Ongoing Research
REACH 3.0
NPA: Dr. Sean Rourke (St. Michael's Hospital)
Atlantic Team Leads: Dr. Jacqueline Gahagan (Dalhousie University) , Dr. Lois Jackson (Dalhousie University), Dr. Deborah Kelly (Memorial University of Newfoundland ), and Michelle Proctor-Simms (Nova Scotia Advisory Commission on AIDS)
Status: Ongoing to 2024
Atlantic Team Leads: Dr. Jacqueline Gahagan (Dalhousie University) , Dr. Lois Jackson (Dalhousie University), Dr. Deborah Kelly (Memorial University of Newfoundland ), and Michelle Proctor-Simms (Nova Scotia Advisory Commission on AIDS)
Status: Ongoing to 2024
The CIHR Centre for REACH 3.0 will further advance the national success of the CIHR
REACH 1.0/2.0 Centres and continue to enhance/strengthen an innovative, nation-wide interdisciplinary collaborative platform and network for implementation science, intervention research, and participatory evaluation focused on testing, reaching the undiagnosed, linkage and retention in care and stigma reduction
for people living with HIV, HCV and STBBIs in order to: reduce new infections (especially those at high risk); improve the health and wellbeing of people living with HIV; and demonstrate the importance of having the health/social services available and accessible where people need them in their communities.
REACH 1.0/2.0 Centres and continue to enhance/strengthen an innovative, nation-wide interdisciplinary collaborative platform and network for implementation science, intervention research, and participatory evaluation focused on testing, reaching the undiagnosed, linkage and retention in care and stigma reduction
for people living with HIV, HCV and STBBIs in order to: reduce new infections (especially those at high risk); improve the health and wellbeing of people living with HIV; and demonstrate the importance of having the health/social services available and accessible where people need them in their communities.
Testing, Reaching the Undiagnosed and Linkages to Care: “REACHing” for Impact
NPA: Dr. Sean Rourke (St. Michael's Hospital)
Atlantic Team Leads: Dr. Jacqueline Gahagan (Dalhousie University) , Dr. Deborah Kelly (Memorial University of Newfoundland), and Michelle Proctor-Simms (Nova Scotia Advisory Commission on AIDS)
Status: Ongoing to 2023
Atlantic Team Leads: Dr. Jacqueline Gahagan (Dalhousie University) , Dr. Deborah Kelly (Memorial University of Newfoundland), and Michelle Proctor-Simms (Nova Scotia Advisory Commission on AIDS)
Status: Ongoing to 2023
The major aim of this CIHR Team in “REACHing” for Impact will be to bring together national leadership network of interdisciplinary experts. This includes biomedical scientists and clinical investigators, public health practitioners, policy-makers, industry partners, and community-based organizations. Our innovative research will address major “knowledge to action” gaps in testing, reaching the undiagnosed, and linkages to care. We propose five complementary biomedical and clinical/public health implementation and evaluation research projects: 1) accuracy, usability and acceptance of INSTI and OraQuick HIV self-tests, and validation for HCV and other tests; 2) HIV self-testing strategies in clinic and community-based settings using innovative App technology; 3) dried blood spot testing with Indigenous communities and gbMSM through targeted scale-out, peer linkage to biomedical prevention, and self-testing at home; 4) community-based intervention with peers to diversify HIV testing for gbMSM and ACB; and 5) pharmacy-based STBBI testing through integration with existing infrastructure. Our team is focused on new STBBI testing being available, accessible and implemented, specifically for hard-to-reach priority populations. We will formalize linkage to care to improve biomedical and clinical prevention/public health impacts. Through this team grant, we can significantly reduce, and eventually eliminate, the burden and impact of
STBBIs on Canadians.
STBBIs on Canadians.
The REACH CBR Collaborative Centre in HIV/AIDS
NPA: Dr. Sean Rourke (St. Michael's Hospital)
Atlantic Team Leads: Dr. Susan Kirkland (Dalhousie University) and Gerard Yetman (AIDS Committee of Newfoundland & Labrador)
Status: Ongoing to 2022
Atlantic Team Leads: Dr. Susan Kirkland (Dalhousie University) and Gerard Yetman (AIDS Committee of Newfoundland & Labrador)
Status: Ongoing to 2022
The REACH CBR Collaborative Centre in HIV/AIDS began in July of 2012, and received funding in 2017 for the "CBR Collaborative 2.0" for another a five-year term. The goal of the Centre is to build and promote HIV-related community based research (“CBR”) in Canada. We are a national network consisting of HIV/AIDS researchers, people living with HIV, community based organizations, clinicians, and policy-makers. We are structured around seven Regional Core Teams that stretch from coast to coast. Each Core Team is led by a community leader and an academic leader, and decides on its own regional research priorities. A National CBR Leadership Committee identifies opportunities for cross-regional initiatives, encourages Core Teams to collaborate to advance shared goals, and ensures that all Core Teams receive appropriate and targeted support.
The Atlantic Coast Study
Principal Investigators: Dr. Lois Jackson (Dalhousie University) and Diane Bailey (Mainline Needle Exchange)
Status: Ongoing to 2021
Status: Ongoing to 2021
The Atlantic COAST (COmmunity AddictionS Treatment) Study is funded through a CIHR HIV/AIDS CBR Operating Grant (2018-21). It is being led by Lois Jackson and Cindy MacIsaac, and was formerly named “Preventing the spread of HIV: The critical role of drug addiction treatment programs.” The study is aimed at looking at barriers and facilitators to addiction treatment across the Atlantic region. As outlined on the project’s website , the study aims to:
- Explore and understand key policies and practices of drug addiction treatment programs, focusing specifically on barriers and/or facilitators to access and retention for PWUS in Atlantic Canada;
- Explore and understand safer/unsafe drug use and sexual health practices among PWUS in Atlantic Canada during the period of time when they want to access/stay in treatment but do not because of program-level policy and practice barriers;
- Discuss with PWUS and other stakeholders in Atlantic Canada the findings from objectives 1 and 2 in order to develop recommendations and strategies to address barriers, build on facilitators, and target HIV prevention for PWUS.
Additional Harm Reduction Services in Two Sites in Nova Scotia
Principal Investigators: Dr. Lois Jackson (Dalhousie University), Diane Bailey (Mainline Needle Exchange), Margaret Dechman (University of Cape Breton), and Christine Porter (Ally Centre of Cape Breton)
Status: Ongoing to 2019
Status: Ongoing to 2019
The purpose of this one-year study is to explore what people who use substances (PWUS) and key local stakeholders think about additional harm reduction services in their communities of Halifax and Sydney. For the purpose of this study, additional harm reduction services include: no cost naloxone programs; peer-staffed community detox/withdrawal management programs; supervised consumption rooms; peer-run navigation services; and no cost needle syringe distribution and disposal programs within existing local services. For the Sydney site, it also includes a community-based, low-threshold opioid substitution program.The project is being conducted in two main phases, the first involving the administration of questionnaires for PWUS through Mainline Needle Exchange in Halifax (100 participants) and Sharp Advice Needle Exchange in Sydney (50 participants) sites. The second phase was launched in early 2018, and involved a small number of interviews with various local key stakeholders. A community report, "Increasing services, reducing harms: Results from a community-based study in Nova Scotia "was released in August 2019.
Frailty in People Aging With Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) Infection
Gahagan, J. (PI). Co-Is: Lachowsky, N., Manning, E., Dryden, O., Hatchette, T., Haw, J., O’Brien, S., Awareness and understanding of apheresis plasma donation and effectiveness of alternative donor screening questions for diverse gbMSM and trans populations.
The increasing life spans of people infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) reflect enormous treatment successes and present new challenges related to aging. Even with suppression of viral loads and immune reconstitution, HIV-positive individuals exhibit excess vulnerability to multiple health problems that are not AIDS-defining. With the accumulation of multiple health problems, it is likely that many people aging with treated HIV infection may be identified as frail. Studies of frailty in people with HIV are currently limited but suggest that frailty might be feasible and useful as an integrative marker of multisystem vulnerability, for organizing ca`re and for comprehensively measuring the impact of illness and treatment on overall health status. This review explains how frailty has been conceptualized and measured in the general population, critically reviews emerging data on frailty in people with HIV infection, and explores how the concept of frailty might inform HIV research and care.
Canadian Blood Services
Gahagan, J. (PI). Co-Is: Lachowsky, N., Manning, E., Dryden, O., Hatchette, T., Haw, J., O’Brien, S., Awareness and understanding of apheresis plasma donation and effectiveness of alternative donor screening questions for diverse gbMSM and trans populations.
Introduction to the Issue: Canadian blood operators continue to face the challenge of addressing gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men (gbMSM) and trans-related donor deferral policies that are viewed as discriminatory while at the same time meeting Health Canada's regulatory requirements. The policy shift to the current 3-month deferral period for all sexually active gbMSM and select trans populations to donor policy is viewed as a more acceptable and equitable by these communities.
Project Objectives: To examine the perspectives of members of gbMSM and trans communities regarding: 1) the feasibility and acceptability of donating apheresis plasma for fractionation and alternative screening questions, such as a "capture" question followed by sub-questions; and 2) the feasibility and acceptability of a two-step system of sex and gender questions in the donor questionnaire.
Introduction to the Issue: Canadian blood operators continue to face the challenge of addressing gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men (gbMSM) and trans-related donor deferral policies that are viewed as discriminatory while at the same time meeting Health Canada's regulatory requirements. The policy shift to the current 3-month deferral period for all sexually active gbMSM and select trans populations to donor policy is viewed as a more acceptable and equitable by these communities.
Project Objectives: To examine the perspectives of members of gbMSM and trans communities regarding: 1) the feasibility and acceptability of donating apheresis plasma for fractionation and alternative screening questions, such as a "capture" question followed by sub-questions; and 2) the feasibility and acceptability of a two-step system of sex and gender questions in the donor questionnaire.
