Dr. Julie Bruneau, a researcher at the CHUM Research Centre and professor in the Department of Family and Emergency Medicine at the Université de Montréal, will hold the Canada Research Chair in addiction medicine for the next seven years.

In Canada, like everywhere else in the world, drug use has serious consequences on the health of users.

This is even more true for users of injection drugs, who are disproportionately affected by opioid overdose epidemics and the hepatitis C virus (HCV). Domestically, two thirds of people who inject drugs are infected with HCV and account for the majority of new infections recorded.

These public health crises highlight existing shortcomings in access to care and healthcare continuity for drug users.

In her research program, Dr. Bruneau will deal with questions of fairness and care quality for this vulnerable population. Ultimately, her research work will provide insights into ways of improving the health of drug users and reducing harm and deaths among injection drug users.

Dr. Bruneau’s chair is among the 182 that the federal government just granted or renewed at Canadian universities through a $140 M investment. This is the first of two cycles of funding to be announced this year in this 20th year of the Canada Research Chairs Program.