Student Advocacy for Open Access at UBC and Beyond

UBC students Goldis Chami and Gordana Panic have been actively involved in igniting support for Open Access Publishing amongst UBC Students. Their interest in open access publishing came from their involvement with Universities Allied for Essential Medicines, a group of students who in 2008 helped convince the UBC administration and UBC’s University-Industry Liaison Office to adopt Global Access Licensing principles to be applied to technologies (such as medicines) that might eventually be of use to individuals in low and middle income countries, in an effort to make those technologies affordable to people living in those countries. In discovering that access to journal articles were hugely restricted for certain groups including alumni, the general public, journalists, policy-makers, and researchers and professionals in low- and middle-income countries, the thought process that led to their work around OA was this: "If UBC can make patented technologies more accessible, why not information?" This led them to launch their Open Access campaign. This session took place on October 22, 2010 in the Lillooet Room of the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre at the University of British Columbia.Science, Faculty ofMedicine, Faculty ofUnreviewedGraduat

How students are leading open access

Five student leaders present on the impact of open access at UBC, Pecha Kucha style! Originally from the Japanese term chit chat, Pecha Kucha is a presentation style that allows each speaker 20 slides shown for 20 seconds each (total presentation time is 6 minutes and 40 seconds). Presented at Open Access Week, October 22-23, 2013Other UBCUnreviewedGraduateUndergraduat

Neighborhood of residence and risk of initiation into injection drug use among street-involved youth in a Canadian setting

Background: While research has suggested that exposure to environments where drug use is prevalent may be a key determinant of drug-related risk, little is known regarding the impact of such exposure on the initiation of illicit injection drug use. We assessed whether neighborhood of residence predicted rates of injecting initiation among a cohort of street-involved youth in Vancouver, British Columbia. Methods: We followed street-involved injecting naïve youth aged 14–26 and compared rates of injecting initiation between youth residing in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside (DTES) neighborhood (the site of a large street-based illicit drug market) to those living in other parts of the city. Univariate and multivariate Cox regression analyses were employed to determine whether residence in the DTES was independently associated with increased risk of initiation of injection drug use. Results: Between September, 2005 and November, 2011, 422 injection-naïve individuals were followed, among whom 77 initiated injecting for an incidence density of injecting of 10.3 (95% confidence interval [CI] 5.0–18.8) per 100 person years. In a multivariate model, residence in the DTES was independently associated with initiating injection drug use (adjusted hazard ratio [AHR] = 2.16, 95% CI: 1.33–3.52, p = 0.002). Conclusions: These results suggest neighborhood of residence affects the risk of initiation into injection drug use among street-involved youth. The development of prevention interventions should target high-risk neighborhoods where risk of initiating into injecting drug use may be greatest.Medicine, Faculty ofOther UBCMedicine, Department ofPopulation and Public Health (SPPH), School ofReviewedFacultyResearche

Neighborhood of residence and risk of initiation into injection drug use among street-involved youth in a Canadian setting

BACKGROUND: While research has suggested that exposure to environments where drug use is prevalent may be a key determinant of drug-related risk, little is known regarding the impact of such exposure on the initiation of illicit injection drug use. We assessed whether neighborhood of residence predicted rates of injecting initiation among a cohort of street-involved youth in Vancouver, British Columbia. METHODS: We followed street-involved injecting naïve youth aged 14–26 and compared rates of injecting initiation between youth residing in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside (DTES) neighborhood (the site of a large street-based illicit drug market) to those living in other parts of the city. Univariate and multivariate Cox regression analyses were employed to determine whether residence in the DTES was independently associated with increased risk of initiation of injection drug use. RESULTS: Between September, 2005 and November, 2011, 422 injection-naïve individuals were followed, among whom 77 initiated injecting for an incidence density of injecting of 10.3 (95% Confidence Interval [CI] 5.0–18.8) per 100 person years. In a multivariate model, residence in the DTES was independently associated with initiating injection drug use (Adjusted Hazard Ratio [AHR] = 2.16, 95% CI: 1.33 – 3.52, p = 0.002). CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest neighborhood of residence affects the risk of initiation into injection drug use among street-involved youth. The development of prevention interventions should target high-risk neighborhoods where risk of initiating into injecting drug use may be greatest