Thomas Kerr, PhD, is Co-director of UHRI at the British Columbia Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, and an Associate Professor in the Department of Medicine at the University of British Columbia (Division of AIDS). Dr. Kerr has extensive research experience in the areas of health psychology, behavioural science, community-based research, and public health, especially in evaluating programs and treatments designed to address addiction, injection drug use, and HIV/AIDS. More…

Evan Wood, MD, PhD, ABIM, FRCPC, is a lead researcher at the BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS and Co-director of UHRI. In addition, he is the founder of the International Centre for Science in Drug Policy, which is dedicated to public education and supporting an evidence-based approach to policy for illicit drugs. He is an internal medicine physician specializing in inner city medicine, a clinical epidemiologist and internationally recognized expert in drug addiction and related policies. More…

Dr. Kerr has a long history of involvement in healthcare issues in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. Several years ago, he collaborated with other scientists and community members in an effort to alert policy makers to the health and social emergencies in the neighbourhood. This work involved demonstrating the scientific basis for several public health interventions, including the expansion of Vancouver’s needle exchange program and the initiation of a scientific pilot study of North America’s first medically supervised safer injecting facility. Dr. Kerr has consistently emphasized the need for community involvement in research and has worked closely with the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users (VANDU), a peer-based organization of current and former illicit drug users, and the Thai AIDS Treatment Action Group.

Dr. Kerr has also conducted work aimed at improving the health and human rights conditions of marginalized populations at national and international levels. Dr. Kerr is the former Director of Health Research & Policy at the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network, where he worked on HIV prevention and care projects for injection drug users and prisoners in Eastern Europe, the former Soviet Union, and Thailand. He is currently the Past President of the Legal Network.

Dr. Kerr applies both quantitative and qualitative methods in his research, and has undertaken extensive research on HIV prevention strategies for injection drug users. He has published more than 335 scientific papers in international peer-reviewed journals and has received numerous local and national awards for his contributions to public health, human rights, and the fight against HIV/AIDS. In 2007, Dr. Kerr received the National Knowledge Translation Award from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research for his efforts to promote scientific discussion on the topic of illicit drug policy. In 2010, Dr. Kerr was the co-recipient of the inaugural Population and Public Health Research Milestones Initiative award for his outstanding contribution to developing Canada’s research base for harm reduction and health equity approaches to HIV prevention and control. In 2011, Dr. Kerr was co-recipient of the Alfred R. Lindesmith award for achievement in the field of scholarship. Most recently, Dr. Kerr was recipient of the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal from the Governor General of Canada. Dr. Kerr is also a member of the editorial boards of the International Journal of Drug Policy, the HIV/AIDS Policy and Law Review, and the Journal of AIDS & Clinical Research.

Early in his career, Dr. Wood focused on the development of HIV treatment strategies, and he made several discoveries that contributed to the revision of guidelines for the initiation of antiretroviral therapy among HIV-positive adults. He has taken special interest in HIV treatment strategies among HIV-positive injection drug users. He is the founding principal investigator of Insite, North America's first and only medically supervised safer injecting facility, and has been widely involved in evaluating illicit drug policies, with a special focus on injection drug use.

Dr. Wood’s clinical and current research focuses on inner city medicine issues, policies as they relate to treatment and prevention issues facing injection drug users, and public health and HIV prevention strategies for street-involved youth.

He has co-authored more than 350 scientific papers and has received international recognition for his research. He was selected for the Canadian Institutes of Health Research’s Ron Ghitter Award as the nation’s top New Investigator applicant in 2003, received the Ron Ghitter Award in Human Rights in 2006, was the recipient of a leadership award from the Canadian Medical Association in 2007, and in 2010 received a physician of the year award from the British Medical Journal for his groundbreaking research in HIV, public health, illicit drug policy and addiction.

Dr. Wood is an Associate Editor of the International Journal of Drug Policy and serves on the editorial boards of a host of addiction and infectious disease journals. He has been quoted in Canadian and international media more than 300 times in the last five years, and has contributed columns to top newspapers in Canada and abroad, including the Toronto Star, the Globe and Mail, the National Post, the Vancouver Sun, the Los Angeles Times, and CNN online.