Our annual Community Advisory Board took place virtually on the first day of Women’s History Month on Friday March 1^st 2024, from 10:00am-12:00pm. We were so grateful to have had 33 attendees and representation from a variety of community partners providing some very useful insight and feedback. Below is a brief overview of how the meeting went!

Recruitment Updates

• As of 1 March 2024, we have enrolled 602 of our target 700 participants : 266 women living with HIV and 336 HIV-negative control women
  • We are currently narrowing our recruitment criteria to ensure we include underrepresented groups in our cohort
  • Our current recruitment targets are youth living with HIV, controls who identify as African, Caribbean and/or Black (ACB), and transwomen living with and without HIV
  • To reach these groups, we are building community relationships and collaborating with community partners: YouthCO, the Afro-Canadian Positive Network, and Aids Vancouver
• We have conducted 2 recruitment drives in Prince George and Victoria to ensure representation beyond the lower mainland.
  • We have plans to have more recruitment drives in the Interior and in Surrey

Knowledge Mobilization and Sharing our Work

What have we done so far?

• We have held a total of 8 Knowledge Mobilization (KM) events!
  • Comprised of learning activities from our research, art activities, a meal and gift bag and lots of laughter
  • We hosted a sharing and learning workshop/retreat for women living with HIV at Loon Lake in September 2023
  • Our team has developed infographics and booklets about healthy aging : telomeres, mitochondria, hormones
  • We have created a guide to menopause

Next Steps

• Project to give back to BCC3 study participants by hosting series of events to share individual results back (response to overwhelming request from BCC3 research participants)
  • Past participants will receive a personalized booklets (with their real data from their participation!). Topics will include liver, kidney and heart health, and stress

Introducing: The ReDOSE Study

At the first CAB Meeting in March 2021, community partners raised concerns about the dosage of ARVs, wondering how dosages designed with men in mind may impact women’s health and aging. We listened to this, and applied for funding to answer these very questions. Dr. Elizabeth is the PI for the ReEvaluating antiretroviral Drug cOncentrations and Side Effects in individuals living with HIV (REDOSE) Study launching in April 2024!

REDOSE hopes to answer

• Are ARV concentrations higher in older adults?
• Are ARV concentrations higher in women than men?
• What is the impact of elevated ARV concentrations on side effects?
  • Looking broadly across all ARV classes, and more particularly with one common prescribed ARV-Bictegravir

REDOSE will expand the BCC3 cohort by recruiting men living with HIV!

Community Research Associate (CRA) Panel: Sustainability in Community-Based Research

During the highly sought after CRA panel, three BCC3 CRAs shared their reflections on the evolution of their roles within the team. From the different trainings they have undertaken, involvement in grant writing and review, to interviewing research participants.