Vancouver, B.C. [October 24, 2014]: Dr. Kate Shannon, Director of the Gender and Sexual Health Initiative (GSHI) at the BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS (BC-CfE) whose research on HIV/AIDS, gender, policy, and health equity has been recognized nationally and internationally, has been appointed the prestigious honour of Canada Research Chair in Global Sexual Health and HIV/AIDS at the University of British Columbia (UBC). Dr. Shannon is an Associate Professor of Medicine in the Division of AIDS and an Associate Faculty in the School of Population and Public Health at UBC.
The Honourable Ed Holder, Minister of State (Science and Technology), announced in Toronto Dr. Shannon’s appointment as one of 137 new or renewed Canada Research Chairs.
“This is a very inspiring recognition of our research to advance social and health equity at home and abroad,” said Dr. Shannon. “I hope to build on my continuing work with the BC-CfE and UBC to push forward science-driven policy and practice in sexual health and HIV/AIDS.”
As Director of GSHI at the BC-CfE, Dr. Shannon leads a research program on gender inequities, sexual health, HIV and sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and barriers to care among marginalized populations – including sex workers, youth and women.
Under the leadership of Dr. Julio Montaner, Director of the BC-CfE and head of the Division of AIDS in the Faculty of Medicine at UBC, Dr. Shannon’s research has received international recognition for promoting evidence-based policy changes. Dr. Shannon has contributed expert evidence and legal interventions in the Missing Women’s Commission Inquiry and the Canada v. Bedford case at the Supreme Court of Canada. The court made a unanimous decision to strike down federal anti-prostitution laws to ensure the safety, health and human rights of sex workers.
“I offer my most sincere congratulations to Dr. Shannon on being named Canada Research Chair,” said Dr. Montaner. “Her dedication to highlighting gender issues in the study of the care and treatment of those with HIV and AIDS has made an invaluable impact to the public health field. Her research in these areas has helped to inform policy to benefit the wellbeing of some of the most marginalized populations in Canada and the world.”
In the global health field, Dr. Shannon has made significant contributions. She has acted as a consultant with the departments of reproductive health and HIV with the World Health Organization (WHO) and was a member of the WHO 2012 Guidelines Group for HIV Prevention, Treatment, and Care among Sex Workers in low- and middle-income countries. Dr. Shannon was lead author on a landmark paper about the potential of decriminalization of sex work in Kenya, India and Canada to reduce rates of HIV among sex workers and clients that was widely cited by media, including The Washington Post.
Dr. Shannon’s title as Canada Research Chair (CRC) is given to “exceptional emerging researchers, acknowledged by their peers as having the potential to lead in their field.” UBC will be awarded $100,000 annually for Dr. Shannon’s appointment for the next five years. She also received a Canadian Foundation for Innovation (CFI) John R. Evans Leaders Fund to support her CRC work in global sexual health and HIV.
Among her other honours and awards, Dr. Shannon is a Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research Scholar/Career Investigator and recently received the AccolAIDS Award from Positive Living BC in “Community, Political, and Social Action.” She sits on both the CIHR Institute of Gender and Health Advisory Board and the CIHR HIV/AIDS Research Advisory Committee.
For more information on the Canada Research Chair program and a full listing of new chairs, visit www.chairs-chaires.gc.ca
About the British Columbia Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS
The BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS (BC-CfE, www.cfenet.ubc.ca) is Canada’s largest HIV/AIDS research, treatment and education facility and is internationally recognized as an innovative world leader in combating HIV/AIDS and related diseases. BC-CfE is based at St. Paul’s Hospital, Providence Health Care, a teaching hospital of the University of British Columbia. The BC-CfE works in close collaboration with key provincial stakeholders, including health authorities, health care providers, academics from other institutions, and the community, to decrease the health burden of HIV and AIDS and to improve the health of British Columbians living with HIV through developing, monitoring and disseminating comprehensive research and treatment programs for HIV and related illnesses.
About the Gender and Sexual Health Initiative
The Gender and Sexual Health Initiative (GSHI) is a program of the BC-CfE with the overall mission to ensure resear
ch of the highest scientific and ethical standard informs evidence-based policy and practice in gender, sexual health and HIV/AIDS and reduces health and social inequities among marginalized populations in Canada and globally. GSHI, on behalf of the BC-CfE, was an intervener in the Canada v. Bedford case at the Supreme Court of Canada.
For more information or to request media interviews, please contact:
Caroline Dobuzinskis
Communications Coordinator, BC-CfE
Phone: 604-682-2344, x. 66536, Email: [email protected]