Two members of the Department of Medicine – Professor Emeritus Robert C. Brunham and Professor Julio Montaner – are being recognized by the Royal Society of Canada.
Dr. Brunham, the former Executive and Scientific Director of the B.C. Centre for Disease Control, has been elected a Fellow of the RSC. Dr. Montaner, Head of the UBC Division of AIDS, is receiving the society’s McLaughlin Medal, awarded for important research of sustained excellence in any branch of the medical sciences.
Dr. Brunham’s research centres on the immunology and epidemiology of sexually transmitted diseases and on the origins of emerging infectious diseases. Much of his research deals with chlamydia. He has made seminal contributions to defining the clinical features of infection in women, evaluating the impact of screening and treatment control programs, determining the underlying mechanisms of immunity, and discovering protective antigens suitable for vaccine development. He has analyzed the impact of public health efforts to control chlamydia, deduced that the strategy is arresting the development of immunity, and developed the rationale that a vaccine will be essential to chlamydia control.
Dr. Brunham collaborated in determining the major role of chancroid in concentrating accelerated HIV transmission among high-risk groups in Africa and the major role of HLA molecules in HIV resistance and susceptibility.
He led B.C.’s tactical and strategic response during the 2003 SARS crisis, defining the characteristic clinical features of SARS infection and tracing its distinctive epidemiology to underlying network transmission dynamics. Using team science, he collaborated in accelerating the successful development of a vaccine for SARS. He also led the province’s response to the avian influenza outbreak and the second wave of pandemic H1N1.
Early in his career, while working with a maternity hospital in Nairobi, Kenya, Dr. Brunham helped discover that administering antimicrobial drops into a newborn baby’s eyes prevents infection which can cause blindness. This is now standard procedure worldwide.
Dr. Montaner is a recognized leader in the field of medical research on HIV and AIDS. Since the start of the HIV epidemic, he has been working to improve the lives of those living with the disease. Dr. Montaner played a key role in the discovery of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART), which reduces the amount of HIV in an infected individual’s bloodstream to undetectable levels. Dr. Montaner became the Director of the BC-CfE in 2005. One year later, he introduced the Treatment as Prevention® (TasP®) strategy, a concept he pioneered, at the International AIDS Society Conference in Toronto.
TasP® consists of widespread HIV testing and the immediate and full offer of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) to those who test positive and those who are medically eligible. Based on its success in improving a patient’s quality of quality of life and longevity, while significantly reducing the likelihood of transmission, the strategy has been adopted on a global scale. Within BC, the implementation of TasP® with support from the provincial government has led to an 88 per cent decline in new AIDS cases and a 65 per cent drop in new HIV cases since 1994.
Among his many titles and recognitions, Dr. Montaner has served as the President of the International AIDS Society. In 2007, he was appointed to serve as the head of the newly established Division of AIDS at the University of British Columbia Department of Medicine – the first such unit at a Canadian university.
“This award is especially humbling as I was selected from among my peers within the distinguished Royal Society,” said Dr. Montaner. “I hope this honour encourages young medical researchers, including those selected as fellows of the society, to forge ahead with bold, innovative work that advances Canadian science.”