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Apply for an Academic Scholarship (General)

The application deadline has passed.

Two Academic Scholarships will be awarded to student applicants in each track:

  • Basic Sciences
  • Clinical Sciences
  • Epidemiology and Public Health*
  • Social Sciences

Scholarships recipients will receive:

  • Round-trip economy airfare
  • Complimentary hotel accommodation (up to three nights)
  • Complimentary conference registration

Students must apply for scholarships at the time of abstract submission. If you are interested in applying for an Academic Scholarship, please select “Yes” in the Scholarship section of the abstract submission site. Scholarship applications are accepted from individuals from across Canada.

Proof of student status is required to be eligible. Applicants who do not send in their proof of student status by Wednesday, December 14, 2016 will not be considered. Proof of student status consists of a copy of a student ID or a letter from the educational institution’s registrar verifying student status. View CAHR’s policy on proof of student status here. Send relevant documents to the Conference Secretariat.

Academic scholarship applicants will be notified in early February 2017 of the status of their application.

* The CAHR 2017 Academic Scholarships in the Epidemiology & Public Health stream have been named in honour of Dr. Robert S. Remis who passed away on September 25, 2014. Dr. Remis gained national and international recognition for his work on monitoring, estimating and modeling the HIV epidemic in Ontario and Canada. He was instrumental in advocating for pre-natal HIV testing in Ontario, tirelessly monitoring, educating and ensuring that health care providers offered testing to all women. Additionally, Dr. Remis was pivotal in setting up systems to detect incident infections; produced annual reports that are widely used by government, NGO, policy makers, affected communities, and researchers to inform their work and programs. And while Robert has conducted many research studies, one of his greatest contributions has been to raise awareness and provide research support to African and Caribbean immigrant communities in Ontario. Dr. Remis also served as a dedicated CAHR Council member and was an active participant at the annual CAHR Conference.

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Apply for a New Investigator Award

The application deadline has passed.

Students and recent graduates (with less than 5 years since graduation) are eligible to apply for the New Investigator Award during abstract submission. New Investigator Awards are given to one applicant per track. Applicants will be reviewed during their presentation, and the recipient announced on the final day of the Conference. The recipient will receive a $1,000 prize.

Applicants must apply for the New Investigator Award at the time of abstract submission. If you are interested in applying for the award, please select “Yes” in the New Investigator Award section of the abstract submission site. Please note that an applicant cannot win this award more than once but two applicants are permitted to share the award.

To be eligible, students and recent graduates must supply a letter from the applicant’s supervisor stating that they are responsible for the work done on the abstract. Students also need to provide proof of student status and recent graduates need to confirm which institution and what date they graduated.

Applicants who do not send in their documentation by the deadline will not be considered.

Proof of student status consists of copy of a student ID or a letter from the educational institution’s registrar verifying student status. View CAHR’s policy on proof of student status here. Send relevant documents to the Conference Secretariat.

History of the Awards

Each year since 1992, CAHR has given out investigator awards to recognize promising new researchers from each of the association’s four tracks. Three of the four awards have been named in honour of particular individuals: Basic Sciences, Kalpesh Oza (died June 4, 1995); Clinical Sciences, Brian Farlinger (died July 3, 1995); and Epidemiology and Public Health Sciences, Randy Coates (died September 26, 1991). Many of the New Investigator awardees have continued to make significant contributions to HIV/AIDS research.

The Randy Alex Coates New Investigator Award in Epidemiology and Public Health Sciences

The New Investigator Award in Epidemiology and Public Health Sciences has been named in honour of Randy (Randall) Alex Coates. At the time of his death in 1991, Dr. Coates was Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Preventative Medicine and Biostatistics at the University of Toronto. He was one of the first epidemiologists to study the transmission and natural history of AIDS in male homosexuals, having launched the Toronto Sexual Contact Study in the early 1980s. In 1983 he was featured in an educational video, AIDS: A Challenge to Professionals, produced at the University of Toronto. Coates shared his enthusiasm for epidemiology, disease prevention, and health promotion with his graduate students and residents and was a friend and mentor to many of them. His death left “a giant hole in AIDS research in Toronto,” recalls Professor Steffanie Strathdee, a former student. “I was on his care team when he died at home, and I remember holding his hand and telling him that I would never forget the impact he had on my life and career. I still think of him every day.”

The Kalpesh Oza New Investigator Award in Basic Sciences

The New Investigator Award in Basic Sciences is named in honour of Kalpesh Oza. Kalpesh Oza was a PhD student in Dr. Mark Wainberg’s laboratory where, fellow student Hugo Soudeyns recalls, he was involved in cutting edge, ambitious projects involving yeast models. “He was very bright and alas never got his degree due to his illness,” Wainberg said. “At first, he did not want us to know that he was positive, perhaps because there was so much distrust in those days.” Oza went on to work at the Division of Immunology and Cancer Research at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto. He was an outspoken AIDS activist, particularly concerned that all people living with HIV/AIDS have equal access to treatment and support, until his death in June 1995. Oza learned to speak French remarkably quickly and was a member of Montreal’s ACT UP and Comité des Personnes Atteintes du VIH du Québec (CPAVIH), and also joined AIDS ACTION NOW!. He was on the Canadian HIV Trials Network’s first Community Advisory Committee and was the first community representative on its Scientific Review Committee.

The Brian Farlinger New Investigator Award in Clinical Sciences

The New Investigator Award in Clinical Sciences has been named in honour of Brian Farlinger. Brian Farlinger, LLB MBA, was Chief of Commercial Affairs for the Canadian Bankers Association before joining AIDS ACTION NOW! in 1991. He chaired the organization from 1992 to 1994, and was a leading force and tireless advocate for people living with HIV until his own death from AIDS on July 3, 1995. Farlinger, who was bilingual, also served on Health Canada’s expert advisory committee on HIV therapies as a representative for the Canadian AIDS Society (CAS) from 1992 to 1995 and was a member of the CAS Therapies Committee, the precursor of the Canadian Treatment Advocates Council. “Brian worked tirelessly despite the progression of AIDS,” says Maggie Atkinson, a fellow activist. “In 1994, he attended the World AIDS Conference in Japan although he was undergoing IV treatment for CMV retinitis and had to take his equipment and bags of IV ganciclovir with him. He said he might as well feel awful at a meeting and get something accomplished as opposed to feeling awful lying around at home.”

 

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Apply for a Community Scholarship

The application deadline has passed.

Are you a person living with or affected by HIV/AIDS, or do you work or volunteer in the HIV/AIDS community? Attending CAHR 2017 is an opportunity to learn about the latest developments in, and evidence presented from current HIV research, and to share your lived experience.

Detailed information on the Community Scholarship application and selection process as well as the link to the online application can be found below.

Background

To support Community attendance and participation at the CAHR Conference, the Community Scholarship program provides financial assistance and support for up to eight individuals from across Canada. This assistance is referred to as “scholarship”, and anyone who qualifies as a member of the HIV/AIDS community may apply. CAHR provides a separate but similar scholarship program for HIV researchers to support new investigators to attend the conference.

Purpose of information

Information provided in this application form will be used for the sole purpose of administering the Community Scholarship program for CAHR 2017. Completed applications will be received and processed by Conference staff in the Conference Secretariat and CAHR Office. The Scholarship Selection Committee will receive and review copies of applications through a “blinded” review process that removes the names and identifying information from the application.

Personal information such as HIV status or age or geographic area is collected and used solely for the purpose of selecting applicants according to selection criteria targeting specific priority groups of vulnerable or marginalized persons (e.g. Persons Living with HIV/AIDS, youth, region).

Confidentiality

All information on this form is treated as confidential and is protected. Applications that are not accepted will be deleted from the application database and any print outs destroyed (secure shredding) within 30 days after the Conference. Approved applications will be retained on file in the CAHR Office in accordance with existing laws and regulations for this purpose.

Community Scholarship Criteria

The CAHR community scholarship program is open to individuals working or volunteering in any field related to HIV/AIDS. CAHR policy limits full scholarship support to any single individual to once in every continuous five-year period, in order to maximize fair access to scholarships and to distribute the scholarships among the maximum number of recipients.

For CAHR 2017, up to five scholarships are available for people from across Canada, and fifteen conference registrations are available for people from the host city/region (Montreal area).

Community Scholarship Selection Process

All applicants will receive a notice of confirmation of receipt of their application. Incomplete applications may be rejected from further consideration. Applications will be sent to the Community Scholarship Selection Committee in a blinded process (meaning the personal names will be removed). The CAHR Community Scholarship Selection Committee includes experienced community members from the host city/province. In order to avoid any perceived or real conflict-of-interest, the Selection Committee members are not eligible to receive a community scholarship.

Every question on the application will be scored, and the top scorers will be selected. Points will be awarded based solely on the information provided in the application. Applicants are therefore encouraged to ensure that their application is complete. Information that is not provided may result in a lower score. The Selection Committee will review the final results to ensure that selection fulfills the criteria and priorities identified for supporting community attendance at the Conference.

Community Scholarship Policy

These scholarships, supported in part by the Public Health Agency of Canada, are offered in partnership with the CATIE-CAHR Community Learning Institute. Recipients of these scholarships may be required to work alongside community workers from across Canada supported by CATIE to attend and report on the CAHR Conference. With support from CATIE and CAHR staff and researchers, you may be asked to cover a specific area of conference content from the perspective of a community member, contribute to the Community Rapporteur Session at CAHR, and be asked to disseminate this information in your region afterwards.

Questions

Contact the CAHR 2017 Secretariat if you have any questions.

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