Evan Wood, an addictions and HIV-AIDS expert, is a professor of medicine at the University of British Columbia and co-director of the Urban Health Research Initiative at the BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS.
Wood has spent his career in two intense areas: the highly competitive world of scientific research and the often combative realm of political advocacy. As the principal investigator of Insite, Canada's first legal injection site, he has fought for acceptance of the harm-reduction model of treating addiction.
But in both roles, Wood said, he's found that it's more productive to work with people than against them.
“Certainly I see instances in my daily life all the time where brilliant scientists are operating in the scientific community a little bit like a bull in the China shop,” Wood said. “And their good ideas and best intentions are often limited in the community because of people that don't have good interpersonal skills or respectful interactions.”
Wood has seen the power of excellent people skills in action within the scientific community, politics and business.
While the federal government continues to oppose the harm-reduction model (it sought to shut down Insite in 2011, but the Supreme Court of Canada ruled against the government), the B.C. government announced this month it would provide $3 million to expand Wood's program of addiction medicine training for doctors.
Wood said it's been easier to bring people together around the less controversial topic of expanding addictions services.
“I think we're seeing for the first time here in British Columbia the breaking down of silos between people who are supportive of harm reduction, people from the recovery community … and those who are managing addictions across the spectrum in an evidence-based way,” he said.
