Department of Medicine
Interdepartmental Division of Addiction Medicine
Home / Divisions / Interdepartmental Division of Addiction Medicine
Interdepartmental Division of Addiction Medicine
The Interdepartmental Division of Addiction Medicine was created in 2019 and consists of fifteen members who are actively involved in providing patient care services at St. Paul's Hospital.
Dr. Seonaid Nolan, MD is an Assistant Professor with the Department of Medicine at the University of British Columbia (UBC), a Clinician Scientist with the BC Centre on Substance Use, the recipient of UBC’s Steven Diamond Professorship in Addiction Care Innovation and the Division Head for Providence Health Care’s Interdepartmental Division of Addiction. Dr. Nolan currently provides clinical care for individuals with a substance use disorder at St. Paul’s Hospital (SPH).
Paxton Bach MD, MSc, ABIM, FRCPC, is a Clinical Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicine at the University of British Columbia. He additionally serves as the Associate Director for the BCCSU Clinical Addiction Medicine Fellowship Program, and works as an addiction medicine physician and preceptor at St. Paul’s Hospital. He has completed a Master’s degree in Experimental Medicine as well as fellowships in both General Internal Medicine and Addiction Medicine at UBC, and is certified as an addiction medicine specialist through the International Society of Addiction Medicine and the American Board of Preventative Medicine.
Dr. Jade Boyd, PhD, is a Research Scientist with the BC Centre on Substance Use and Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicine at the University of British Columbia. She draws upon qualitative, ethnographic and community-based methods to examine social, structural and environmental factors that impact people who use drugs, with particular emphasis on how gender—intersecting with race, class and sexuality, influences drug policy and practice.
Dr. Nadia Fairbairn, MD, is a Clinician Researcher and Director of the International Collaborative Addiction Medicine Research Fellowship with the BC Centre on Substance Use (BCCSU), as well as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicine with the University of British Columbia. Her primary research interests include the development, evaluation, and implementation of pragmatic evidence-based strategies for addictions care in drug-using populations, as well as the development of strategies to reduce overdose and improve addiction treatment outcomes among people with opioid use disorders.
Dr. Danya Fast, PhD, is a Research Scientist at the BC Centre on Substance Use and an Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicine at the University of British Columbia. She is also an Associate Member in the Department of Anthropology at UBC. Since 2007, her ethnographic research in Vancouver, Canada and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania has focused on the relationship between health and place among young people who use drugs in the social, spatial and economic margins of the city. Danya leads the Qualitative and Ethnographic Research Program at the At-Risk Youth Study (ARYS).
Dr. Sarah Ickowicz, MD FRCPC is a staff General Internal Medicine physician and Addiction Medicine specialist at St Paul's Hospital, a member of the Interdisciplinary Division of Addiction Medicine at St Paul’s Hospital, and a clinical assistant professor in the UBC Department of Medicine, Division of Social Medicine. She completed her MD at the University of Toronto in 2013, and her General Internal Medicine fellowship at the University of British Columbia in 2018. She has also completed the BC Centre on Substance Use Addiction Medicine Fellowship and Addiction Medicine Research Fellowship. Prior research projects have explored drug preferences among people with opioid use disorder and access to services for women with opioid use disorder. She has an interest in clinical ethics as it applies to people with substance use disorder, particularly with respect to accessing care within the hospital system.
Dr. Renee Janssen is a General Internist who practices at St. Paul’s Hospital and BC Women’s Hospital.
Her interests include addiction medicine, central sensitization syndromes, and medical education. She is an attending physician on both the Clinical Teaching Unit as well as the Addiction Medicine Consult Team services at St. Paul’s Hospital. She also provides care for patients with fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, and other similar disorders at the Complex Chronic Disease Program at BC Women’s Hospital.
She is Site Lead for the Internal Medicine Ambulatory Rotation at St. Paul’s Hospital. She is also current serving as the interim Lead Physician of the Inpatient Addiction Medicine Consult Team at St. Paul’s Hospital.
Dr. Janssen received her MD from UBC, and also completed her Internal Medicine residency and General Internal Medicine fellowship at UBC. Additionally, she completed the Addiction Medicine Fellowship through the BC Centre on Substance Use.
Dr. Kerr is a Professor/Head in the Division of Social Medicine, Department of Medicine at the University of British Columbia (UBC), and Associate Faculty Member in the School of Population and Public Health at UBC. As well, Dr. Kerr is also the Director of Research for the BC Centre on Substance use. Dr. Kerr’s primary research interests involve substance use and related harms, HIV/AIDS, health policy and service evaluation, and community-based research methods.
Julia MacIsaac MD, MPH, ABIM, FRCPC is a Clinical Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicine at the University of British Columbia. She is certified with the American Boards of Internal Medicine and Preventive Medicine and as an addiction medicine specialist through the International Society of Addiction Medicine. Dr. MacIsaac currently provides clinical care for individuals with substance use disorders at St. Pauls’ Hospital. She has led quality improvement initiatives to improve infectious diseases care for substance users, and provides Hepatitis C treatment at the St. Paul's Rapid Access Addictions Clinic (RAAC) and various community clinics.
Dr. Isabelle Miles MD FRCPC is an Emergency Medicine physician and Addiction Medicine specialist at St Paul’s Hospital. She completed her emergency medicine residency at the University of Ottawa in 2018, and her addiction medicine fellowship with the BC Centre on Substance Use. She has an interest in using medical education and knowledge translation to improve the care of patients with substance use disorders in the emergency department, and alcohol withdrawal management in the ED.
Dr. M-J Milloy, PhD, is a Research Scientist at the British Columbia Centre on Substance Use (BCCSU) and an assistant professor in the Department of Medicine at the University of British Columbia (UBC). On January 1, 2019, he began his appointment as UBC’s inaugural Canopy Growth Professor of Cannabis Science, a position created by arms’ length gifts to the university from Canopy Growth, one of the world’s largest producers of legal cannabis, and the Government of British Columbia’s Ministry of Mental Health and Addictions.
Dr. Socias is a Research Scientist and the Clinical Research Program Lead at the BC Centre on Substance Use, and Assistant Professor in the Division of Social Medicine, Department of Medicine at the University of British Columbia. With a background in infectious diseases and addiction medicine, Dr. Socías’ research interests focus on health services and clinical research in substance use, HIV, and HCV, particularly as they relate to the optimization of health care delivery. She has over ten years of experience in conducting observational and interventional research in HIV, HCV, and addiction medicine, and with vulnerable populations.
Lianping Ti, PhD, is a Research Scientist and Health Administrative Data Lead for the BC Centre on Substance Use. She is also an Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicine at the University of British Columbia. Her research largely focuses on understanding the intersections between substance use, infectious diseases, and the delivery and efficacy of healthcare systems.
Dr. Geoffrey (Tom) Walton, MD, is a Clinical Instructor in the Department of Medicine with the University of British Columbia (UBC). Dr. Walton received his Bachelor of Science from the University of Victoria and developed an interest in addiction medicine while volunteering at the Insite Supervised Injection Site while he attended medical school at UBC. Dr. Walton’s research interests have included looking at risk factors for and consequences of the co-use of benzodiazepines in people who inject drugs.
Evan Wood, MD, PhD, ABIM, FASAM, FRCPC, ABAM Diplomat, is an addiction medicine physician and clinician scientist at the BCCSU. He has been the Physician Program Director for Addiction Services at Providence Health Care, Medical Director for Addiction Services at Vancouver Coastal Health and Founding Director of the St. Paul’s Hospital Goldcorp Fellowship in Addiction Medicine, Western Canada’s only American Board of Addiction Medicine accredited training program for addiction medicine physicians.
Samantha Young completed a Bachelor of Arts and Science with a double major in Economics and Biomedical Sciences at McGill University followed by a medical degree at the University of Toronto. She then moved to Vancouver to complete her internal medicine residency and fellowships in general internal medicine and addiction medicine. As part of the Clinician Investigator Program, she is completing a Masters in Clinical Epidemiology & Healthcare Research at the Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation through the University of Toronto. Her research focuses on substance use disorders and harm reduction policies in the hopes of improving health outcomes for people who use drugs.
Interdepartmental Division of Addiction Medicine
548 - 1081 Burrard Street
Vancouver, B.C., V6Z 1Y6
Telephone: 604-682-2344 X62676
Email: msampla@providencehealth.bc.ca
Head
Dr. Seonaid Nolan, Assistant Professor
Browse
Rapid Access Addiction Clinic (RAAC) at St. Paul’s Hospital
Location: 2C-210, 2nd floor, Burrard Building.
Website: https://www.providencehealthcare.org/rapid-access-addiction-clinic-raac
Telephone: 604-806-8867
Email: EByers@providencehealth.bc.ca
The RAAC is designed to connect patients seeking treatment for substance use disorders with evidence-based treatment including Suboxone or methadone in order to stabilize the patient in the short term, and subsequently transfer them to a community care provider for ongoing monitoring, support and rehabilitation. For patients without a regular health care provider, the RAAC will assist in linking them to one. All services are free.
