BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS
Tara L Andrusiak is a qualified Addiction Medicine Physician with extensive experience in various healthcare settings. Currently serving as the Local Department Head for Addiction Medicine Consult Service at Fraser Health Authority since July 2017, Tara provides essential consultations for patients at Royal Columbian Hospital and engages in quality improvement projects. In addition, Tara is the Medical Lead for Post-Graduate Education at Vancouver Coastal Health and holds a clinical instructor position at the University of British Columbia. With a commitment to serving Indigenous populations, Tara has also worked with Vancouver Aboriginal Health Society and Heartwood Treatment Centre for Women. Tara's educational background includes an MD from Western University and an MSc from the University of Toronto, complemented by diverse clinical training, including a fellowship in addiction medicine at St. Paul's Hospital.
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BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS
When the BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS opened in 1992, a British Columbian was dying from AIDS almost every day. While current advances in HIV treatment have made the disease a chronic but manageable illness, much work remains to be done. An estimated 13,000 British Columbians are HIV infected, with close to 350 new cases reported each year. As well, more than 3,200 cases of AIDS have been reported in the province, and a third of these individuals currently live with the disease. Drug resistance, adverse effects to medication, and barriers to accessing treatment and maintaining adherence are just a few of the many issues facing those who are HIV-positive. More importantly, people are still dying from the disease. The BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS (BC-CfE) is dedicated to improving the health of British Columbians with HIV through the development, ongoing monitoring and dissemination of comprehensive research and treatment programs for HIV and related diseases. The Centre is a key provincial resource, serving all health authorities, regions and citizens of BC. The Centre places the disease under the microscope, provides care and treatment to those infected, educates doctors and healthcare professionals throughout the province, and promotes evidence-based social policy that helps protect people from acquiring the virus. The Centre's scope is comprehensive, but so too is the impact of HIV/AIDS. The intent of this website is to not only provide a better understanding of the Centre's activities, but to shed light on the complexities in fighting HIV/AIDS.