Dr. Ann Burchell is Research Director at the Department of Family and Community Medicine and Scientist at the MAP Centre for Urban Health Solutions at St. Michael’s Hospital, Toronto. She is a Canada Research Chair in Sexually Transmitted Infection Prevention. She holds degrees in epidemiology from the University of Toronto (MSc) and McGill University (PhD) and has academic appointments as Associate Professor, Department of Family and Community Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, and Division of Epidemiology, Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto; Adjunct Professor, Division of Cancer Epidemiology, McGill University; and Adjunct Scientist, Institute for Clinical Evaluative Medicine, Toronto.
Dr. Burchell’s research program focuses on the epidemiology of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection, human papillomavirus (HPV), syphilis, and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs). Its goal is to generate evidence for effective and practical strategies to prevent STIs and STI-related cancers in high-risk populations, including people living with or at risk for HIV.
She has extensive methodological experience in the design and implementation of: observational longitudinal studies with primary and secondary data; sexual behaviour and health-access questionnaires; natural history studies using laboratory markers of infection; and pragmatic randomized trials for HPV prevention and improved screening for syphilis, cervical and anal cancer. She currently holds a Foundation Grant from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.