Bohdan Nosyk | Eight Years into BC’s Overdose Emergency

Since declaring a public health emergency on opioid overdose in April of 2016, the province of British Columbia—already on the vanguard of illicit drug policy and clinical practice—has implemented a wide-ranging response, both expanding access to evidence-based practices and attempting novel interventions to reduce the risk of overdose death. Nevertheless, overdose deaths have continued to rise throughout this period to levels rivaled by few other jurisdictions in the developed world.

This lecture will provide an overview of the drug use epidemic in BC, discuss the successes and failures in our response thus far, and propose a path forward for the future.

Dr. Bohdan Nosyk is a Professor and St. Paul’s Hospital CANFAR Chair in HIV/AIDS Research at SFU's Faculty of Health Sciences and leads the Health Economic Research Unit at the Centre for Advancing Health Outcomes.

There will be a reception following the lecture. Please join us for coffee, tea, and cookies!

About the President's Faculty Lectures

The President’s Faculty Lectures shine a light on the research excellence at Simon Fraser University. Hosted by SFU President Joy Johnson, these free public lectures celebrate cutting-edge research and researchers that engage with communities and mobilize knowledge to make real-world impacts.

The theme of this year’s lectures is Making a Difference for B.C. Approaching this theme from a variety of disciplines, each short lecture will be followed by a conversation with Joy Johnson and an audience Q&A session.

This is the final instalment of the President's Faculty Lectures! Thank you to all who attended, to President Johnson, and to all the speakers for sharing their knowledge! The recordings of past lectures are available on the SFU Public Square website.

Accessibility, technology and privacy

In Person Accessibility

Please note that the event will be taking place at the Djavad Mowafaghian World Art Centre (149 W Hastings St, Vancouver, BC V6B 1H4).

The building is accessible at street level on the Hastings side or via a ramp on the Cordova Street Courtyard side (across from JJ Bean Coffee). There are 2 ramp entry points, one is located against the building, near the entrance to the Woodward’s Westbank Atrium (which houses London Drugs and Nesters) and one is located against the building, beside the alley. Both the Hastings doors and the Cordova Coutryard doors can be operated by accessibility buttons located beside the doorways.

Public washrooms are available on the B2, 2, 3 and 4 levels. All public washrooms are equipped with wheelchair accessible stalls. A gender-neutral washroom is available on the third floor.

Several EasyPark lots are located near the event venue. Click here to learn more about them. Note that other parking options are available, including street parking and other nearby parking lots.

The building is accessible by multiple bus routes. Plan your trip with TransLink’s Trip Planner. The Centre is also walking distance from the Waterfront and Stadium-Chinatown Skytrain Stations.

Public bike racks are located near the Cordova entrance.

Online Accessibility

Closed captioning in English will be available through the online event.

Technology requirements

Online attendees will need a computer (laptop or desktop), tablet or smartphone, with speakers or headphones. A microphone and/or a webcam are recommended if you would like to fully participate in the interactive portions of this event.

We recommend that you use a computer for the best experience of this event. Some interactivity and accessibility features are not available when using a smartphone or tablet.

Protecting your privacy

This event will be recorded, but only the speakers will be visible in the published recording. The recording will be shared with all registrants and published on SFU Public Square’s website, YouTube and social media channels.

To ensure that we are using online event technology in a privacy-conscious way, we are following best practices for this online event series:

• We will only circulate the event link to those who are registered for the event
• We will password-protect the event
• We will enable end-to-end encryption
• We will not use attention tracking

To protect your own privacy:

• We remind you that whatever you say during the event is public, so please do not share sensitive information about yourself or others, and do not say anything you do not wish to enter the public domain.

To protect the privacy of others:

• Please do not record or photograph yourself, other participants, or the hosts during the event, unless permission is requested and given.

Community guidelines

Our community guidelines are intended to ensure the safety of all guest speakers and event participants, and to foster honest, socially accountable dialogue at our events. Thank you for respecting our community guidelines!

• Above all, there will be zero tolerance for those who promote violence or discrimination against others on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, religious affiliation, age, or disability. Anyone who incites harm towards other participants (whether through chat, video, audio or otherwise) will be removed at the discretion of our technical team and moderator.
• Don’t assume pronouns/gender/knowledge based on someone’s name or appearance. Please refer to people using the usernames and/or pronouns they provide.
• Recognize that we are all hear to learn and approach the event with an open-mind and respect.