As part of the Ontario Treatment Health Network's (OHTN) Strategic Plan to 2015: Striving for Excellence, Achieving Impact, the OHTN made a commitment to create more strategic funding partnerships.  As part of that initiative, we are pleased to announce a new partnership with the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. The Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) and the OHTN are collaborating to offer New Investigator Awards as part of the Fall 2011 Priority Announcements managed by CIHR. 

This initiative will provide new investigators with $60,000 a year for up to five years.

Through this partnership, the OHTN will fund relevant Ontario-based applications that advance HIV/AIDS research in Ontario. The Award Program will fund up to one eligible application in each of the Biomedical/Clinical Research and Health Services/Population Health Research funding pools.

This partnership increases the amount of funding available for new investigator awards through CIHR. These awards, which will be known as "OHTN/CIHR New Investigator Awards in HIV/AIDS", will also provide successful applicants with the benefit of having their award recognized nationally as well as in Ontario. 

This Priority Announcement is offered in lieu of the OHTN's own Fall 2011 Scholarship Award. 

All applicants are asked to apply through ResearchNet, per CIHR's New Investigator Award guidelines.  

For more information, please contact Jane Hutchinson, Associate, CIHR - Institute of HIV/AIDS Research Initiative, tel: 613-948-9396 or Jennifer Major, Manager, Research Funding and Development, Ontario HIV Treatment Network, tel: 416-642-6486 ex2249.

See the Full Funding Opportunity >>

The Population Health Improvement Research Network is seeking applications for emerging researchers in population health in Ontario. A minimum of three fellowships will be awarded, each for an amount of $55,000.

More Information >>

Eliminating HIV Health Disparities: Is Housing the Key to Ending the AIDS Crisis?   

New Orleans, Louisiana  

September 21 to 23, 2011

As the premiere venue for informing HIV/AIDS housing policy, the 2011 Summit will bring together researchers, policy experts, consumers and providers of HIV/AIDS housing to review findings from research and policy initiatives, discuss evidence-based housing practice and policy, and develop community-driven research and advocacy strategies.

Summit VI will focus on the potential of housing strategies to address inequalities in HIV health outcomes and to end the AIDS crisis by preventing new infections. Particular attention will be given to housing need and interventions among vulnerable populations and underserved communities. Full-day research, practice and advocacy Learning Institutes will be offered on September 21, 2011.   

Confirmed Keynote speakers include:

• Ronald O. Valdiserri
  M.D., M.P.H.,Deputy Assistant Secretary for Health, Infectious Diseases, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS)  
• Kevin Fenton
  M.D., Ph.D., FFPH, Director of National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention, Center for Disease Control (CDC)  
• Libby Davies
  Canadian Member of Parliament for the New Democratic Party (NDP)  
• Nigel Fisher
  Deputy Special Representative, Ad Interim, for the
  United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH)
• Russell Mawby
  Director, Places Group  

Register for Summit VI Now >>

The OHTN is inviting abstracts for Research at the Front Lines: Influencing HIV Policy, Practice and Programs - the 2011 OHTN Research Conference - that will be held in Toronto on November 14 and 15, 2011.

The abstract submission deadline is September 15, 2011. The abstract submission deadline will not be extended.

Abstracts should help prevent HIV and improve the health and well-being of people with HIV in the following areas:

• Scientific research
• Economic analyses
• Program evaluations
• Community-based interventions
• Public policy strategies
  

The OHTN also invite teams wishing to present a 'Special Session' to identify the chosen theme when submitting the abstracts.

For more information and to submit your abstract:   

View the Abstract Submission Guidelines (pdf) >>
Visit the Conference Website >> 

Rainbow Health Ontario (RHO) is seeking proposals for its second provincial conference addressing the health and wellness needs of our lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans (LGBT) communities in Ontario. The conference will be held in Ottawa in March 2012.  

To be a part of this unique event, please submit your proposal by September 16, 2011.  

More Information >> 

Experts, researchers and leaders in programming will share their insights into the techniques for sound and innovative HIV and HCV knowledge exchange during the CATIE National Knowledge Exchange Forum. This two-day conference, on October 19 and 20, 2011, is a must for front line service managers, researchers, public health and community workers.

More Information >> 

Over 150 activists, policy makers, researchers and lawyers came together this June for the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network's Third Symposium on HIV, Law and Human Rights. The theme of this year's event was "Litigating for Change," and the symposium featured a series of workshops and panel discussions on the potential of strategic litigation to protect and promote human rights of people living with and vulnerable to HIV in Canada and abroad. 

The Symposium also included a stirring public lecture by Professor Alan Young, counsel in the landmark case Bedford v. Canada, who outlined the ways in which Canada's prostitution-related provisions in the Criminal Code undermine the human rights of sex workers by increasing their vulnerability to both violence and death and making their jobs unnecessarily dangerous. 

• Should people with HIV be concerned about e-health and their privacy?
• Should people who take anonymous tests be worried about e-health?
  

Find out what Micheal Vonn of the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association thinks in this OHTN-Positive Lite video shot during the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network's Symposium held in June 2011 in Toronto.