Grant: Knowledge Translation Supplement

In 2006, CIHR funded the Vancouver multi-disciplinary collaboration of injection drug use researchers, which became the Urban Health Research Initiative (UHRI). This project established an interdisciplinary team of investigators to undertake collaborative and policy-relevant research on illicit drug addiction. The grant was used to harmonize four large cohort studies of addicted persons in Vancouver, to foster collaboration among the investigators involved in these studies, and to exchange knowledge between the research team and policy-makers. Data harmonization allowed the creation of a virtual database of all UHRI cohorts: the Vancouver Injection Drug Users Study (VIDUS), the Scientific Evaluation of Supervised Injecting (SEOSI) cohort, the At-Risk Youth Study (ARYS), and the AIDS Care Cohort to evaluate Exposure to Survival Services (ACCESS) cohort. Since UHRI began, we have published more than 150 papers in leading journals such as CMAJ, BMJ, Lancet and JAMA. Despite this productivity and many successes resulting from our knowledge translation efforts, our research findings have not always translated into meaningful policy change or program delivery. Few areas suffer more from the gap between best evidence and public policy than the response to the illicit drug problem. In this proposal, we plan to use proven KT strategies to address this gap, such as: (a) hiring a coordinator to develop and evaluate KT activities specific to illicit drug use research and policy development; (b) creating research briefs, info sheets, newsletters, and posters describing our research findings; (c) disseminating research results electronically and via printed plain language reports; and (d) presenting our research findings to policy-makers, health authorities, and affected communities. We are confident that through the KT efforts proposed here, our research can help inform evidence-based policies in HIV/AIDS and addiction programming, as well as in public health more generally.