SFU – Robert Hogg awarded $6.5M to identify health inequities among HIV-positive populations

published on August 4, 2015 in Pacific AIDS Network

SFU – The Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) has awarded a $6.5-million grant to Simon Fraser University health sciences researcher Robert Hogg. The award is among the CIHR’s inaugural Foundation Grants totaling $409 million. They have been presented to 150 established and new investigators to support a wide spectrum of innovative research programs during the next seven years.

Hogg will use the grant to continue identifying ongoing health inequities among vulnerable HIV-positive populations in British Columbia and the rest of Canada.

Hogg and his research team will investigate three key areas in HIV care and the accessibility of HIV treatment. They will study how optimism influences current sexual behavior and new infection rates among gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men. Such optimism stems from the availability of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART), an effective treatment strategy to combat HIV/AIDS.

“Although the number of new HIV infections in British Columbia has decreased significantly in the last few years, rates of infection among these groups have not decreased as quickly,” says Hogg.

Hogg is a senior scientist in the Epidemiology and Population Health program at the BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS (BC-CfE) and is also principal investigator of the Canadian HIV Observational Cohort (CANOC) Collaborative Research Centre.

The internationally recognized researcher will examine how long-term use of HAART affects those who simultaneously suffer from age-associated diseases and HIV. He will also explore how different models of care impact the uptake, adherence to, and retention of HAART among vulnerable groups of infected individuals.

“People over 50 years of age represent more than half of all HIV-positive individuals in North America,” says Hogg. “We need to know more about how these individuals, who likely suffer from age-associated diseases like cardiovascular and respiratory conditions, access health care resources differently from the general population.”

Hogg says that his findings will inform new strategies to address the realities and unique needs of HIV-positive men and women over 50.

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SFU – Robert Hogg awarded $6.5M to identify health inequities among HIV-positive populations

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