Canadian HIV Observational Cohort (CANOC) Collaborative Research Centre

While combination antiretroviral therapy (ART) has transformed HIV care, currently no active national system exists to monitor the impact and outcomes of these therapies among people living with HIV across Canada. Our application proposes the creation of the Canadian HIV Observational Cohort (CANOC) Collaborative Research Centre to fill this knowledge gap. Our goal is to improve treatment quality, health outcomes, and engagement with programs and services for people living with HIV across Canada. Our objectives are to (1) Grow and support a national Centre that will foster longitudinal national collaborative HIV cohort research; (2) Expand Canada's largest longitudinal HIV treatment cohort of HIV-positive individuals accessing modern ART to include ten sites from four provinces and linkages to provincial population health databases and survey studies; (3) Conduct multidisciplinary health services research for people living with HIV in Canada, sensitive to key populations most affected by HIV, and with a strong consideration of the impact of aging on health outcomes and health service needs; (4) Promote collaborative, meaningful relationships between researchers, knowledge users, community members, and policy makers; (5) Establish and maintain a productive research training environment that fosters dynamic, multidisciplinary research experiences for outstanding new HIV researchers and community members; and (6) Disseminate findings using novel knowledge translation and exchange strategies and generate policy/practice recommendations at the provincial, national, and international levels. Health services research will be focused into five main themes: (1) burden of aging-associated comorbidities; (2) quality of HIV care; (3) quality of life; (4) cost-effectiveness of modern HIV treatment; and (5) drug safety of modern ART. Study findings will be essential in helping to guide and plan HIV management and care across the country in the future.