CAHR Professional Development Awards HighlightsKyla Gibson
Kyla Gibson is a first-year MSc student at the University of Toronto. Her research focuses on placental pathology in people living with HIV taking ART. Thanks to the support from a CAHR Travel Award for Professional Development, Kyla was able to attend the 35th Annual Canadian Conference on HIV/AIDS Research (CAHR 2026) and participate in the New HIV Researcher Workshop. Funding allowed her to engage in scientific discussions, connect with community members and build essential research skills that will support her development as a future clinician-scientist.
CAHR Professional Development Awards are designed to offer support for the next generation of HIV researchers seeking to build their skills in the field of HIV research. Awards are available across CAHR’s four tracks (basic, clinical, social sciences, epidemiology and public health) as well as community-based research.
Without support from CAHR, Kyla would not have been able to attend the conference or participate in the workshop. She would not have had the opportunity to gain hands-on experience learning from researchers, mentors, and community partners across Canada.
It is essential for graduate students to attend conferences like CAHR; and I am grateful to have received funding to do so. I took many important lessons away from my participation at CAHR. Most significantly, I valued hearing from researchers who have positioned community members as leaders of their grants, research processes, and evaluation.
Through this experience, Kyla gained new skills in presenting and communicating data, asking research-driven questions and engaging with community members. The workshop helped her better understand about CIHR’s funding processes, including how applications are evaluated and how funding is allocated across sectors. She also learned about equity-focused grants she is eligible for, and she became aware of the significant underrepresentation of Black women in CIHR-funded research leadership. She also connected with mentors such as Dr. Monika Kowatsch, who provided guidance on integrating community-based research into basic sciences. The interaction helped her identify strengths in her work and clarified next step for her research and training.
As I transition from my MSc to medical school, I will use the lessons I learnt at CAHR to guide my engagement with research, practice and community.
The experience helped her future career goals by strengthening her commitment to advancing HIV/STBBI research and improving equitable care for underserved women and girls.