Areas of Focus

The scope of research carried out by Providence Research investigators includes laboratory, clinical health services, population health, outcomes and prevention, and policy development research. Integrated with patient care and teaching, our research spans more than 30 programs and disciplines across the Providence Health Care sites.

The strong linkage between scientific discovery and patient care at PHC fosters an ideal environment for applied research and knowledge translation, with a focus on areas that directly align with PHC's populations of emphasis.

As one of the first research enterprises in B.C. to focus efforts on eradicating the HIV/AIDS epidemic, we have become world leaders in treatment and prevention strategies for this infectious disease and related disorders.

Providence Research is home to the BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS (BC-CfE) and the National Centre of the CIHR Canadian HIV Trials Network (CTN) headquarters. Investigators at these centres have spearheaded research of anti-HIV triple-drug therapy (HAART), which effectively halts the progression of the HIV virus into AIDs. To this day HAART remains the world’s most effective treatment of the disease. Our research expertise, coupled with St. Paul’s Hospital’s situation near Vancouver’s Downtown East Side, has also motivated research in urban health and addiction issues, pioneering approaches to integrated care and community outreach.

Providence Research hosts the Centre for Heart Lung Innovation, the Pacific Lung Health Centre, the BC Centre for Improved Cardiovascular Health, the Heart Function Clinic  and the Centre for Cardiovascular Innovation.

Collaborative, focused and prolific, these initiatives have produced internationally recognized programs in the treatment and management of heart and lung conditions. Our work ranges from the development of stepped care collaborative care programs to explorations of innovative treatments for a wide spectrum of cardiovascular and lung diseases.

Providence Research is home to the BC Centre on Substance Use (BCCSU), a provincially networked organization with a mandate to develop, help implement, and evaluate evidence-based approaches to substance use and addiction. Building on the extensive efforts of the BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, the BCCSU’s vision is to transform substance use policies and care in BC by translating research into education and evidence-based care guidance. 

St. Paul’s Hospital houses one of the two adult kidney transplant centres in BC. The hospital’s Kidney Transplant Program works in close collaboration with several key partners, including BC Transplant, the BC Renal Agency, Canadian Blood Services, and the Provincial Health Services Authority.

The Renal Program at St. Paul's Hospital supports patients at every stage of kidney disease to provide the best possible health and quality of life for patients and their families.

Providence Research is an active member of a BC network of health institutions that contribute to the work of the Prevention of Organ Failure (PROOF) Centre, participating in dialogues focused on innovations in biomarker technologies. New biomarker platforms of discovery, from gene sequencing to proteomics to genomics, give us the ability to study tens of thousands of molecule types for biomarker identification.