Associate Professor, AIDS | PhD, MPH, BSc, BA
Dr. Shannon’s research training includes a Masters degree in Global Public Health which focused on maternal and reproductive health in rural Bangladesh, followed by a PhD in Public Health and Epidemiology at UBC which explored the social and structural factors shaping HIV acquisition risk for street-based sex workers.
Currently, she has an Associate Faculty appointment with the School of Population and Public Health and is the appointed Director of the Gender and Sexual Health Initiative, a core program of the BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS. She is one of the recent FoM recipients of a Canada Research Chair in Global Sexual Health and HIV/AIDS.
“I chose UBC due to its cutting edge research on HIV/AIDS, and impact both locally and internationally, and critical work in ensuring translation of health research to policy and practice to affect change, promote access, and reduce inequities.”
Dr. Shannon’s research expertise focuses on sexual health and HIV/AIDS among marginalized and key affected populations in Canada and globally. Her program consists of a range of CIHR and US NIH-funded research on the social and structural determinants of sexual health and HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment and care among those affected by and living with HIV, including sex workers, youth, and women living with HIV.
She plans to continue to build her research program on gender, sexual health and HIV/AIDS at UBC and BC-CfE, spanning infectious disease and social epidemiological, qualitative and mixed methods research, and population health intervention and policy evaluation research. This includes training opportunities for graduate students and postdoctoral fellows in GSHI’s work in Canada and global health efforts.
Dr. Shannon’s research continues to be published in high impact journals, including Lancet, AIDS, and JAMA. Her work has contributed substantially to policy development, including expert evidence in BC, Ontario and the Supreme Court of Canada related to the public health impacts of Canada’s criminalized prostitution framework. She has also consulted with the departments of reproductive health and HIV at World Health Organization, including the 2012 WHO/UN guidelines on HIV prevention, treatment and care among sex workers in low and middle income countries.
In addition to her enthusiasm for research, Dr. Shannon has been actively involved in teaching at UBC and has supervised over 20 graduate students and post-doctoral fellows. She continues to provide many dynamic services to the community through her work on a number of Community Advisory Boards, taskforces and public speaking engagements. She was recently awarded an AccolAIDS from Positive Living BC in “Community, Political and Social Action” for her work affecting policy and program change for marginalized communities. At present Dr. Shannon is an Associate Editor for the International Journal of Drug Policy. She sits on the International AIDS Society Advisory Committee for Key
Populations, as well as CIHR HIV/AIDS and Institutes of Gender and Health advisory boards. Importantly, the significance and quality of her work continues to draw the attention of the media, including over 300 interviews to date, and has a measureable impact on public health policy.