Assistant Professor, Division of Social Medicine
Dr. Seonaid Nolan, MD is an Associate Professor in the Department of Medicine and recipient of the Steven Diamond Professorship in Addiction Care Innovation at the University of British Columbia, the Head of the Division of Addiction Medicine at Providence Health Care, a Clinician Scientist at the British Columbia Centre on Substance Use (BCCSU), and the Medical Director of the Provincial Addiction, Recovery, Treatment, and Support Network. Dr. Nolan currently provides clinical care for individuals with a substance use disorder at St. Paul’s Hospital (SPH), and is the Principal Investigator of the Road Recovery Initiative which will provide a comprehensive continuum of care for individuals seeking treatment for substance use disorder. Dr. Nolan is also Co-Principal Investigator of a pilot study which aims to assess the feasibility, efficacy and safety of extended-release injectable buprenorphine for the treatment of opioid use disorder among individuals at high risk of an overdose, as well as a project which seeks to identify optimal strategies to reduce adverse events among adults who are on long-term opioid therapy.
Dr. Nolan has developed an impressive track record for her scholarly and professional activities as an Associate Professor. More specifically, she has developed a program of research, involving a series of novel projects, that will generate innovation within British Columbia’s addiction treatment system. She is Principal Investigator (PI) or Co-PI on 4 active competitive grants ($5.3M total) and is a Co-investigator on an additional 5 grants ($5.7M total). She has 114 peer-reviewed publications (13 first author, 36 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]). Beyond this, Dr. Nolan has also demonstrated an unwavering commitment to knowledge translation. Since 2014, Dr. Nolan has delivered over 50 presentations to varied audiences (including the Public Health Agency of Canada, BC’s Ministry of Health, BC Corrections, the Vancouver Police, and Keynote Speaker at the 6th Annual BCCSU Conference) and has appeared in the media on 168 occasions. For her commitment to improving the substance use system of care in BC, Dr. Nolan was awarded a King Charles III Coronation medal in 2024.
Beyond developing and sustaining her own independent program of research, Dr. Nolan has also played a significant clinical leadership role at St. Paul’s Hospital. More specifically, Dr. Nolan assumed the Medical Director role for the Clinical Addiction Program just 2 years into her clinical practice. Given the infancy of the Program, Dr. Nolan was instrumental in overseeing its operations and scheduling, while also engaging in active recruitment to allow for rapid expansion. While in the Medical Director role, Providence Health Care’s Clinical Addiction Program expanded from 3 physicians to 25. The inpatient Addiction Medicine Consult Team (AMCT) tripled in size with a parallel increase in requests for an addiction medicine consultation by 250%. Further expansion of the Clinical Addiction Program occurred with the opening of the hospital’s Rapid Access Addiction Clinic, Overdose Prevention Site and Transitional Care Centres. In 2019, Dr. Nolan successfully applied to become Providence Health Care’s inaugural Head of the Interdepartmental Division of Addiction – a position she still occupies. Through Dr. Nolan’s clinical leadership at St. Paul’s Hospital, a robust interdisciplinary Clinical Addiction Program currently exists. Beyond providing unprecedented support to the health care professionals at St. Paul’s Hospital when caring for individuals with a substance use disorder, Providence Health Care’s Clinical Addiction Program has also been recognized to be a successful model of care. More specifically, elements of the Clinical Program have now been replicated in other acute care settings regionally. Nolan’s unique positions as a Clinician Scientist and clinical leader have had a significantly positive impact on the community. More specifically, as mentioned above, Dr. Nolan was been instrumental in the development and expansion of Providence Health Care’s Clinical Addiction Program. Approximately 8,000 individuals access the clinical services offered through this Program on an annual basis (including both the inpatient consult service and outpatient clinic).