed her undergraduate degree in biology at Mount St. Vincent University. She earned her medical degree at McGill University, and then completed a specialization in internal medicine at the Royal Victoria Hospital and a research fellowship in infectious diseases at the University of Minnesota. Later on, she completed a master’s degree in epidemiology and biostatistics at McGill.

Her research focuses on the treatment of patients with HIV and chronic hepatitis. She is leading CTN 222, which is one of the largest multicenter cohort studies focusing on HIV/HCV co-infection in the world, involving over 1000 participants from across Canada. She is also pursuing her interest in understanding long term clinical and treatment outcomes in HIV infection through her involvement in CTN 242: Canadian observational cohort collaboration. Additional research interests include antiretroviral pharmacoepidemiology and HIV in women.

Dr. Klein was a CTN Postdoctoral Fellow from 1998-2000, during which time Dr. Richard Lalonde supervised her research. As national co-director, she is a prominent researcher, currently leading six CTN studies and acting as co-investigator for five more, as well as a prolific writer, having contributed to nearly 100 CTN research publications since 2008.

Dr. Melanie Murray

Membre, Comité de direction; Membre, Comité d’évaluation scientifique

Dr. Melanie Murray is an assistant professor in the Department of Medicine at the University of British Columbia. She is also an infectious disease specialist in HIV care at BC Women’s Oak Tree Clinic, and an Infectious Diseases Specialist and Staff Physician at St. Paul’s Hospital, Vancouver.

She earned a bachelor’s degree in science, as well as a medical degree and a PhD at the University of Manitoba in microbiology. She completed an infectious disease fellowship and an internal medicine residency at the University of British Columbia.

Her research interests include HIV and women, HIV and aging, HCV and HIV/HCV co-infection, and strategies for the engagement of marginalized populations.

Dr. Murray is the principal investigator for CTN 277, which looks at endocrinopathy and cellular aging in women. The purpose of the study is to assess the prevalence of various endocrine, metabolic, and reproductive abnormalities in HIV-positive women and female youth and determine possible links between abnormalities and accelerated cellular aging.

Dr. Mario Ostrowski

Co-directeur de l'équipe, Vaccins et immunothérapies; Membre, Comité de direction

Dr. Ostrowski is a full professor at the Department of Immunology at the University of Toronto, an infectious disease consultant at St. Michael’s Hospital, and a scientist at the Keenen Research Centre for Biomedical Science.

Dr. Ostrowski obtained his doctorate degree from the University of Western Ontario, completing a residency-fellowship in infectious diseases. He also completed post-doctorate degrees at the Royal College of Physicians and surgeons of Canada in Anatomical Pathology, Internal Medicine, and Infectious Diseases.

His research program at the University of Toronto is investigating the mechanisms of chronic persistence of human viral infections like HIV or HCV within their hosts, from an immunologic perspective, as well as developing novel strategies to aid in vaccine design to enhance cellular immunity to persistent viruses. He is also interested in the role of new immunotherapies in HIV and HCV infection, immunodeficiency, and infectious diseases.

Dr. Ostrowski is a principal investigator for CTNPT 020, which is a pilot study evaluating the effect of a therapeutic HIV vaccine on reducing HIV viral reservoirs in infected individuals who initiated antiretroviral therapy during the acute/early phase of infection. He has contributed to two CTN research publications discussing the effects if intensifying antiretroviral therapy.

Dr. Alexandra de Pokomandy

COPRÉSIDENTE, Comité d’évaluation scientifique; MEMBRE, COMITÉ DE DIRECTION; MEMBRE, COMITÉ DE FINANCEMENT

Dr. Alexandra de Pokomandy is an assistant professor at the McGill University Health Centre and a family physician specialized in HIV patient care at the Immunodeficiency Service of the Montreal Chest Institute. She is also a member of the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre. She earned a Master of Science in epidemiology at McGill University.

Dr. de Pokomandy is interested in the impact of HPV on people living with HIV, particularly concerning anal cancer prevention. Her research also looks more broadly at the reproductive and sexual health and wellbeing of women living with HIV, including assessing women’s needs in comparison to current accessibility to services in Canada. She aims to recognize patient health concerns and make improvements to clinical practices which will benefit HIV-positive individuals.

Dr. de Pokomandy was a recipient of a CTN Postdoctoral Fellowship Award in 2005 and had Drs. Danielle Rouleau and Francois Coutlée supervise her project. She led CTN 216 along with Dr. George Ghattas. This study is looking at the safety and efficacy or a new non-surgical treatment called Argon Plasma Coagulation for pre-cancerous anal lesions and evaluated how many treatments are needed in order for anal neoplasia to disappear or diminish. She was also contributed to CTN 233 and CTN 242.

Dr. Darrell Tan

Co-directeur de l'équipe, Prévention; Membre, Comité de direction

Dr. Darrell Tan is a clinician scientist at the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto. He is also an associate professor at the University of Toronto. He is a co-lead for the CTN’s Prevention Core.

Dr. Tan completed his undergraduate degree at McGill University, majoring in microbiology and immunology and minoring in international development studies. He then obtained his doctorate degree in clinical epidemiology from the University of Toronto.

Dr. Tan’s research focuses on clinical trials in HIV prevention and HIV/STI co-infection. As a co-leader of the CTN’s Working Group and director of the University of Toronto Clinical Research Unit on HIV Prevention, he is leading multiple efforts to optimize the implementation of HIV pre- and post-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP and PEP) in Canada.

He is the principal investigator for CTN 279, Canada’s first PrEP demonstration project, which is examining real-world implementation issues including acceptability, effectiveness, impact on sexually transmitted infection, and strategies for supporting adherence outside the clinical trial setting. He is also leading CTN 287, a trial seeking to optimize adherence to medications and follow-up by incorporating text messaging into patient-doctor communication and by facilitating the administration of PEP by trained nurses under medical directive. He is a contributing author to the CTN-supported national Clinical Practice Guidelines on PEP & PrEP.

Additional research interests of his are the interaction between HIV and common co-infections such as herpes simplex virus type 2 and syphilis and the evaluation of novel antiretroviral PEP regimens.

Dr. Tan became involved with the CTN as a recipient of a Postdoctoral Fellowship Award in 2007 and is now one of the network’s most active investigators. In addition to CTN 287, he is the principal investigator for CTNPT 001, CTNPT 016, CTN 240, CTN 254, and a co-investigator for CTN 286.

Dr. Sharon Walmsley

Co-directrice nationale; Membre, Comité de direction

Dr. Sharon Walmsley is a professor of medicine in the Department of Medicine at the University of Toronto and a senior scientist at the Toronto General Research Institute. She is also the assistant director of the Immunodeficiency (HIV) Clinic at the Toronto General Hospital and a CTN National Co-director. In 2017 she was appointed as a member of the Order of Canada.

She first completed her undergraduate degree in honours microbiology and immunology and then received her medical degree from the University of Western Ontario. Her master’s degree in clinical epidemiology was obtained from the University of Toronto. She has completed specialty training in infectious diseases, microbiology, and internal medicine.

Her research focuses on HIV infection. She has a particular interest in HIV in women and has participated in studies evaluating the epidemiology and psychosocial issues affecting women living with HIV. She has also conducted research on the subject of the pharmacokinetics of antiretroviral drugs in women. Her more recent work focuses on co-infection with HIV and other viral infections including hepatitis C, hepatitis B, and herpes simplex virus.

In addition to her role as national co-director and Steering Committee member, Dr. Walmsley is very active in CTN research. She is involved in over a dozen CTN studies as principal investigator or co-investigator. She has also contributed to over 50 CTN research publications since 2010.

Kristin Westland

Chef d’administration; Membre, Comité de direction; Membre, Comité consultatif externe; MEMBRE, COMITÉ D’ÉVALUATION SCIENTIFIQUE

Ms. Kristin Westland is the CTN’s Chief Administrative Officer and the Director of Operations for the Centre for Health Evaluation and Outcomes Sciences (CHÉOS). Previously, she was the Programme Manager for the Collaboration for Outcomes Research and Evaluation in the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of British Columbia. She is also the Chief Administrative Officer for the CIHR Canadian HIV Trials Network and has previously served as the Director of Operations for the provincial B.C. Centre for Improved Cardiovascular Health.

Before moving to British Columbia, Ms. Westland worked for a number of organizations in Massachusetts, United States, including Eaton Vance Management in Boston, where she was a research department assistant. Originally hailing from Kenora, Ontario, she is a Certified Management Accountant and Chartered Professional Accountant, and holds the Canadian Risk Management professional designation.

Représentant(e) des ASPC

Membre, Comité de direction

Représentant(e) des IRSC

Membre, Comité de direction

Enrico Mandarino

Président, Comité consultatif auprès de la communauté; Membre, Comité de direction

Enrico has over 25 years of experience as a healthcare professional within the hospital, educational and pharmaceutical industries.  His breadth of experience in healthcare includes progressive positions in diagnostic and clinical research, health policy and quality assurance.

Enrico holds an associates degree in Medical Laboratory Science and a postgraduate certificate as a Clinical Research Associate from the Michener Institute of Applied Health Sciences. As a Regulated Health Professional, he maintains an active practicing registration with the College of Medical Laboratory Technologists of Ontario.  Enrico has contributed to numerous public policy and clinical research initiativesand co-authored several published clinical and public policy papers.

Since the early 2000s, Enrico has been on the forefront of informing cannabis public policy and setting a research agenda.  Enrico has been a both a participant in cannabis research and a community advisor/researcher on protocol development and knowledge translation.

In 2019, Enrico was appointed as the Chair of the Community Advisory Committee of the CIHR Canadian HIV Trials Network (the CTN).  The committee reviews all protocols and informed consents submitted to the Network & makes recommendations to the Steering Committee (SC).

In 2020, the Co-Infection and Related Conditions Core created a COVID-19 Research Development Team, and Enrico participates as a Community Co-Chair on this team.

Enrico is currently the Canadian Director of Training & Quality Assurance with MJardin Canada and is the Quality Assurance Person & Responsible Person for a License Holder.

In 2012, Enrico was awarded the Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Medal, by the Governor General, for his significant contributions to Canada.

Christian Hui

Membre, Comité consultatif auprès de la communauté

Christian Hui, MSW, RSW (he/him) is a cisgender queer poz Asian settler activist residing in the unceded Dish with One Spoon Territory on Turtle Island/Toronto, Canada. A registered social worker, he possesses over a decade of professional experience in the HIV and harm reduction sectors supporting diverse populations locally, provincially, nationally and internationally. Christian is a co-founder of two people living with HIV networks: Ontario Positive Asians (OPA+) and the Canadian Positive People Network (CPPN). He is an international steering committee member of the Undetectable=Untransmittable (U=U) Campaign, a board director of the Interagency Coalition on AIDS and Development (ICAD), a Champions Team Member of the Toronto to Zero Fast Track Cities Initiative, and a National Ambassador of the Canadian Foundation for AIDS Research (CANFAR). Christian served as a civil society representative on the Canadian Delegation to the UN High Level Meeting on Ending AIDS in 2016. In 2017, he was awarded the Ontario AIDS Network (OAN) Person Living with HIV (PLHIV) Award and the Poz-TO Award in 2018.

Christian first engaged in research as a Peer Research Associate with the Committee for Accessible AIDS Treatment (CAAT)’s Community Champions HIV/AIDS Advocates Mobilization Project (CHAMP) Study, an anti-HIV stigma community participatory action research. He was later a Research Coordinator for Asian Community AIDS Services (ACAS)’ Asian MSM Pathways to Resiliency (AMP2R) Community-based Research Study. He is a Knowledge User of the CIHR REACH CBR Collaborative 2.0, and a Steering Committee Member of the Canadian HIV Stigma Index. His experience as Community Investigator at the Canadian HIV National Observational Cohort (CANOC), a CIHR- and CTN-funded study, reaffirmed his commitment to ensure researchers understand and know how to respectfully and meaningfully engage people living with HIV/AIDS in research studies, and that the experiences and contributions of community members are not tokenized. Christian received his Bachelor and Master of Social Work from Ryerson University and is a Vanier Canada Graduate Scholar. He commenced his doctoral studies in the fall of 2020.

Sugandhi del Canto

Membre, Comité consultatif auprès de la communauté

Sugandhi del Canto is a second-generation immigrant whose ancestors are from Sri Lanka, the Netherlands, Portugal and Ireland, and she currently lives on Treaty 6 land in Saskatoon. She has served the HIV community in various capacities since 2003, spanning the Native Friendship Centre of Montreal, CTAC, CATIE and SHARE (Saskatchewan HIV/AIDS Research Endeavour). She is the Policy Advisor at CAAN, having recently completed a PhD in Community Health and Epidemiology from the University of Saskatchewan. She also serves on the board of the City Centre Food Cooperative, a local initiative to provide affordable fresh food to Saskatoon’s downtown and surrounding areas. Sugandhi also knits. A lot.

Darren Lauscher

Membre, Comité consultatif auprès de la communauté

Mr. Darren Lauscher has been an active volunteer in the HIV movement since the mid-nineties. Having seroconverted in the late spring of 1985, he has been involved in HIV research as a participant for more than three decades, and more recently as a community investigator. Mr. Lauscher joined the CTN’s Community Advisory Committee in April 2018. He currently is a public member of the UBC Health Council and a Co-Chair of UBC’s Community Advisory Committee. He has served on other boards and committees in the past. Darren also mentors health sciences students and future care providers. He believes that research is the backbone of his continued wellness in living with HIV, and that it has played a continuous role in improving the lives of those that live with the virus. He also believes that advocacy and activism are an essential part of research. As a person living with HIV, Darren is committed to working with investigators to make their research better for and more meaningful to the communities they strive to help. He also aims to be a conduit for research to make change in the many communities affected by HIV. Whether it is in a local, provincial, national or international context, Darren strives to spread the knowledge generated by research and connect the dots to promote effective knowledge mobilization.

Carrie Martin

Membre, Comité consultatif auprès de la communauté; Représentante, Canadian Aboriginal AIDS Network

Carrie Martin is a Mi’gmaq woman from Listuguj, who has spent the past 20 years working in the field of Indigenous women’s health, with a particular focus on HIV. She completed a B.A. in Applied Human Relations and a Graduate Diploma in Community Economic Development at Concordia University, and her B.S.W. at McGill University. Carrie’s leadership is well established; she was the Harm Reduction Coordinator at the Native Women’s Shelter of Montreal for 12 years (until March 2018), and a tireless advocate for Indigenous women living with HIV. In March 2018, she transitioned to the Canadian Aboriginal AIDS Network as the Indigenous Women’s Research Coordinator. She has also started her PhD at Concordia University to formalize her role as an Indigenous academic researcher. Engaging with many other Indigenous and allied researchers, she builds well-needed capacity in the Indigenous community for grant and research development. Carrie is the proud mother of a baby boy.

Devan Nambiar

Membre, Comité consultatif auprès de la communauté

For more than two decades, Devan Nambiar, MSc, has been working to support sexual and gender minorities — the 2SLGBTQ+ community, ethno-racial communities, and the men who have sex with men (MSM)/HIV sector. He is currently the Manager of Capacity Building & Talent Development at Gay Men’s Sexual Health Alliance. In his previous role as Program Manager & Education/Training Specialist at Rainbow Health Ontario, Sherbourne Health in Toronto, he co-authored and launched the seven online LGB2SQ Foundation Courses, and trained up to 600 health care and social service organizations (34,000 persons) on 2SLGBTQ+ clinical and cultural competencies. He has also been involved in education and research, training health care providers on 2SLGBTQ+ cultural and clinical competencies, and acting as co-investigator on studies including the national Trans Needs Assessment Project and an HIV and ethno-racial MSM research study.

Today, in addition to his role on the CAC, Devan is serving on a few committees: the Patient and Community Advisory Committee at the Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technologies in Health, Caregiver Mental Health Working Group of Ontario Caregiver Organization, and the Community Advisory Board of vPrEP. He is also co-chair of Burden of COVID on People Living with HIV, and provides consultancy services at Global Health Integrative Science, which he also founded. Devan is currently working on launching a new global social network for people living with HIV.

Furqan Waleed

Membre, Comité consultatif auprès de la communauté

Furqan Waleed (He/Him) is an immigrant settler whose ancestors are from Pakistan and Iran. He was brought up in the Maldives and has lived in 12 different cities around the world growing up, he moved to thexʷməθkʷəy̓əm territory in 2013 seeking a change from colonially imposed anti-queer laws in South Asia and currently lives in what is now called Vancouver, British Columbia. Furqan is a recent graduate from Simon Fraser University in the Molecular biology and Biochemistry program and is excited to be a part of the CTN’s Community Advisory Committee.

Furqan’s skills are complemented by strong ties to the QTBIPOC communities most affected by HIV and HCV alongside his experience working with HIV/HCV organization YouthCO as a Program Manager. Interrupting stigma, oppression, and marginalization that shapes the impact of violence towards HIV/HCV positive folks in the community and addressing underlying social determinants of health, informs Furqan’s approach to program delivery and organizational management. His understanding of these realities also drives his commitment to meaningful engagement with folks in the community. Through building relationships that honor our unique histories and journeys in healing, Furqan hopes for a gentler future where all people have access to pleasure and quality of life.

Guy-Henri Godin

Membre, Comité consultatif auprès de la communauté; Représentant, Société canadienne de l’hémophilie

Guy-Henri Godin has been a CAC member for over 6 years and represents the Canadian Hemophilia Society on the Committee. Like nearly 80% of Canadian hemophiliacs, he received tainted blood as part of his treatment. He has been living with HIV for over 30 years. Guy-Henri was a member of the Quebec Bar Association and practiced law for more than three decades, specializing as a tax lawyer and working for Revenu Quebec. He was one of the first people in Quebec to disclose his HIV status more than 30 years ago. He has given over 100 interviews on radio and television and writes prolifically about living with HIV. Guy-Henri has taught medical students at the University of Montreal about hemophilia, pain management, and living with HIV and HCV, which he was he cured of 10 years ago. He is a huge fan of hockey and of the Montreal Canadians (Go Habs!).

Maureen Owino

MEMBRE, COMITÉ CONSULTATIF AUPRÈS DE LA COMMUNAUTÉ

Muluba Habanyama

Membre, Comité consultatif auprès de la communauté

As a Black, female, youth who was born with HIV, Muluba has become an international community activist and is passionate about the wellness and inclusion of all people living with HIV.

Muluba is a communications and advocacy specialist with expert knowledge in public speaking, writing, sexual health education, and content creation. Presently, she wears different hats including the Senior Manager of Advocacy at the Teresa Group, ambassador of the Canadian Foundation for AIDS Research, and CIHR planning grant recipient.

Previously, she has worked or volunteered with Peel HIV/AIDS Network, Women’s Health in Women’s Hands, HIV Edmonton, Ontario HIV Treatment Network, Women’s College Hospital, and more.

Aside from working with this sector, she has worked at the CBC and been published in the Huffington Post, Maclean’s magazine, Flare magazine, and MTV. She produces and hosts her own podcast, The Muluba Show.

Dr. Stephen Shafran

Président, Comité de surveillance des données; Membre, Comité de direction

Dr. Stephen D. Shafran has lived in four different provinces. He is a native of Toronto and a graduate of the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Medicine. After completing his training in internal medicine in Toronto, he moved to Vancouver where he completed a fellowship in infectious diseases at UBC.

In 1986, he accepted his first academic faculty appointment in the College of Medicine at the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon. In 1989, he moved to the University of Alberta in Edmonton, where he remains. In 1998, he was promoted to full professor and appointed as the director of the Division of Infectious Diseases. He was reappointed to that position in 2003.

Dr. Shafran has been involved in the care of persons living with HIV from the beginning of the epidemic in the pre-antiretroviral era. He continues to have a large HIV practice and also sees HIV patients at a federal penitentiary and a provincial prison in the Edmonton area. He participated in the early meetings that led to the creation of the CTN and has been the director of the Edmonton CTN satellite since its inception. Dr. Shafran has been involved in many CTN activities as a principal investigator, a co-investigator, a member of the Scientific Review Committee and, since 2003, as the chair of the Data Safety Monitoring Committee and a member of the Steering Committee.

He remains recognized internationally for CTN 010, which changed the treatment of disseminated MAC infection and led to a primary publication in the New England Journal of Medicine with several secondary publications. CTN 010 remains a model study for the CTN, as it was investigator generated, further developed with a CTN-funded workshop, supported by a partnership of public and private funding and open to all CTN sites willing to participate.

Along with his work for the CTN, Dr. Shafran also serves as a member of the Scientific Advisory Committee on HIV Therapies (Health Canada). As well, he remains active in the practice of infectious diseases outside of HIV medicine. He is the director of a division of 16 adult ID specialists and many support staff, and is a member of the Immigration Medical Advisory Committee (Citizenship and Immigration Canada). In addition, he represented the Association of Medical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases on the organizing committee of the 2004 Canadian Consensus Guidelines on the Management of Viral Hepatitis. He also co-authored the CTN’s Canadian guidelines for management and treatment of HIV/hepatitis C coinfection in adults.

Dr. Curtis Cooper

Membre, Comité de direction

Dr. Cooper is the director of the Ottawa Hospital and Regional Hepatitis Program, a scientist in the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute’s Clinical Epidemiology Program, and an associate professor in the Department of Medicine at the University of Ottawa. Dr. Cooper is the past president of the Canadian Association of HIV Research.

He received his Bachelor of Science degree in biology from the University of Regina, and his medical degree at the University of Saskatchewan before going on to specializations in internal medicine and infectious diseases at the University of Manitoba. Later, he completed an HIV Research Fellowship and a master’s degree in epidemiology at the University of Ottawa.

Dr. Cooper’s research surrounds HIV, viral hepatitis and vaccine development. He is working towards the development of new therapeutic agents and the delivery of treatment that maximizes safety and adherence.

He is involved in many CTN studies, all within the Co-infections and Related Conditions Core, for which he is the Co-lead. He was a co-author of the CTN 2016 HIV-HCV Co-infection Guidelines. He is the principal investigator and for CTNPT 019, CTN 289, CTN 237, and CTN 253, and a co-investigator for CTN 286, CTN 222, CTN 260, and CTN 264.

Dr. Anita Benoit

Membre, Comité de surveillance des données

Dr. Benoit is the interim associate director, and assistant professor, at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto. She is also an adjunct scientist at the Women’s College Research Institute.

Dr. Benoit attended the Université de Moncton and Mount Allison University for her undergraduate work in biology and mathematics, and Dalhousie University for a master’s degree in microbiology and immunology. She obtained her PhD in microbiology and immunology at the University of Ottawa. She recently earned her second Master of Science degree in Health Services Research at the University of Toronto.

Her research interests include indigenous women’s health, indigenous methodologies, research ethics, HIV pathogenesis, health services and intervention research, and mental health and life stressors such as racism.

She was a CTN Postdoctoral Fellow from 2011 to 2013 during which time she conducted research on stress and mental health-related problems in indigenous and non-indigenous women living with HIV. She has since written several CTN research publications using data from the study, one of which discussed a correlation between high levels of perceived stress and high depressive symptoms and the elevated level of mental health concerns among indigenous women.

Dr. Joel Singer

Chef de programme, Statistiques et methodologie; Membre, Comité d’évaluation scientifique; Membre, Comité de surveillance des données

Dr. Joel Singer is the Program Head for Statistics and Methodology at the CTN. He received his training in Clinical Epidemiology while serving as a Senior Research Associate in the Department of Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics at McMaster University. While at McMaster, he worked with several different groups, first in the field of cardiovascular clinical trials, and later in the field of smoking cessation and the development of quality of life instruments. In 1990 he was appointed assistant professor at the University of British Columbia (UBC) and is now a full professor at UBC’s School of Population and Public Health.

Dr. Singer has played an important role as the lead methodologist on numerous HIV clinical trials which have resulted in major publications in journals such as the New England Journal of Medicine, Lancet, and JAMA. At the same time, he has collaborated with researchers in a number of clinical disciplines, including rheumatology, neonatology, nephrology, intensive care, and emergency medicine to secure grants from major national and international agencies and to produce numerous publications in highly prominent journals. He has served on a number of national committees, including the Clinical Trials Review Panel at the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the acting chair of the Safety and Efficacy Review Committee of the CTN, and member of the Data Safety Monitoring Board at the National Cancer Institute of Canada.

Dr. Hubert Wong

Chef de programme associé, Statistiques et methodologie; Membre, Comité d’évaluation scientifique; Membre, Comité de surveillance des données

Dr. Hubert Wong is the Associate Program Head for Methodology and Statistics at the CTN and an associate professor at School of Population and Public Health, University of British Columbia (UBC). He received a B.ASc. in Engineering Physics (1992) and a PhD in Statistics (2000), both from the UBC.

Dr. Wong’s research focuses on clinical trial design and foundational issues in statistics. He collaborates extensively with researchers in diverse areas, including HIV/AIDS, mental health, intensive care, emergency, neurology, orthopaedics, and rheumatology.

Dr. Nadine Kronfli

MEMBRE, COMITÉ DE SURVEILLANCE DES DONNÉES

Dr. Nadine Kronfli is an Infectious Diseases specialist at the McGill University Health Centre and a Scientist at the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre. She is also Vice-Chair of the International Network on Health and Hepatitis in Substance Users – Prisons (INHSU-Prisons). Dr. Kronfli utilizes implementation science research to design, deploy, and evaluate evidence-based models of care that aim to improve access to health care for Canadian prison populations and other vulnerable groups including asylum seekers. She has recently expanded her prison-based research from hepatitis C elimination to understanding COVID-19 seroprevalence and improving COVID-19 vaccine uptake in Canadian prisons.

Dr. Kronfli is a member of the CTN’s Prevention and Vulnerable Population’s Women’s Working Group, which is involved in the care of women living with HIV across Canada. She has “a longstanding interest in women living with HIV,” and says that “the best way to shape policy is by being at the forefront of clinical research.” She is also a member of the CTN’s Data Safety Monitoring Committee (DSMC).

She has authored several abstracts using data from CTN 262: CHIWOS, the Canadian HIV Women’s Sexual and Reproductive Health Cohort Study, a longitudinal study that evaluates the success of women-centred HIV/AIDS services. Her CHIWOS research has primarily focused on the cascade of care, with particular attention to access to and retention in HIV care for Canadian women living with HIV.

Dr. Kronfli completed a Bachelor of Science at McGill University, a Master of Public Health at the Yale School of Public Health, a Medical Doctorate at the University of Ottawa, and fellowships at both McMaster University (Internal Medicine and Infectious Diseases) and the Ontario HIV Treatment Network (HIV Care). She obtained her Diploma in Tropical Medicine and Hygiene from the Instituto de Medicina Tropical Alexander von Humboldt in Lima, Peru. At the University of Ottawa, she opted for the francophone stream of the medical program in order to be able to “serve in any corner of Canada as well as much of the world.”

Dr. Sarah Rose

Membre, Comité de surveillance des données

Dr. Sarah Rose is a Senior Biostatistician at Alberta Health Services in Calgary, Alberta. She received a Masters of Genetic Epidemiology from the University of Sheffield and completed her PhD at the University of Calgary. Before working at Alberta Health Services, she was an Associate Professor at the University of Calgary.

Dr. Réjean Thomas

Membre, Comité de surveillance des données

A family physician at l’Actuel, a center in sexual health, which he has created and chaired since 1984, a medical advisor at the Center hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal, a member of the McGill AIDS Center, former special advisor of the Quebec government to International Humanitarian Action, Dr. Réjean Thomas also pursued philosophy studies. Founder of Médecins du Monde Canada, he has contributed to the establishment of humanistic medicine in Canada and abroad, participating in humanitarian missions in Afghanistan, Zimbabwe, Haiti, Malawi and Vietnam.

Education, prevention, research and above all the quality of life of patients, the fight against prejudice and discrimination, commitment to social vulnerability, advocacy and its approach as a clinician and have earned Dr. Thomas an international reputation. He has participated in numerous scientific publications and has trained several foreign teams. In prevention, he developed a PrEP cohort of more than 3,000 people, making it the second PrEP cohort in the world, after San Francisco. He has been involved with CTN 273: Brain health Now! which aims to communicate the biological, psychological, and social factors that affect brain health, the impact of cognitive symptoms on function and quality of life, and their evolution over time.

A graduate of the Universities of Moncton, Laval and Montreal, Dr. Thomas has received numerous honors for outstanding contributions, including the Order of New Brunswick, the Order of Montreal, the rank of Officer of the National Order of Quebec, the Order of Canada, honorary doctorates from the Université de Moncton and the Université de Montréal.

Dr. Robert Balshaw

Membre, Comité d’évaluation scientifique

Dr. Robert Balshaw is a Senior Biostatistician with the Data Science Platform at the George and Fay Yee Centre for Healthcare Innovation at the University of Manitoba and an assistant professor in Community Health Sciences in the Rady Faculty of Health Sciences. He received his PhD in Statistics (1998) from Simon Fraser Fraser Univeristy and his MSc in Statistics (1987) from the University of Manitoba.

Dr. Balshaw has been a consulting statistician for over 30 years and has been involved in hundreds of research projects in many areas of clinical and public health research. He has worked with governments, industry and academia, having spent 5 years at the BC Centre for Disease Control, 14 years with a contract research organization consulting to the pharmaceutical industry and more than 10 years as a an academic consultant. His areas of interest include innovative clinical trial design, analysis of life history data, causal inference from observational data, and the development and validation of biomarkers.

Dr. Naveed Janjua

Président, Comité d’évaluation scientifique; Membre, Comité de direction; Membre, Comité de financement

Dr. Naveed Janjua is a Clinical Associate Professor at the School of Population and Public Health at the University of British Columbia, and he is also an epidemiologist and senior scientist in clinical prevention services at the British Columbia Centre for Disease Control.

Dr. Janjua is a Medical Doctor who obtained his MSc degree in epidemiology and biostatistics, and he also has his doctorate in public health. His work at the BCCDC involves surveillance, research, and policy advice related to hepatitis B and C. His research interests include hepatitis B and C epidemiology, disparities in treatment access, and disease outcomes, and his global health research includes unsafe medical injectors and transmission of blood borne pathogens, socio-economic disparities in health and nutritional transition in developing countries.

Dr. Sean Ari Bitnun

Membre, Comité d’évaluation scientifique

Dr. Bitnun is an assistant professor in the department of pediatrics of the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Toronto. He is also a staff physician and academic clinician in infectious diseases at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto.

Dr. Bitnun obtained a Doctor in Medicine from the University of British Columbia, and a certificate in pediatrics from the Israel Medical Association. He then completed a master’s degree at the University of Toronto.

His research interests are in prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV, pediatric HIV, complications of antiretroviral therapy, and infections of the central nervous system. He aims to expand his research on infections of the central nervous system and focus on the etiology and pathogenesis of acute childhood encephalitis.

Dr. Bitnun is a site investigator for CTN 281: EPIC 4 Cohort Study, which is testing the effectiveness of early treatment with combined anti-retroviral therapy in cases of HIV transmission from mother to child. The study aims to determine whether treatment can result in a state of HIV suppression that can be controlled without further drug use: a functional cure.

“When you start treatment very early in a baby that’s infected you can probably reduce the amount of virus in their blood, or in their body as a whole, significantly,” said Dr. Bitnun at a 2014 conference held by the Canadian Association for HIV Research.

This study was triggered by recent cases, like the “Mississippi baby”, which suggest that an aggressive, early combined antiretroviral therapy can result in HIV suppression and possibly even remission.

Erin Cherban

Chef de la recherche clinique; Membre, Comité de direction; Membre, Comité d’évaluation scientifique; Membre, Comité de financement

Ms. Erin Cherban is the Chief Clinical Research Officer for the CTN and the Centre for Health Evaluation and Outcome Sciences (CHÉOS). In the past, Ms. Cherban worked for CHÉOS and the CTN for over ten years and in the interim, served as Director of Clinical Research Operations at the Rick Hansen Institute. Her clinical support expertise includes clinical trial concept and protocol development; international, multi-centre clinical trial project management; monitoring/auditing clinical trial sites; and collaborative leadership of multidisciplinary teams.

Ms. Cherban holds an M.Sc. from the University of Bradford. She is on the Board of Directors for the Network of Networks, and is a member of the Society of Clinical Research Associates (SoCRA) (she previously served on the SoCRA Board of Directors).

Dr. Joel Singer

Chef de programme, Statistiques et methodologie; Membre, Comité d’évaluation scientifique; Membre, Comité de surveillance des données

Dr. Joel Singer is the Program Head for Statistics and Methodology at the CTN. He received his training in Clinical Epidemiology while serving as a Senior Research Associate in the Department of Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics at McMaster University. While at McMaster, he worked with several different groups, first in the field of cardiovascular clinical trials, and later in the field of smoking cessation and the development of quality of life instruments. In 1990 he was appointed assistant professor at the University of British Columbia (UBC) and is now a full professor at UBC’s School of Population and Public Health.

Dr. Singer has played an important role as the lead methodologist on numerous HIV clinical trials which have resulted in major publications in journals such as the New England Journal of Medicine, Lancet, and JAMA. At the same time, he has collaborated with researchers in a number of clinical disciplines, including rheumatology, neonatology, nephrology, intensive care, and emergency medicine to secure grants from major national and international agencies and to produce numerous publications in highly prominent journals. He has served on a number of national committees, including the Clinical Trials Review Panel at the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the acting chair of the Safety and Efficacy Review Committee of the CTN, and member of the Data Safety Monitoring Board at the National Cancer Institute of Canada.

Dr. Hubert Wong

Chef de programme associé, Statistiques et methodologie; Membre, Comité d’évaluation scientifique; Membre, Comité de surveillance des données

Dr. Hubert Wong is the Associate Program Head for Methodology and Statistics at the CTN and an associate professor at School of Population and Public Health, University of British Columbia (UBC). He received a B.ASc. in Engineering Physics (1992) and a PhD in Statistics (2000), both from the UBC.

Dr. Wong’s research focuses on clinical trial design and foundational issues in statistics. He collaborates extensively with researchers in diverse areas, including HIV/AIDS, mental health, intensive care, emergency, neurology, orthopaedics, and rheumatology.

Dr. Clemon George

Membre, Comité d’évaluation scientifique

Dr. George is an assistant professor of health sciences at the University of Southern Maine. He is a founding member of the African and Caribbean Council on HIV/AIDS in Ontario and a member of the board for the AIDS Committee of Durham Region.

He received a bachelor’s degree in biology at Memorial University in Newfoundland, his master’s degree in community health and epidemiology at the University of Saskatchewan, and his PhD in epidemiology at l’Université Laval.

Dr. George’s research focuses on sexual health promotion, social determinants of sexual health, as well as sexual health from a social justice angle. He uses quantitative and qualitative methods from a community-based perspective to research topics including sexual health, HIV, HPV, epidemiology, youth, and men who have sex with men.

Dr. Mark Gilbert

MEMBRE, COMITÉ D’ÉVALUATION SCIENTIFIQUE

Dr. Mark Gilbert is a physician epidemiologist in BCCDC’s Clinical Prevention Services department. He also serves as a clinical associate professor at the School of Population and Public Health at the University of British Columbia. Dr. Gilbert has had prior experience with the Public Health Agency of Canada as a field epidemiologist, and he also held a position as a Medical Health officer specializing in communicable diseases for the Vancouver Island Health Authority.

Dr. Gilbert currently leads the BC Online Sexual Health Services in the Division, a program whose aim is to deliver innovative sexual health services online. His research focus is on gay men’s health, and past projects of his include the ManCount survey, a community-based sexual health survey for gay men and other men who have sex with men in Vancouver. He is currently the co-principal investigator of the CIHR team in the Study of Acute HIV Infection in Gay Men. Dr. Gilbert obtained his medical degree from the University of Ottawa, and went on to receive his master’s degree from UBC.

Dr. Mark Hull

Membre, Comité d’évaluation scientifique

Dr. Mark Hull is a research scientist at the AIDS Research program at the B.C. Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS and a Clinical Assistant Professor in the AIDS Division in the Department of Medicine at the University of British Columbia. He is also a staff physician at St. Paul’s Hospital, and a physician at various clinics with Vancouver Coastal Health.

He received a Bachelor of Science in biochemistry from the University of Saskatchewan, and then moved on to complete his Medical Degree, also at the University of Saskatchewan. He obtained his master’s in health sciences with a focus on healthcare and epidemiology from the University of British Columbia.

Dr. Hull’s areas of focus include antiretroviral clinical trials in HIV, infectious diseases with specific regard to the methicillin resistant S. aureus, HIV/hepatitis C co-infection clinical trials, as well as epidemiology.

He was the principal investigator for CTN 248, a study that aims to measure the effectiveness of providing incentives as a strategy for increasing adherence to antiretroviral medication among drug users, as well as for CTN 254, which evaluates the ability of inflammation to serve as a predictor of HIV disease progression. He was also a contributing author to the CTN 2016 HIV/HCV Co-Infection Guidelines.

Dr. Jack Janvier

Membre, Comité d’évaluation scientifique

Dr. Jack Janvier is an Indigenous infectious diseases specialist who is based out the Peter Lougheed Center in Calgary, Alberta.  He also provides HIV care at the Southern Alberta Clinic with a particular interest in enhancing HIV care for Indigenous populations. He has a Bachelor of Science degree (1997) and a Doctor of Medicine degree (2001) from the University of Saskatchewan. He did his internal medicine training at the University of Saskatchewan followed by infectious diseases training at the University of Calgary. He has been working full time in Calgary since 2009. He is a clinical assistant professor at the University of Calgary Cumming School of Medicine. Dr. Janvier is of Dene ancestry and grew up in northern Saskatchewan in the community of La Loche.

He is a co-applicant of 2 CIHR-funded research projects (DRUM2 and Know Your Status). He has been involved on the advisory board of Calgary’s HIV Community Link Strong Voices Aboriginal Program. He has also been a member of the Board of Directors for HIV Community Link for 5 years. He was also a member of the National Aboriginal Council on HIV/AIDS with the Public Health Agency of Canada. He is a member of the steering committee for the Alberta Provincial Strategy for Sexually-transmitted & Blood-borne Infections.

Dr. Bertrand Lebouché

Membre, Comité d’évaluation scientifique

Dr. Bertrand Lebouché is an assistant professor in the Division of Infectious Diseases of the Faculty of Medicine at McGill University as well as a junior scientist at the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre.

Dr. Lebouché’s research focuses on three areas, two of which he is pursuing in CTN studies. The first is sexual health and antiretroviral therapy as HIV prevention, which he is pursuing in CTNPT 013. This pilot trial is evaluating how effective sessions with a sexologist are in improving sexual health and reducing HIV transmission risk in couples of men who have sex with men with one HIV-positive partner.

The second is the optimization of antiretroviral therapy, which he is pursuing in CTN 283, a study aiming to develop a measure antiretroviral therapy’s interference with life in order to better understand the impacts of ART on people living with HIV. Finally, CTNPT 006 is a pilot trial aiming to determine the effectiveness of a drug (Niaspan) in reducing immune activation and increase CD4 cell levels in persons with sub-optimal responses to antiretroviral therapy.

Dr. Melanie Murray

Membre, Comité de direction; Membre, Comité d’évaluation scientifique

Dr. Melanie Murray is an assistant professor in the Department of Medicine at the University of British Columbia. She is also an infectious disease specialist in HIV care at BC Women’s Oak Tree Clinic, and an Infectious Diseases Specialist and Staff Physician at St. Paul’s Hospital, Vancouver.

She earned a bachelor’s degree in science, as well as a medical degree and a PhD at the University of Manitoba in microbiology. She completed an infectious disease fellowship and an internal medicine residency at the University of British Columbia.

Her research interests include HIV and women, HIV and aging, HCV and HIV/HCV co-infection, and strategies for the engagement of marginalized populations.

Dr. Murray is the principal investigator for CTN 277, which looks at endocrinopathy and cellular aging in women. The purpose of the study is to assess the prevalence of various endocrine, metabolic, and reproductive abnormalities in HIV-positive women and female youth and determine possible links between abnormalities and accelerated cellular aging.

Dr. Alexandra de Pokomandy

COPRÉSIDENTE, Comité d’évaluation scientifique; MEMBRE, COMITÉ DE DIRECTION; MEMBRE, COMITÉ DE FINANCEMENT

Dr. Alexandra de Pokomandy is an assistant professor at the McGill University Health Centre and a family physician specialized in HIV patient care at the Immunodeficiency Service of the Montreal Chest Institute. She is also a member of the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre. She earned a Master of Science in epidemiology at McGill University.

Dr. de Pokomandy is interested in the impact of HPV on people living with HIV, particularly concerning anal cancer prevention. Her research also looks more broadly at the reproductive and sexual health and wellbeing of women living with HIV, including assessing women’s needs in comparison to current accessibility to services in Canada. She aims to recognize patient health concerns and make improvements to clinical practices which will benefit HIV-positive individuals.

Dr. de Pokomandy was a recipient of a CTN Postdoctoral Fellowship Award in 2005 and had Drs. Danielle Rouleau and Francois Coutlée supervise her project. She led CTN 216 along with Dr. George Ghattas. This study is looking at the safety and efficacy or a new non-surgical treatment called Argon Plasma Coagulation for pre-cancerous anal lesions and evaluated how many treatments are needed in order for anal neoplasia to disappear or diminish. She was also contributed to CTN 233 and CTN 242.

Dr. Eleanor Pullenayegum

Membre, Comité d’évaluation scientifique

Dr. Eleanor Pullenayegum is a biostatistician and an associate professor at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto. She completed her undergraduate and master’s level training in mathematics at the University of Cambridge in England. After graduating, she worked for two years at the Centre for Applied Medical Statistics in the Department of Public Health and Primary Care at the University of Cambridge. She completed her PhD in biostatistics at the University of Toronto, then a post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Waterloo, before moving to McMaster University. There, she set up a research program on statistical methods for longitudinal data and economic evaluations, and also taught and collaborated on clinical projects. She is now a senior scientist at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto in the Child Health Evaluative Sciences program.

Dr. Pullenayegum’s research falls into two broad categories: statistical methods in health economics and methods for longitudinal data. In health economics, she is interested in the measurement and analysis of cost and health utility data, and focuses particularly on semi-parametric models that avoid the need to model the unusual distributions of these outcomes.

Her work on longitudinal data focuses particularly on the case where the measurement times are stochastic (i.e. not fixed by a protocol). This often happens with retrospective chart reviews. Ignoring the informative nature of the visit times will lead to misleading inferences. Her current work is investigating inverse-intensity weighting and doubly robust inferences.

Kristin Westland

Chef d’administration; Membre, Comité de direction; Membre, Comité consultatif externe; MEMBRE, COMITÉ D’ÉVALUATION SCIENTIFIQUE

Ms. Kristin Westland is the CTN’s Chief Administrative Officer and the Director of Operations for the Centre for Health Evaluation and Outcomes Sciences (CHÉOS). Previously, she was the Programme Manager for the Collaboration for Outcomes Research and Evaluation in the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of British Columbia. She is also the Chief Administrative Officer for the CIHR Canadian HIV Trials Network and has previously served as the Director of Operations for the provincial B.C. Centre for Improved Cardiovascular Health.

Before moving to British Columbia, Ms. Westland worked for a number of organizations in Massachusetts, United States, including Eaton Vance Management in Boston, where she was a research department assistant. Originally hailing from Kenora, Ontario, she is a Certified Management Accountant and Chartered Professional Accountant, and holds the Canadian Risk Management professional designation.

Dr. Roy (Trip) Gulick

Président, Comité consultatif externe; Cornell University, New York

Dr. David Margolis

Membre, Comité consultatif externe; University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Dr. David Margolis is professor of Medicine, Microbiology, Immunology and Epidemiology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He also serves as Director of the UNC HIV Cure Center.

A molecular virologist and clinical investigator, he received a bachelor’s degree in Biology from Harvard and a degree in Medicine from Tufts University.

Dr. Margolis’ laboratory studies the interaction of HIV with its host, aiming to translate the discoveries in molecular biology and virology to the clinic to aid in the treatment of HIV infection.

As the leader of the Collaboratory of AIDS Researchers for Eradication (CARE), Dr. Margolis aims to pursue a comprehensive collaborative search for approaches to eradicate HIV. He currently leads a large partnership of HIV researchers working to force HIV out of “latency” in order to attempt to kill virus particles that typically lie dormant and hidden from therapy.

In addition, Dr. Margolis is a fellow of the American College of Physicians, the Infectious Diseases Society of America, the American Society of Clinical Investigation, and an editorial board member of the Journal of Virology of the ASM, and the Journal of Infectious Diseases of the IDSA.

Dr. Veronica Miller

Membre, Comité consultatif externe; UC Berkeley, California

Dr. Veronica Miller is the executive director of the Forum for Collaborative HIV Research (The Forum) and a Senior Researcher and Lecturer at the UC Berkeley School of Public Health.

Dr. Miller obtained a Bachelor of Science in Microbiology and a Doctor of Philosophy in Immunology from the University of Manitoba.
A leading expert resolving significant health policy and public health issues, Dr. Miller has extensive experience working with major global and US organizations and agencies involved in HIV, HCV, and fatty liver disease research and regulatory policy. Some of her efforts to advance public health policy include the National Summit program, focusing on the implementation of the National HIV/AIDS Strategy, the Viral Hepatitis Action Plan and the Bay Area Health Disparities Program.

Dr. Miller was co-founder and chair of the EuroGuidelines Group on HIV Drug Resistance established with the purpose of assuring a common standard of care for patients in all European states. She has also been an active member of several collaborative projects, including the EuroSIDA study. She has published over 90 peer-reviewed publications on HIV treatment outcomes and regulatory strategies for HIV and HCV.

Dr. Caroline Sabin

Membre, Comité consultatif externe; University College London

Caroline Sabin is Professor of Medical Statistics and Epidemiology in the Research Department of Infection and Population Health at University College London. She obtained her PhD in Epidemiology and Medical Statistics from the University of London.

Professor Sabin initiated and is one of the Principal Investigators of the UK Collaborative HIV Cohort (UK CHIC) study, a major multicenter study of more than 50,000 people living with HIV in the UK, one of the largest clinical cohorts of people living with HIV worldwide.

Additionally, Professor Sabin works as the principal statistician for the Data collection on Adverse events of anti-HIV Drugs (D:A:D) study, a large international multi-cohort study, which aims to describe the relationship between antiretroviral drugs and cardiovascular disease. She is the co-PI on the POPPY study with Dr Alan Winston, a new UK cohort that aims to describe the clinical and psychological outcomes of the ageing HIV population and the healthcare resources that are used by this population, and is an investigator on the EU-funded COBRA study of co-morbidities in UK and Dutch people living with HIV (with Professor Peter Reiss). She is also a member of the Scientific Oversight Workpackage for the EuroCoord collaboration, a major EU-funded network that involves the majority of cohorts of people living with HIV in Europe.

Her research interests focus on: describing the natural history of infection and identifying prognostic markers for disease progression, describing the response to antiretroviral therapy, and describing the frequency of and factors associated with adverse events of antiretroviral therapy. She is currently working on studies that will investigate the new issues that face the population of people living with HIV as they age, including comorbidities and possible neurocognitive impairment.

Dr. Jonathan Angel

Président, Comité de direction; Membre, Comité de financement

Dr. Angel is a senior scientist in the Chronic Disease Program at the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute and the director of the HIV Clinic at the Ottawa Hospital. He is a a Professor of Medicine as well as the chair and chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases at the University of Ottawa. Dr. Angel is the principal investigator for the Canadian HIV Cure Enterprise (CanCURE).

Dr. Angel earned his medical degree at the University of Toronto and went on to a residency in internal medicine. He received his clinical research and infectious diseases training at the New England Medical Center/Tufts University in Boston.

His primary interests are HIV immunopathogenesis and immune-based therapies for HIV. His research focuses on three main areas: (1) mechanisms of HIV-induced cellular immune dysfunction, (2) the impact of antiretroviral and immune-based therapies on immune function in patients with HIV, and (3) studies of immune-based therapies including HIV vaccines.

He is the principal investigator for CTN 173, which looked at the impact of therapeutic HIV vaccination before an interruption of antiretroviral therapy on immune function and virologic rebound. He was a co-investigator for CTN 256, a study that tested the effectiveness and safety of AGS-004, an experimental immunotherapy, in controlling HIV replication. He is also a co-investigator for CTN 247 and 257 and has contributed to numerous CTN research publications.

Dr. Fiona Smaill

Coprésidente, Comité de financement; Membre, Comité de direction

Dr. Smaill is a professor of pathology and molecular medicine, an acting associate vice-president of the Faculty of Health Sciences, and a co-director at the Special Immunology Services/HIV Clinic at McMaster University.

She earned her medical degree at Otago University in New Zealand and followed with training in general medicine at the Wellington Hospital. She then made the move to McMaster University in Hamilton where she trained in medical microbiology, internal medicine, and infectious diseases before completing a master’s degree in design, measurement & evaluation.

Dr. Smaill’s research interests include evaluating the efficacy and side effects of different antiretroviral regimens as well as gender differences in the management of HIV. Beyond HIV, she is actively involved in clinical trials focused on the development of vaccines for tuberculosis and the management of infections in pregnancy.

With the CTN, she is most involved in the CTN’s Clinical Care and Management Core. She is a co-investigator for CTN 273: Brain Health Now!, CTN 254: Inflammation as a predictor of HIV disease progression, and CTN 240: VALIDATE trial. She is also a co-investigator for CTN 247: Canadian cohort of HIV+ slow progressors, which is in the Vaccines and Immunotherapies core.

Dr. Naveed Janjua

Président, Comité d’évaluation scientifique; Membre, Comité de direction; Membre, Comité de financement

Dr. Naveed Janjua is a Clinical Associate Professor at the School of Population and Public Health at the University of British Columbia, and he is also an epidemiologist and senior scientist in clinical prevention services at the British Columbia Centre for Disease Control.

Dr. Janjua is a Medical Doctor who obtained his MSc degree in epidemiology and biostatistics, and he also has his doctorate in public health. His work at the BCCDC involves surveillance, research, and policy advice related to hepatitis B and C. His research interests include hepatitis B and C epidemiology, disparities in treatment access, and disease outcomes, and his global health research includes unsafe medical injectors and transmission of blood borne pathogens, socio-economic disparities in health and nutritional transition in developing countries.

Dr. Lehana Thabane

Coprésident, Comité de financement; Membre, Comité de direction

Dr. Lehana Thabane is a professor and associate chair of the Department of Clinical Epidemiology & Biostatics at McMaster University, the director of the Biostatistics Unit of the Centre for Evaluation of Medicine, and a senior scientist in the Population Health Research Institute at McMaster University. He is also a biostatician at the centre for Evaluation of Medicines at St. Joseph’s Healthcare, and an associate member of both the Department of Pediatrics and Department of Anesthesia at McMaster University.

He completed his undergraduate studies, obtaining first class in mathematics and statistics, at the National University of Lesotho, his master’s degree in statistics at Sheffield University in the United Kingdom, and his PhD in statistics at the University of Western Ontario. He also completed a diploma in pure science in the Department of Probability and Statistics at the University of Sheffield, England.

Dr. Thabane is a research methodologist with research interests in the development and application of statistical methods health research. His research covers a wide spectrum of areas including clinical trials, research ethics, and conjoint analysis of patient preferences for colorectal cancer screening. He has mentored over 100 Msc, PhD, and Postdoc trainees.

Dr. Thabane serves on two CTN committees, and has acted as supervisor for numerous CTN Postdoctoral Fellows in recent years. He has also contributed to several CTN research publications, most of which discuss various HIV-related issues in the context of sub-Saharan Africa.

Dr. Aslam Anis

Directeur national; Membre, Comité de financement; Membre, Comité de direction

Dr. Aslam Anis is the National Director of the CTN. He is also a professor at the School of Population and Public Health at the University of British Columbia, the Director of the Centre for Health Evaluation and Outcome Sciences, and a senior scientist at Arthritis Research Canada. In 2011, Dr. Anis was inducted as a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences.

He earned his bachelor’s degree in economics at Dhaka University in Bangladesh before following with an MA and PhD in economics at Carleton University in Ottawa.

Dr. Anis’ work and research activities have been directed primarily to the field of pharmacoeconomics. He has been instrumental in shaping economic policies in Canada, notably those governing access to antiretroviral therapy (ART) for people living with HIV. He was one of the first scholars worldwide to demonstrate the cost-effectiveness of ART, and his research in the area of pharmaceutical pricing policies in Canada has attracted worldwide attention since the 1990s.

More specifically, his research activities have been focused on health services, measuring patient-reported outcomes, clinical trials including pragmatic and pharmacoeconomic trials, Canadian competition policy in the pharmaceutical industry, and the cost-effectiveness of treatments for HIV/AIDS, rheumatoid arthritis, and other conditions.

Dr. Anis has contributed to numerous CTN research publications on subjects including ART resistance, the cost-effectiveness of HIV treatments and care, quality of life of people living with HIV, health utilities, influenza vaccination for those living with HIV, and more.

Erin Cherban

Chef de la recherche clinique; Membre, Comité de direction; Membre, Comité d’évaluation scientifique; Membre, Comité de financement

Ms. Erin Cherban is the Chief Clinical Research Officer for the CTN and the Centre for Health Evaluation and Outcome Sciences (CHÉOS). In the past, Ms. Cherban worked for CHÉOS and the CTN for over ten years and in the interim, served as Director of Clinical Research Operations at the Rick Hansen Institute. Her clinical support expertise includes clinical trial concept and protocol development; international, multi-centre clinical trial project management; monitoring/auditing clinical trial sites; and collaborative leadership of multidisciplinary teams.

Ms. Cherban holds an M.Sc. from the University of Bradford. She is on the Board of Directors for the Network of Networks, and is a member of the Society of Clinical Research Associates (SoCRA) (she previously served on the SoCRA Board of Directors).

Dr. Catherine Worthington

CHEF D'ÉQUIPE, ÉQUIPES D'ENGAGEMENT COMMUNAUTAIRE; Membre, Comité de direction; Membre, Comité de financement

Dr. Catherine Worthington is a professor in the School of Public Health and Social Policy at the University of Victoria. She obtained a Bachelor of Arts and Science from Trent University in Honours Administrative and Policy Studies, before going on to a Master of Health Administration, a PhD in social work, and a post-doctorate in public health sciences at the University of Toronto.

Her primary research and professional interests lie in the area of services. “How do people engage with systems? How can we make this engagement better?” These are questions her work revolves around. Specific topics of research include program evaluation, access to health care, recipient views of services, social-structural drivers of health, HIV/AIDS, homelessness, adolescent health, community-based participatory research, survey methods, qualitative methods, and research ethics.

She has co-authored several CTN publications in recent years. One was an evaluation of a web-based tailored intervention to support people living with HIV in the adoption of health promoting behaviours. Another looked at the importance of clinic contact factors in HIV research participation among both white and non-white populations.

Dr. Alexandra de Pokomandy

COPRÉSIDENTE, Comité d’évaluation scientifique; MEMBRE, COMITÉ DE DIRECTION; MEMBRE, COMITÉ DE FINANCEMENT

Dr. Alexandra de Pokomandy is an assistant professor at the McGill University Health Centre and a family physician specialized in HIV patient care at the Immunodeficiency Service of the Montreal Chest Institute. She is also a member of the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre. She earned a Master of Science in epidemiology at McGill University.

Dr. de Pokomandy is interested in the impact of HPV on people living with HIV, particularly concerning anal cancer prevention. Her research also looks more broadly at the reproductive and sexual health and wellbeing of women living with HIV, including assessing women’s needs in comparison to current accessibility to services in Canada. She aims to recognize patient health concerns and make improvements to clinical practices which will benefit HIV-positive individuals.

Dr. de Pokomandy was a recipient of a CTN Postdoctoral Fellowship Award in 2005 and had Drs. Danielle Rouleau and Francois Coutlée supervise her project. She led CTN 216 along with Dr. George Ghattas. This study is looking at the safety and efficacy or a new non-surgical treatment called Argon Plasma Coagulation for pre-cancerous anal lesions and evaluated how many treatments are needed in order for anal neoplasia to disappear or diminish. She was also contributed to CTN 233 and CTN 242.

Kristin Westland

Chef d’administration; Membre, Comité de direction; Membre, Comité consultatif externe; MEMBRE, COMITÉ D’ÉVALUATION SCIENTIFIQUE

Ms. Kristin Westland is the CTN’s Chief Administrative Officer and the Director of Operations for the Centre for Health Evaluation and Outcomes Sciences (CHÉOS). Previously, she was the Programme Manager for the Collaboration for Outcomes Research and Evaluation in the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of British Columbia. She is also the Chief Administrative Officer for the CIHR Canadian HIV Trials Network and has previously served as the Director of Operations for the provincial B.C. Centre for Improved Cardiovascular Health.

Before moving to British Columbia, Ms. Westland worked for a number of organizations in Massachusetts, United States, including Eaton Vance Management in Boston, where she was a research department assistant. Originally hailing from Kenora, Ontario, she is a Certified Management Accountant and Chartered Professional Accountant, and holds the Canadian Risk Management professional designation.