Scientific advisor to develop new tools to address toxic drug crisis

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“We’re taking action, working with Dr. Vigo, to develop new tools to help this very specific group of people so that they get the help that they need, and our communities stay safe, healthy and welcoming for everyone.”

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Findings and recommendations from Vigo will be provided to the province on an ongoing basis so the government can adopt or revise policies to provide complex care needs to people struggling with addiction and mental health issues, including brain injury.

“There’s an extremely high prevalence of brain injury in overdose survivors. In fact, at its most severe, half of survivors die in the immediate future and another third in the near future,” Vigo said.

“For those who survive, the resulting clinical triad presents unique challenges in patient engagement and service provision, from prevention to tertiary care and secure community housing. My office’s mandate is to access all relevant data, develop centralized analysis and interpretation, and provide ongoing recommendations to improve and evaluate our health-system response.”

Data from the B.C. Centre for Disease Control shows a total of 52,227 suspected drug poisoning events had been recorded across the province since 2015, and that 41,401 of those poisonings were non-fatal.

“We are in a new and increasingly challenging phase of the toxic-drug crisis,” Jennifer Whiteside, Minister of Mental Health and Addictions, said.

“Synthetic opioids are significantly more powerful, dangerous and unpredictable than they were even 10 years ago. There are people who are suffering from opioid use disorder and concurrent mental illness, who have now acquired brain injury from multiple overdoses and struggle to navigate life and the health-care system. Dr. Vigo’s work will help us find way to help people who need it the most.”

Vigo, who is originally from Argentina, brings a lot of experience into his new role.

He holds university degrees in clinical psychology, medicine, psychiatry and public health, as well as post-doctoral fellowships in psychiatry from Columbia University and the University of British Columbia.

He is a psychiatrist, psychologist and public-health specialist leading the Mental Health Systems and Services Lab at the University of British Columbia, where he works for the department of psychiatry and the School of Population and Public Health.

Vigo also holds multiple appointments with provincial, national and international organizations. He is the provincial medical lead for the Advanced Practice of Assertive Community Treatment in B.C.; the medical lead for tertiary care for Vancouver Coastal Health’s Regional Mental Health and Substance Use Program; chair of the Health Services Working Group of the World Mental Health Services Initiative; and an advisor to the WHO.