Principal Investigators
Dr. Hélène Côté
Dr. Hélène Côté is a professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the University of British Columbia (UBC), as well as an associate member at the Women's Health Research Institute (WHRI). She has many concurrent projects in her lab examining aging and mitochondrial toxicity in relation to viral infections and antiretroviral therapies. She has led the CARMA cohort for the past 12 years. As a principal investigator, she will be guiding and managing BCC3 study activities, ensuring that we are meeting our research goals, and doing research in a good way.
Dr. Melanie Murray
Dr. Melanie Murray is a clinical associate professor in the Department of Medicine at the University of British Columbia (UBC). She is an infectious disease specialist in HIV care at BC Women's Oak Tree Clinic. Her research interests include HIV and women, HIV and aging, and engaging persons in care for their HIV. As one of the principal investigators, she will be leading investigation into the impacts of HIV infection, psychosocial and structural factors on hormonal dysregulation and comorbidities in BCC3 cohort participants.
Dr. Angela Kaida
Dr. Angela Kaida is an associate professor and global health epidemiologist in the Faculty of Health Sciences at Simon Fraser University (SFU). She works closely with community leaders and decision-makers to integrate research evidence into health policy and programming, attending to social and gender equity. Her many research studies focus on access to HIV treatment and prevention services, and their impacts on sexual and reproductive intentions, behaviours, and outcomes of HIV-affected individuals.
Co-Investigators / Knowledge Users
Elder Valerie Nicholson
Honouring her given names The One the Eagles watch over, NoDe WenDa {wolf eyes} and Auntie from the Torres Straight Islanders, Elder Valerie is Mi'kmaq, Haida, Roma and UK Islander descent. Elder Valerie is a Spirited Indigenous Warrior Woman who is an Indigenous Peer Navigator with the Positive Living Society of BC, and was a past Chair of the Board of the Canadian Aboriginal AIDS Network. She also works in community-based research, and mentors HIV+ youth as a trainer for the Positive Leadership Development Institute. As a co-investigator, Elder Valerie also ensures that the research is being done in a good way.
Dr. Elizabeth King
Dr. Elizabeth King is an infectious disease specialist and Assistant Professor at Simon Fraser University with an interest in understanding and optimizing healthy aging and reproductive health for women living with HIV. She is also the Principal Investigator of the REDOSE Study that is aimed at investigating antiretroviral levels and side effects in women and men living with HIV
Elder Sheila Nyman
Elder Sheila is a Syilx Metis woman from the Lower Similkameen in the Okanagan Valley, who began her work with women living with HIV/AIDS at Oak Tree Clinic as the former Executive Director of New Dawn, New Day and New Way Recovery homes during the mid-90s. She continues to use her skills as an Elder with traditional healing training and also as a Master level Clinical Social Worker, providing support to women living with HIV. She integrates western and Indigenous models of healing strategies and the wisdom she has learned over the many years of working with women, Indigenous people and AIDS research projects.
Research Staff and Students
Melanie Lee
Melanie has been a Community Research Associate (CRA) for CHIWOS since 2012 and now works on the BCC3 study. She was also involved with the creation of the Women’s-Centred HIV Toolkits for clinicians and community members with the national CHIWOS. Melanie also voluntarily runs a community based organic coop (Harvest Co-op) that serves produce to people living with HIV and their allies.
Shelly T
Shelly’s background includes experience in HIV Peer Navigation and Peer Support programming in both clinic and community outreach settings. A vocal advocate for peer support and the need for increased women’s HIV/HCV research and programming, Shelly was an inaugural writer for Life and Love with HIV, a global online platform dedicated to de-stigmatizing sexuality and relationships among women, partners, and couples living with HIV by shifting the focus from risk to pleasure.
Davi Pang
Davi has worked in the activist community in Metro Vancouver advocating for women and children for 15 years. Davi has facilitated peer support groups at the Oak Tree Clinic, Positive Haven, and Women’s Health Collective. She has worked as a Research Associate on the Women’s Health Project, Asian Society for the Intervention of AIDS (ASIA), and was instrumental in forming a non-profit society SWAN (Supporting Women’s Alternatives Network).
Franceska Dnestrianschii
Franceska is the Research Coordinator for the BCC3 and REDOSE studies. Franceska earned her Master’s in Global Health Research from Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and holds a Bachelor’s degree in Nursing from the University of Alberta. Her research interests include HIV and women’s health, arts-based research methodologies, and participatory action research. In her multifaceted role as coordinator, Franceska’s primary focus is to ensure the smooth operation of multiple projects.
Tetiana Povshedna
Tetiana is a PhD student at the University of British Columbia (UBC) in the Pathology and Laboratory Medicine program. Her main research objective is to explore the relationship(s) between markers of immune aging and inflammation, chronic/latent viral infections, chronic pain, and prevalence and risk of age-related comorbidities among women living with HIV
Zoë Osborne
Zoë is a community-based research coordinator for the "RE-IMAGYN" study and is passionate about gender equity, with a focus on sexual and reproductive health and rights. She supports the community-based and qualitative research aspects of BCC3. Zoë holds a Master of Public Health degree from Simon Fraser University and a Bachelor’s degree in molecular and cellular biology from Harvard University.
Sahel Mirrazavi
Sahel is a BSc student at the University of British Columbia, majoring in biology, and is completing a directed-studies project with the BCC3 study. Her project focuses on examining risk and protective factors in the mental health of immigrant women living with and without HIV
Julliet Zama
Julliet is a graduate student studying at the University of British Columbia (UBC) in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine. Her research focuses on characterizing the effects of HCV clearance on selected markers of immune aging and inflammation among women living with and without HIV over time.
Thwin T. T. Nway
Thwin is a co-op student in the BCC3 and REDOSE team and assists the research with a diverse variety of tasks. She is an international student from Myanmar and her Burmese upbringing amidst many sociopolitical events shaped her worldview and aspirations. Accordingly, she is currently working on her Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Sciences and minoring in International Studies and Social Data Analytics. With a background in social sciences and social data, Thwin has joined the team because she was drawn to its community-based perspective that aims to resolve inequities in healthcare.
Beheroze Sattha
Beheroze is a laboratory technologist and manages the BC Women’s Hospital Research Lab. She leads the biological sample processing for the BCC3 and CARMA study samples.
Community Partners / Knowledge Users
Patience Magagula
Patience is the Executive Director at Afro-Canadian Positive Network (ACPNet) and is passionate about reducing stigma, sharing research knowledge, and improving health equity of African, Caribbean, and/or Black women living with HIV. Patience and ACPNet support BCC3 with recruitment, study guidance, and knowledge translation/exchange.
Co-Investigators
- Jason Brophy (MD, MSc)
- Allison Carter (PhD)
- Chelsea Elwood (MD)
- Mona Loutfy (MD, MPH)
- Carmen Logie (PhD)
- Neora Pick (MD)
- Jerilynn Prior (MD)
- Kate Salters (PhD, MPH)
- Joel Singer (PhD)
Former Research Staff and Students
Shayda Swann
Shayda completed the PhD portion of her combined Doctor of Medicine/Doctor of Philosophy (MD/PhD) program at the University of British Columbia. She has a keen interest in HIV, women’s health, and endocrinology and explored the impacts of HIV and social factors on hormonal dysregulation in BCC3 cohort. Shayda also led many knowledge mobilization activities of the study
Charity Mudhikwa
Charity is an MSc student at Simon Fraser University and a Research Assistant on the BCC3 study. Her research focuses on measurement of racism in epidemiological research, and potential impacts on sexual and reproductive health outcomes of women living with and without HIV
Camille Valbuena
Camille was a Co-op student at Oak Tree Clinic assisting with BCC3 study visits. She is now currently completing a UBC Directed Studies project in the Côté lab
Marcela Ardengue P. Silva
Marcela is a former Research Coordinator on the team. Originally from Brazil, she is an internationally trained nurse and also holds a Master of Public Health degree.
Amber Campbell
Amber is a former BCC3 research coordinator. Amber played a pivotal role in launching and overseeing the study's success. She was instrumental in leading the Community Research Associate trainings, organizing recruitment drives, ethics submissions, and overall management of the study's day to day operations.
Rebecca (Becky) Gormley
Becky was a research coordinator for the BCC3 study, as well as the provincial research coordinator for 2 national studies (CHIWOS and WATCH). Becky helped develop the training materials and delivering training for the Peer Research Associates on the BCC3 study.
Sofie Levy
Sofie was a Co-op Student at the Oak Tree Clinic and assisted with BCC3 clinical study visits. Sofie also completed a directed studies project with BCC3 looking at chronic/latent viral infections.
Vy Manohara
Vy was a Co-op student conducting BCC3 clinical study visits and also completed a Directed Studies project working on cortisol analyses.
Tara Fernando
Tara completed an MPH practicum with the BCC3 study. She worked closely with our team to create the "Behind the Science" infographics as well as the CHIWOS-PAW 4-part poster series.
Perla Araiza
Perla was an MPH practicum student with our team
Summer Zhang
Summer completed a FLEX project for her medical training with our team. Her project focused on the comorbidity burden and aging experiences of women living with HIV including the socio-structural factors that influence it.
Kelly Mathews
Kelly completed a FLEX project as part of her medical training with the BCC3 team. Her project explored psychosocial and hormonal factors influencing sexual pleasure in women living with and without HIV.
Evelyn Maan
Evelyn is a research nurse and was a research manager at Oak Tree Clinic, where she was overseeing multiple research projects that focus on the needs of women and children living with HIV.
Tsion Gebremedhen
As an MPH student, Tsion assisted in the development of training materials for the Community Research Associates on the BCC3 study. Tsion also led a project to explore the research experiences of persons identifying as African, Caribbean and/or Black (ACB) in BC, with the aim of increasing the meaningful engagement of ACB folks in research
Vonnie Lee
Vonnie was a research assistant and assisted with building and piloting the BCC3 questionnaire in the REDCap database. She has since moved on to pursue a career in nursing!