Dr. Darrell Tan is a Clinician-Scientist in the Division of Infectious Diseases and a Scientist at the MAP Centre for Urban Health Solutions at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto. He is also an Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Toronto, Affiliate Scientist at the Toronto General Research Institute, and a Staff Physician and the Toronto General Hospital Immunodeficiency Clinic. He holds a Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in HIV Prevention and STI Research, and was elected to the Governing Council of the International AIDS Society for a three-year term in 2020. 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. He is leading multiple efforts to optimize the implementation of HIV pre- and post-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP and PEP) in Canada.
He was the principal investigator for PREPARATORY-5 (CTN 279), Canada’s first PrEP demonstration project of daily oral tenofovir/emtricitabine, which examined 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 OPT-IN (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 chaired the development of Canadian Clinical Practice Guidelines on PEP & PrEP, supported by the CTN.
Dr. Tan’s additional research interests include 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 CTN 305, and a co-investigator for CTN 286, among other studies.
