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.

Meet our team!

Dr. Seonaid Nolan

Division Head

Dr. Seonaid Nolan

Dr. Seonaid Nolan, MD is an Associate Professor with the Department of Medicine at the University of British Columbia (UBC), the recipient of UBC’s Steven Diamond Professorship in Addiction Care Innovation, a Clinician Scientist with the BC Centre on Substance Use (BCCSU), the Division Head for Providence Health Care’s Interdepartmental Division of Addiction, and Medical Director of BC’s Provincial Addiction, Recovery, Treatment, and Support (prov-ARTS) Network.

Dr. Nolan completed her internal medicine residency and fellowship at UBC. Additionally, she completed a one-year clinical addiction medicine fellowship as part of the St. Paul’s Goldcorp Addiction Medicine Fellowship and two National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) sponsored addiction medicine research fellowships, including the International Collaborative Addiction Medicine Research Fellowship and the Research in Addiction Medicine Scholars program (jointly let by Boston and Yale University). During this time Dr. Nolan demonstrated the benefits of methadone as a treatment for opioid use disorder including a reduction in mortality and hepatitis c incidence. Her work was recognized as being impactful, resulting in the Vincent P. Dole Award for Research Excellence (2014), a Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research’s Health Professional Investigator award (2017 – 2022) and a St. Paul’s Hospital/Providence Health Care Research Initiative’s Early Career Research award in 2017.

Dr. Nolan currently provides clinical care for individuals with a substance use disorder at St. Paul’s Hospital. As an addiction medicine physician, Dr. Nolan contributes substantially to the Clinical Care Guidance and education programs of the BCCSU, is a mentor for the International Collaborative Addiction Medicine Research Fellowship and is a preceptor for the BCCSU Addiction Medicine Fellowship.

Dr. Nolan’s clinical practice and research aims to improve the substance use system of care in BC. More specifically she has secured over $100M to operationalize 95 new addiction treatment beds at St. Paul’s Hospital and provided leadership to coordinate existing clinical services in the Vancouver Coastal Health region as co-founder of the Road to Recovery Initiative. In her Medical Director role for prov-ARTS, Dr Nolan also works directly with each of BC’s regional and provincial health authorities to develop a provincial substance use system of care. To date, Dr. Nolan is Principal Investigator (PI) or Co-PI on 2 active competitive grants ($4.5M total) and is a Co-investigator on an additional 3 grants ($3.5M total). She has 125 peer-reviewed publications (13 first author, 41 senior author) with several in high-impact journals (4 in JAMA, 2 in Lancet Infectious Diseases, and 8 in Addiction [impact factors 63, 36 and 6 respectively]), and is an Associate Editor for the peer-reviewed journal, Addiction. Beyond this, Dr. Nolan has also demonstrated an unwavering commitment to knowledge translation. Since 2014, Dr. Nolan has delivered over 55 presentations to varied audiences (including the Public Health Agency of Canada, BC’s Ministry of Health, BC Corrections, the Vancouver Police, the City of Vancouver, former President Bill Clinton and the Clinton Foundation), was one of the Keynote Speakers at the 6^th Annual BCCSU Conference, and has appeared in the media over 165 times. Dr Nolan’s unwavering dedication to the substance use field was recently honored through the bestowment of one of Canada’s King Charles III Coronation medals (2024).

Dr. Rupi Brar

Clinical Assistant Professor

Dr. Rupi Brar

Dr. Rupi Brar is a Clinical Assistant Professor with the Department of Family Practice at the University of British Columbia. Dr Brar completed an Addiction Medicine Research fellowship at the BC Centre on Substance Use in Vancouver, Canada. She is an Addiction Medicine specialist and Family Physician working clinically at St Paul’s Hospital, VCH Withdrawal Management sites and the Portland Hotel Community Services Society in Vancouver’s Downtown East Side.

Dr. Cheryl Francispragasam

Clinical Instructor

Dr. Cheryl Francispragasam

Dr. Cheryl Francispragasam, CCFP(AM), DRCPSC, completed her training in Family Medicine at the University of British Columbia, followed by a fellowship in Addiction Medicine through the BC Centre on Substance Use. She specializes in addiction medicine with a particular focus on perinatal substance use, providing compassionate, non-judgmental, and specialized care to pregnant and postpartum individuals. She is passionate about delivering evidence-based care aimed at improving the health and quality of life of people living with substance use disorders.

Dr. Valerie Giang

Associate Division Head

Dr. Valerie Giang

Valerie Giang, MD CCFP(AM) DRCPSC is an Addiction Medicine physician at Providence Health Care and a Clinical Instructor at UBC. She is a graduate of the BC Centre on Substance Use Addiction Medicine Clinical Fellowship and the Canada Addiction Medicine Research Fellowship. She is currently the Associate Division Head of the interdepartmental Division of Addiction. Her priorities include mentorship for early-career physicians, fostering a sense of community within the division and PHC, and to ensure the program’s provision of high quality, evidence-based substance use care.

Dr. Brittany Dennis

Assistant Professor

Dr. Brittany Dennis

Dr. Brittany Dennis, MBBS, PhD, is a clinician scientist trained in internal medicine with an area of focused competency in addiction medicine. She is a full-time Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Division of Social Medicine at the University of British Columbia. Dr. Dennis is a Clinician Scientist with the British Columbia Centre on Substance Use, with protected research time from her role as an attending physician in Providence Health Care’s Division of Addiction. She is the recipient of the 2023 Michael Smith Health Research BC/BCCSU Partnered Scholar Award, supporting her leadership of the research evaluation for the Road to Recovery Initiative.

Dr. Jessica Hann

Clinical Instructor

Dr. Jessica Hann

Dr. Jessica Hann completed the BCCSU Addiction Medicine Fellowship in 2019 and FRCPC Emergency Medicine training at the University of Alberta in 2020. She works clinically in both Emergency Medicine and Addiction Medicine. Her interests are in quality improvement for Emergency Department patients who use substances and coordinating access to substance use care across the health authority.

Dr. Jonathan Athayde

Clinical Instructor

Dr. Jonathan Athayde

Jonathan Athayde, MD, MSc, FRCPC is a Clinical Instructor with training in Addiction Medicine from the BCCSU, General Internal Medicine from the University of British Columbia, and Critical Care Medicine from the University of Toronto. His clinical and research interests center on optimizing the care of patients with substance use disorders admitted to hospital and the ICU, with particular emphasis on opioid agonist therapy, sedation and withdrawal management, and transitions of care after discharge. He has formal training in healthcare quality improvement and mixed-methods research, and his work aims to translate evidence into pragmatic, system-level interventions that improve patient-centered outcomes. He is committed to interdisciplinary collaboration, trainee mentorship, and building scalable models of addiction-informed care within hospital medicine.”

Dr. Danya Fast

Assistant Professor

Dr. Danya Fast

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

Clinical Assistant Professor

Dr. Sarah Ickowicz

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. Paxton Bach

Clinical Assistant Professor

Dr. Paxton Bach

Paxton Bach MD, MSc, ABIM, FRCPC, FASAM is a Clinical Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicine at the University of British Columbia and a general internist and addiction medicine physician at St. Paul’s Hospital in Vancouver, BC. He additionally serves as the Co-Medical Director for the British Columbia Centre on Substance Use. His research interests include clinical trials in addiction medicine, novel treatments for opioid and stimulant use disorders, and innovations in overdose prevention and harm reduction.

Dr. Bach is certified as a specialist in General Internal Medicine through the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, and an Addiction Medicine specialist through the International Society of Addiction Medicine and the American Board of Preventative Medicine. He is supported by a Health Professional-Investigator Award from Michael Smith Health Research BC.

Dr. Nadia Fairbairn

Assistant Professor

Dr. Nadia Fairbairn

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. Lingsa Jia

Clinical Assistant Professor

Dr. Lingsa Jia

Dr. Jia is a psychiatrist and addiction medicine physician practicing at St. Paul’s Hospital and Burnaby Hospital. She completed her psychiatry residency in 2021, including and addiction medicine fellowship with the BCCSU from 2019-2020. She has since worked as the department head of addiction medicine at Burnaby Hospital, and with the AMCT/RAAC at St. Paul’s Hospital. She has an interest in Quality Improvement, perinatal mental health, and medical education.

Dr. Olivia Brooks

Clinical Instructor

Dr. Olivia Brooks

Olivia Brooks completed medical school and family medicine residency at the University of Ottawa and completed her addiction medicine enhanced skills training at the University of Toronto. She completed the International Collaborative Addiction Medicine Research Fellowship through the British Columbia Centre on Substance Use (BCCSU). She is involved in medical eduction as the addiction medicine theme lead for the University of British Columbia Undergraduate Medical Education Program and is involved in the BCCSU Addiction Medicine Fellowship as the Family Medicine Chair and Wellness Officer. She is also the Physician Lead for Recovery Services with PHC and the Vancouver Community Medical Director for Specialized Substance Use Services with Vancouver Coastal Health. Her clinical work includes addiction medicine consulting work with Providence Health Care, Vancouver Coastal Health and primary care with the Portland Hotel Society.

Dr. Vivian Berg

Clinical Instructor

Dr. Vivian Berg

Dr. Vivian Berg is a specialist in General Internal Medicine. She completed her medical degree, residency and fellowship in General Internal Medicine at the University of British Columbia with a focus on addiction medicine, gender affirming care and hepatology in her final fellowship year.

Dr. Berg currently practices General Internal Medicine and Addiction Medicine at St. Paul's Hospital. She also provides internal medicine and ICU care in several rural communities in BC and runs an outreach Internal Medicine clinic in Dease Lake, serving northern Tahltan communities. She is committed to improving equitable access to care for communities across British Columbia.

Dr. Renée M. Janssen

Clinical Assistant Professor

Dr. Renne Janssen

Dr. Renée Janssen is a General Internist who practices at St. Paul’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 Road to Recovery medical detox unit at St. Paul’s Hospital. Her leadership roles include Medical lead of the Road to Recovery medical detox unit, and Site lead for the Undergraduate program Internal Medicine Ambulatory Rotation at Providence Health.

Dr. Janssen received her MD from the University of British Columbia, 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. Sukhpreet Klaire

Clinical Assistant Professor

Dr. Sukhpreet Klaire

Sukhpreet Klaire, MD CCFP (AM) is an Addiction Medicine physician at Providence Health Care and a Clinical Assistant Professor within the Department of Family Practice at UBC. He currently serves as the medical lead for the Rapid Access Addiction Clinic at St. Paul’s and is the co-director for the BC Centre on Substance Use's Addiction Medicine fellowship program.

Dr. Mark McLean

Clinical Assistant Professor

Dr. Mark McLean

Mark McLean MD, MSc, FRCPC, DRCPSC - Addiction Medicine, ABAM & ISAM Diplomate, is an Addiction Medicine specialist and preceptor at St. Paul's Hospital in Vancouver and a Clinical Assistant Professor in the UBC Department of Family Practice. He completed his MD at Western University, London, Ontario, and his Master's degree in Epidemiology and fellowship in Public Health and Preventive Medicine at the University of Ottawa. He has been an Associate Medical Health Officer for Vancouver Coastal Health, a consultant for the World Health Organization in Injection Safety, and medical lead for St. Paul's Hospital's Addiction Medicine Consult Team and Rapid Access Addiction Clinic. He has an interest in co-occurring substance use disorders and unintentional opioid overdose deaths.

Dr. Thomas Kerr

Professor

Dr. Thomas Kerr

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.

Dr. Isabelle Miles

Clinical Assistant Professor

Dr. Isabelle Miles

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. Geneviève Kerkerian

Clinical Assistant Professor

Dr. Geneviève Kerkerian

Dr. Geneviève Kerkerian, MD, FRCPC, DRCPSC, is a Clinical Assistant Professor at the University of British Columbia, an Addiction Medicine consultant with Providence Health Care, and an Infectious Diseases Specialist within the Canadian federal correctional system. Her clinical and academic work focuses on improving care for people with substance use disorders and concurrent infections, alongside teaching and leadership within the Division of Addiction Medicine at St. Paul’s Hospital.

Dr. M-J Milloy

Assistant Professor

Dr. Michael-John Milloy

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. Spencer Krahn

Clinical Instructor

Dr. Spencer Krahn

Spencer Krahn completed his Bachelor of Science at the University of Alberta, followed by medical school, family medicine residency, and enhanced skills in Addiction Medicine at the University of Calgary. He practiced in Edmonton, Alberta for the ARCH Team at the Royal Alexandra Hospital prior to moving to Vancouver. He currently works in detox with Vancouver Costal Health and with the Interdepartmental Divisions of Addiction Medicine at St. Paul's Hospital.

Dr. Asha Olmstead

Clinical Assistant Professor

Dr. Asha Olmstead

Dr. Asha Olmstead MD FRCPC is a Clinical Assistant Professor with the Department of Medicine at the University of British Columbia (UBC). She completed her emergency medicine residency at the University of Alberta and currently works as an emergency medicine physician at Vancouver General Hospital and UBC Hospital. She works as an addiction medicine physician and preceptor at St. Paul’s Hospital. She additionally serves as the resident wellness lead for the Vancouver emergency medicine residency training committee (RTC). Her interests are in resident wellness, medical education and integrating harm reduction practices for patients with substance use disorders into emergency medicine care.

Dr. Julia MacIsaac

Clinical Assistant Professor

Dr. Julia MacIsaac

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. Eugenia Socias

Assistant Professor

Dr. Eugenia Socías

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.

Dr. Ceire Storey

Clinical Instructor

Dr. Ceire Storey

Dr. Ceire Storey MD FRCPC DRCPSC is an Emergency Medicine physician and Addiction Medicine specialist at St. Paul’s Hospital. She completed her Emergency Medicine residency at Queen’s University and her Addiction Medicine fellowship at the British Colombia Centre on Substance Use. She is committed to educating both learners and colleagues, and to fostering a transformation in attitudes and practices that reflect a deeper understanding of substance use disorders. By creating safer spaces for vulnerable populations within the healthcare system, she aspires to drive meaningful change that resonate beyond individual encounters to promote trust and improve outcomes for high risk populations.

Dr. Samantha Young

Clinical Instructor

Dr. Samantha Young

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.

Dr. Cole Sugden

Clinical Instructor

Dr. Cole Sugden

Cole Sugden, MD CCFP(AM), is an Addiction Medicine physician at St. Paul’s Hospital with Providence Health Care and Community Withdrawal Management with Vancouver Coastal Health as well as a clinical instructor in the Department of Family Practice at UBC. He completed his MD at the University of Calgary, Family Medicine residency at the University of Alberta and Enhanced Skills training in Addiction Medicine through UBC and the BCCSU. He has an interest in marginalized communities, effective withdrawal management, and medical education.

Dr. Grace Zhu

Clinical Instructor

Dr. Grace Zhu

Dr. Grace Zhu MD CCFP DRCPSC is a Clinical Instructor in the Department of Family Medicine at the University of British Columbia (UBC). She completed both medical school and Family Medicine residency at the University of Ottawa, and went on to do her Addiction Medicine fellowship at UBC. She also works as an attending physician in detox units with Vancouver Coastal Health Withdrawal Management. Her interests include medical education and patient advocacy.

Dr. Lianping Ti

Assistant Professor

Dr. Lianping Ti

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 Walton

Clinical Instructor

Dr. Geoffrey Walton

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.

Dr. Evan Wood

Professor

Dr. Evan Wood

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.

Contact Information

Interdepartmental Division of Addiction Medicine
548 - 1081 Burrard Street
Vancouver, B.C., V6Z 1Y6

Telephone: 604-682-2344 X62676
Email: mehak.sampla@phc.ca

Head
Dr. Seonaid Nolan, Assistant Professor

Clinics

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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.