New HIV/AIDS research clinic opens doors in Vancouver

WATCH: The BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS has been behind some of the biggest breakthroughs in treatment and care for HIV patients – and today – the fight against the disease got another valuable resource. Grace He explains.

A world-class HIV/AIDS, addiction and viral hepatitis research centre has opened its doors on the Vancouver Downtown Eastside this morning.

The Hope to Health Research Clinic on Powell Street will focus on HIV/AIDS studies, at-risk youth, gender and sexual health, strategies for viral hepatitis, addictions and other related conditions.

It is hoped the research that the clinic will generate can help with planning around addictions, HIV and hepatitis strategies throughout British Columbia and beyond.

The research clinic supports the work of the BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS.

“Vancouver has been at the forefront of the discovery, research and treatment of HIV and AIDS,” said Health Minister Terry Lake at today’s ribbon cutting ceremony. “We are immensely proud of the work that has been done here in British Columbia. Around the world, people’s lives are being made better because of the work being done right here in B.C.”

Dr. Evan Wood, a University of British Columbia professor and co-director of the Urban Health Research Initiative at the BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, says addiction is one of the most prevalent and costly diseases in our society.

But coming up with meaningful solutions has been a slow process.

“We had had huge developments and a huge leap forward in our knowledge in how to treat and prevent addictive disorders,” says Wood. However, that leap has not translated into better life quality for individuals struggling with addiction, he says.

Along with Wood, Dr. Julio Montaner, a renowned expert in the field of HIV research and the director of the BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, will be at the helm of the new research clinic.

Montaner says, his team managed to revolutionize the treatment and prevention for HIV patients here in B.C. by breaking the silos and bringing “the system to the people,” bringing down mortality, transmission and costs.

The latest statistics for 2012, show the rate of new HIV diagnoses decreased to its lowest point ever in B.C. at 5.2 per 100,000 population and in May of last year, the HIV/AIDS ward at St. Paul’s Hospital closed its doors because of a decline in the disease.