Université de Montréal, Canada
Dr Julie Bruneau is Professor in the Department of Family and Emergency Medicine at Université de Montréal and Adjunct Professor at the Family Medicine Department, McGill University. She is currently Head of the Primary Care Department at the Centre Hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal (CHUM).
She is the principal investigator of HEPCO, an ongoing cohort of HCV-seronegative injectors followed to identify factors associated with HCV transmission. Over the past 20 years, her research contributed to a better understanding of factors impeding and facilitating harm reduction efforts (such as syringe exchange and Opioid Agonist Therapy (OAT) among persons who inject drugs.
She is recognized as a leader in addiction medicine in Canada and was central in the development of the Opiate Agonist Treatment (OST) and Syringe Distribution Program networks in Quebec. At the CHUM, she implemented what became the largest academic mental health and addiction medicine facility in the province, where she is still practising. Dr Bruneau also established a multidisciplinary program for HCV treatment of active and recent injectors and has clinical experience in the management of HCV among active drug users.