Aslam Anis
The Canadian Institutes of Health Research has refunded the Canadian HIV Trials Network (CTN) with $22.75 million over five years, marking 29 years of uninterrupted funding.
The CTN, sponsored by UBC and St. Paul’s Hospital, is a partnership of clinical investigators, physicians, nurses, people living with HIV, pharmaceutical manufacturers and others committed to developing treatments, vaccines and a cure for HIV and related conditions through scientifically sound and ethical clinical trials.
External CIHR reviewers praised the network’s infrastructure, leadership group, training through the CTN Postdoctoral Fellowship Awards Program, and the recent development of HIV-HCV co-infection treatment guidelines.
“This renewal reflects the collaboration of HIV researchers engaged with us coast to coast, as well as the impact of our research in the community of improving therapies and saving lives,” say Aslam Anis, a Professor in the School of Population and Public Health and the principal investigator on the grant. “Community involvement in the CTN is one of our unique strengths and helps ensure that studies are relevant to people living with and at risk of HIV.”
Dr. Anis takes over as National Director from Martin Schechter, the former Director of the School of Population and Public Health, who was one of the founding co-directors and national director since 1993.
“UBC is extremely proud of CTN’s work and is privileged to host its National Centre. We will continue our strong support of CTN as it confronts the many challenges of HIV/AIDS in the coming years,” says Dr. Gavin Stuart, Vice Provost, Health, UBC and Dean of the Faculty of Medicine.
Joining Dr. Anis as co -principal investigators are Sharon Walmsley (University of Toronto) and Marina Klein (McGill University). Other co-applicants on the grant include leading HIV researchers across Canada and knowledge users from partners CATIE (Canadian AIDS Treatment Information Exchange), the Canadian Aboriginal AIDS Network (CAAN) and community members.