McGILL UNIVERSITY
Toronto AIDS Conference Background Materials
FRONT LINE McGILL AIDS RESEARCH
Here are some of the McGill University researchers working to fight AIDS
worldwide:
Project Title: Addressing the AIDS Orphan Crisis in Sub-Saharan Africa
South Africa
McGill Researcher: Dr. Jody Heymann
Attending Toronto Conference: YES
Cell No.:
Dr. Jody Heymann, MD, PhD, founding director of the Institute for Health and
Social Policy at McGill and founder of the Project on Global Working Families at
Harvard University, researches the social determinants of health and the policies
that affect them, focusing on labour, trade, children and HIV/AIDS. She is jointly
appointed in the departments of Political Science, and Epidemiology and
Biostatistics. Heymann is spearheading a project that will address the
fundamentals of the massive humanitarian crisis of AIDS in Africa: an estimated
11 million children in sub-Saharan Africa had lost one or both of their parents due
to AIDS by 2003, and 18 million will have been orphaned by 2010. AIDS
orphans disproportionately suffer from sickness and malnutrition, have less
education and are more likely to be poor, making them one of the most
vulnerable populations in sub-Saharan Africa today. Heymann’s objective is to
determine the impact of various private and public programs on children’s health,
development, and education.
Project Title: Learning Together: Participatory methodologies with youth,
teachers and community health care workers in addressing HIV and AIDS
in rural South Africa
McGill Researcher: Dr. Claudia Mitchell
Attending Toronto Conference: YES
Cell No.:
Professor Claudia Mitchell, James McGill Professor in the Faculty of Education,
McGill University and Honorary Professor in the Faculty of Education, University
of KwaZulu-Natal is conducting research in rural communities of South Africa,
focusing on ways on engaging young people, teachers and community health
care workers in identifying and addressing key issues in relation to HIV and AIDS
prevention, education and care. Co-founder of the Centre for Visual
Methodologies for Social Change, UKZN and the International Visual
Methodologies Project, the work of Dr. Mitchell and her team focuses on
community development in addressing HIV and AIDS. Related projects include
work with the Culture and HIV and AIDS division of UNESCO, focusing in
particular on youth, media and HIV and AIDS. With Dr. Michael Hoechsmann and
Dr. Bronwen Low of the Faculty of Education, Dr. Mitchell is currently developing
a global web-tool on arts based participatory methodologies (drama,
photography, video, graffiti, hip-hop, new media) for working with youth in
addressing HIV and AIDS.
Project Title: Scientific challenges for the development of the HIV vaccine
McGill Researcher: Dr. Rafick-Pierre Sékaly
Attending Toronto Conference: YES
Cell No.: 514 803-6365
The only Canadian researcher to receive money from the Bill & Melinda Gates
Foundation’s unprecedented $287 million donation to HIV vaccine reserach, Dr.
Rafick-Pierre Sékaly will give the presentation “Scientific challenges for the
development of the HIV vaccine” 2:15 p.m. Aug. 15 at the conference center’s
room 2. An Adjunct Professor of Microbiology and Immunology at McGill
University, as well as a Microbiology and Immunology Professor at the University
of Montreal and the Chair of the AIDS Vaccine 2005 International Conference,
Dr. Sékaly will work with two of 16 research teams: one headed by Swiss
scientists, through which he will receive $1 million; the other headed by the
National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md., through which he will receive $1.2
million.
Project Title: Improving access and quality of HIV care in remote settings:
Embedding new methodologies and knowledge transfer
McGill Researcher: Dr. Christos Tsoukas
Attending Toronto Conference: YES
Contact: 514-884-1587
Dr. Christos Tsoukas is implementing a telehealth approach to HIV treatment
through a study in Montreal and Benghazi, Libya. Dr. Tsoukas, of the McGill
AIDS Centre and McGill Centre for the Study of Host Resistance, seeks to bring
about improved health care by integrating elements of human communication,
information transfer and evolving technologies. He also hopes to train Libyans so
the Benghazi HIV Center will be able to continue providing high-quality care after
his project ends.
Project Title: Artificial Intelligence for choosing HIV/AIDS treatments
McGill Researcher: Dr. Christos Tsoukas
Attending Toronto Conference: YES
Contact: 514-884-1587
Dr. Christos Tsoukas is examining how artificial intelligence might be able to
determine the best course of treatment for HIV patients. He is leading a four-year
project with funding from Canadian Institutes of Health Research that tests
artificial intelligence in treatment options in the Congo, Greece and India.
Project Titles: Zimbabwe Vitamin A for Mothers and Babies project
(ZVITAMBO) and HIV Care and prevention programs for mothers and
children in Zimbabwe
McGill Researcher: Dr. Brian Ward
Work No.: 514-934-1934, ext. 42810
Dr. Brian Ward tracked 14,000-plus mothers and babies in Zimbabwe for up to
two years to determine the impact of administering single oral doses of vitamin A
immediately after birth. Dr. Ward is also leading a community program that
incorporates mother to child HIV transmission prevention and care into
established maternal and child health programs at selected mission hospitals in
Zimbabwe. With help from the Canadian International Development Agency, Dr.
Ward’s group is helping 14 hospitals prevent mother to child infection.
Project Title: HIV/AIDS prevention among youth in Bangladesh
McGill Researchers: Dr. Charles Larson, MD, Frances Aboud, PhD
Attending Toronto Conference:
Contact: 514-398-6099 or 931-8445
How ready and able are local leaders such as imams, teachers and businessmen
to advocate and initiate HIV-prevention measures in their communities? That’s
the question being answered by Dr. Charles P. Larson, an expert in pediatrics
and epidemiology, and Frances Aboud, PhD, an expert in HIV/AIDS in
developing countries and health psychology pioneer. They are developing the
social infrastructure of prevention by monitoring and evaluating interventions
being implemented by NGO’s in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Funded by the Global Fund
for AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GFATM) from 2005 to 2009, their project
aims to prevent HIV/AIDS in young Bangladeshis. In a first-of-its-kind
undertaking, they are taking national surveys of the HIV/AIDS knowledge and
high-risk practices of Bangladeshis aged 15 to 24. They are evaluating
educational strategies and developing messages targeting this age group, as
well as assessing health providers’ counseling skills and testing strategies
promoting safe sex among young clients of sex workers. They are also working
with Bhutan’s Ministry of Health to design and carry out similar work.
Contact:
Lisa Van Dusen
McGill University
C: 514-884-1587
BBerry: lisa.vandusen@mcgill.ca