Grant: HIV/AIDS & STBBI Clinical Trials Research Network - Phase 2

The epidemics of HIV and STBBIs are not under control in Québec; HIV incidence and prevalence is raising and so is infectious syphillis. Affected populations are shifting, with people in situations of migration, people who use drugs, indigenous people and gender-diverse people disproportionately affected. Québec has a long standing history of strong HIV and STBBI research, but there is a pressing need to adapt our research capacities to reach new populations, and to leverage new research methods that will benefit them. Adaptive trials are novel types of trials that offer several advantages over traditional randomized controlled trial. They can be more efficient, allow for flexibility during the conduct of studies, and are suited for the early phases of research (when a new drug is discovered) or the later ones (when we need to find out how to best roll out an intervention we already know works.) Those novel methods required closely knit collaborations between clinicians, methods experts, scientitist and people with lived experience to realize their full potential for HIV and STBBI research. We propose a training platform with the overaching goal to better the lives of people living with or affected by HIV and STBBI, by buiding capacity to design and conduct adaptive trials, to improve research accross the spectrum from basic research to implementation science. We will buid upon the strenghts of the research community to recruit diverse trainees and offer them tailored pathways of training accross five different streams: basic science, clinical sciences, methods and biostats, community based research and person-oriented research, and people with lived experience. The platform will deliver the next generation of experts in HIV and STBBI research, who will work collaboratively to design novel trials addressing research needs, from prevention to cure, adapted to key populations.