Busy year for Vanguard Project

This has been a busy year for the Vanguard Project. Despite operating without funding for most of 1998, we continued to recruit new participants, had our first paper published, began our fourth wave of questionnaires, lowered the study's eligibility criteria to age 15, and have now received funding to continue into the next millennium.

Vanguard research nurse Mary Lou Miller has been busy all year testing, counselling and vaccinating Vanguard participants, and storing hundreds of blood samples. Mary Lou has also been involved with a clinical trial to determine the accuracy of rapid HIV test kits, in which hundreds of Vanguard participants have taken part.

The big news at the moment is that we have been asked to invite Vanguard participants to take part in a clinical trial testing the effectiveness of an experimental HIV vaccine. More information on this trial can be found on the facing page.

The past year has not been without turmoil, as we have experienced some staff changes. As previously announced, Dr. Steffanie Strathdee left us in the spring of last year to pursue work at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. The brain drain continued throughout the year as we lost both our research assistant and our statistician to the lure of international employment opportunities.

We are pleased to welcome two new staff people: Keith Chan has replaced Peter Cornelisse as the study's statistician; and Amy Weber has replaced Fiona Tetlock as the study's research assistant. Amy has previously worked for the BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS and has volunteered at the Boys R Us Boystown Drop-in Centre.

To all of the Vanguard participants, physicians and nurses: A big thank you for your ongoing cooperation with the Vanguard Project!