You are invited to join a free community forum hosted by the Community Health Centre of Women’s Health in Women’s Hands on “ Optimizing Prenatal HIV Testing for African and Caribbean Women” on August 20, 2010. The Forum will discuss the Ontario Prenatal HIV Testing Program, share research findings on the experiences of African, Caribbean and Black women with HIV testing in Ontario during pregnancy, and develop strategies to improve HIV testing among African, Caribbean and Black women. For more info and to register, please contact Racquel Bremmer at 416-263-4884.

The OHTN is accepting abstract submissions, satellite event and artistic proposals for the upcoming Annual Research Conference on November 15-16, 2010. Themed on Research at the Front Lines: Targeting the Complexities of HIV, the conference will explore research and evidence-based interventions targeting HIV and other factors and conditions that intersect with HIV to increase vulnerability, worsen health outcomes, and complicate care and treatment for people with HIV. For more information, please visit the Conference website. The final deadline for abstract submissions and proposals for satellite events and art-based research displays is September 7, 2010.

If you are an LGBT consumer/survivor of the Ontario mental health and addictions systems or their family member, a clinician or service provider working with LGBT people, government staff or researcher working in LGBT mental health and addictions, or LGBT community member, you are invited to join Rainbow Health Ontario and the “Creating Together” project of the Ontario Mental Health and Addictions Knowledge Exchange Network in a consultation on LGBT mental health and addictions research on September 13, 2010. Travel assistance applications are due August 25. RSVP is required. For details, please visit the event website.

Rainbow Health Ontario is seeking trans people from diverse communities across Ontario to be members of a Provincial Trans Health Project Advisory Committee tasked with overseeing the development and implementation of projects aimed at improving health services for trans people in Ontario, including implementing and evaluating the training of health care providers across the province in trans health care. For more information and to apply, please visit the Rainbow Health Ontario website. Applications are due by 5 pm on August 18, 2010.

The University of Toronto HIV Research Ethics Board is seeking volunteer community members to assist in the review of HIV-related research ethics proposals in Ontario. The successful candidate will have an interest, knowledge and background in HIV research and no current affiliation with the University of Toronto. For more information on the opportunity and how to apply, please see the call for applications and the HIV REB website. The deadline to apply is September 1, 2010.   

In partnership with the Canadian Institutes for Health Research, the Canadian Association for HIV Research (CAHR) will fund HIV Research Scholarships in Basic Science, Clinical Science, Social Science, and Epidemiology/Public Health to provide special recognition to students who are pursuing Masters and Doctoral degrees in Canada or abroad and whose main focus is on HIV/AIDS. The aim of the Studentship Awards is to support the training of Canadian students who are committed to pursuing a career in HIV research. The deadline for Doctoral applications is October 15, 2010 and the deadline for Masters applications is October 29, 2010. For more information, please visit “What’s New” on the CAHR website.

The Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council are pleased to announce the launch of a prestigious new program - the Banting Postdoctoral Fellowships – which will award 70 postdoctoral fellowships annually to top-tier postdoctoral researchers, both nationally and internationally, to develop their leadership potential and to position them as research leaders of the future. For more information on the Fellowship program and to apply, please visit the CIHR website.

Trans PULSE - a community-based research project investigating the impact of social exclusion and discrimination on the health of trans people in Ontario – has recently released their first issue of the Trans PULSE E-Bulletin. Funded by CIHR, this research project is a partnership between researchers, trans community members, and community organizations committed to supporting health professionals, policy makers, trans communities and allies with research evidence to remove barriers, create positive changes, and improve the health and well-being of trans people. For more information, please see the new Trans PULSE E-Bulletin.

Are you interested in catching up on the research and discussions generated at the 18th International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2010) that took place in Vienna last week? Please visit aidsmap.com to access the official provider of online news coverage from the conference. NAM is committed to ensuring you won’t miss out on the conference news, abstracts, satellite meetings, speaker profiles and webcasts. NAM exists to support the fight against AIDS with independent, accurate, accessible and comprehensible information resources.