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SFU researcher to study impacts of dual public health emergencies on youth

(Photo credit: Simon Fraser University News)
(Photo credit: Simon Fraser University News)

Simon Fraser University public policy researcher Kora DeBeck has received federal funding to study the combined impact of the opioid overdose crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic on Vancouver youth who use drugs.

The funding was confirmed last week by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), which announced $25.2 million in funding for 52 research products to further our understanding of COVID-19.

DeBeck, who is also a research scientist with the BC Centre of Substance Use at Providence Health Care, is the principal investigator for the At-Risk Youth Study (ARYS), a longitudinal cohort study of street-involved youth who use drugs in Vancouver aiming to explore various factors that influence their well-being. The cohort began in 2005 and is funded by the CIHR and the U.S. National Institutes for Health Research.

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