Welcome to the SFU Interdisciplinary Research Centre for HIV
The SFU Interdisciplinary Research Centre for HIV (SIRCH) aims to bring together researchers, students, community partners and community investigators to build and expand multi-disciplinary research programs that address four major research themes:
1) Clinical research, particularly related to highly-active anti-retroviral therapy (HAART) and its associated outcomes with a focus on how long-term HAART affects aging and aging-related co-morbidities,
2) Biomedical research, with an emphasis on HIV vaccine design to prevent, control and cure HIV/AIDS,
3) Access to and quality of health services for individuals living with HIV, specifically how different supportive service models of care impact survival and HAART uptake, adherence, and retention,
4) HIV among key affected populations, specifically looking at outcomes among vulnerable or hard-to-reach populations (persons of Aboriginal ancestry, people who inject drugs, youth, women, and men who have sex with men).
All research themes are guided by the vision of community-engaged HIV research, which focuses on the process of linking research, practice, policy and the lived experience of people living with HIV to improve the health and well being of individuals and communities affected by HIV.