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Spotlight on Dr. Mark Gilbert

Jan 20, 2022 |

Dr. Mark Gilbert

SPPH Associate Professor (Partner) Dr. Mark Gilbert is the recipient of an Applied Public Health Chair through the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. This prestigious program supports innovative population health research that improves health equity for citizens in Canada and around the world. The Applied Public Health Chair Program is strengthening Canada’s public health system by fortifying partnerships, effectively responding to current challenges with science, and advancing the work of public health leaders.

The focus of Dr. Gilbert’s Applied Public Health Chair is on improving the equity, appropriateness, and sustainability of sexually-transmitted and blood-borne infection (STBBI) testing systems through implementation science research. Over the next five years, his research will focus on developing, implementing, evaluating and scaling-up low-barrier testing models for populations disproportionately affected by STBBI, with a geographic focus on rural and remote communities. These models include investigating the sustainability of GetCheckedOnline (BC’s internet-based STBBI testing service), strengthening the role of community-based organizations and peers in STBBI testing, and adapting and implementing comprehensive self-collection STBBI testing models.

Dr. Gilbert’s Chair is a partnership between SPPH and the BCCDC and represents an ideal model to facilitate the use of public health research in evidence-based decision making for policies, programs and practice on STBBIs. The Chair further supports early career researchers and other scientists to strengthen an integrated hub of applied public health research on STBBI at the UBC and the BCCDC. Dr. Gilbert has a fundamental understanding of the importance of reducing inequities to advance population health, and has embedded himself in a partnered public health agency to ensure the application of science and evidence in of health decision making.