St. Michael's Dr. Sean B. Rourke receives federal funds for iHIV/AIDS research

Dr. Sean B. Rourke, a psychologist who heads the Neurobehavioural Research Unit at St. Michael's Hospital, has received $1.5 million from the federal government for a community-based HIV/AIDS research centre.

Dr. Rourke is the lead and director for the CBR Collaborative Centre in HIV/AIDS, which will focus on building capacity to carry out innovative HIV/AIDS research across Canada.

This centre connects with and builds on his CIHR Centre for REACH in HIV/AIDS, a population health and health services. REACH is a national partnership among people living with HIV, community-based organizations, front-line service providers, health researchers from more than 25 academic institutions (over 250 members) across Canada, and federal, provincial, and regional policy makers.

The CBR Centre will also be linked with his Universities without walls, an education and training initiative funded by CIHR (STIHR) to support the next generation of HIV researchers in Canada.

His was one of only two community-based centres to receive federal funding in an announcement by Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq on Nov. 27. Another $1.5 million went to the Canadian Aboriginal AIDS Network to support the Aboriginal HIV and AIDS Community-Based Research Collaborative Centre, which will bring Aboriginal communities and researchers together to address specific challenges for Aboriginal Canadians.

The funding comes from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research HIV/AIDS Research Initiative.

"Our CBR centre will mobilize and inspire regional teams of researchers and community-based agencies across the country," Dr. Rourke said.

"Grounded in their regions, these teams will conduct relevant, rigorous research that will respond to local issues and needs. The findings will lead to better interventions and services for people living with or at risk of HIV, enhancing their health and well-being. At the national level, the centre will build healthier communities and further our efforts to get ahead of the HIV epidemic by bringing regional teams together into a network that will learn from one another, share their findings, build on each other's knowledge, and transfer and adapt successful interventions from one region to another."

Provided by St. Michael's Hospital