Presentation: Wednesday Aug 12, 2026: ​
Parallaxic Praxis and Poetic Inquiry for Ethical Research and Diverse Audiences

Closing Plenary Session Presentation: Parallaxic Praxis for One Health AMR: Turning Multiple Viewpoints into Collective Action

The poetry collection Holding HIV: Poems of HOPE has been named a Nonfiction: Cross-Genre Finalist in the 2026 International Book Awards. Hosted by the American Book Fest, the International Book Awards are a major literary contest that annually evaluates thousands of entries from mainstream and independent authors worldwide.

Authored by Dr. Pauline Sameshima (Professor, Faculty of Education), Emily Turner (Master of Education graduate), and Dazié Grego-Sykes (California-based poet, performer, and multidisciplinary artist), the collection brings together the voices of 27 community members in San Francisco who are living with or affected by HIV. 
Developed through the HOPE Research Collaboratory’s Community Arts Integrated Research program, the collection is rooted in participants’ narratives from an HIV cure research study that intentionally bridged scientific inquiry with creative expression.

Participants engaged in hands-on artistic processes, including sculpting clay “holders” in response to the “Block-Lock-Stop” epigenetic strategy, and reflecting on what excites them about a potential HIV cure as well as fears it raises. These discussions were then translated into poetry, capturing both deeply personal testimony and broader social realities, including concerns tied to recent reductions in U.S. federal HIV funding.
This marks the book’s additional recognition, following its 2025 finalist placement in the Literary Global Book Awards in four categories: Nonfiction – LGBTQ;  Nonfiction – Social Change;  Nonfiction – Best Cover Design; and Poetry – Nonfiction.

Endorsements of the recently published book highlight its significance. Dr. Patricia Defechereux (Community Engagement Coordinator of the HOPE Martin Delaney Collaboratory) wrote: “This is an amazing book! Dive in! Listen to the collective voice that weaves together humanity, anger, community, a sense of belonging, a deep lasting resilience, and above all, love.”
​
Paul Edmonds (The City of Hope Patient, cured of HIV through a stem cell transplant) wrote: “I am blown away by this powerful collection of poems—raw, honest, and unapologetic reflections from the San Francisco HIV community. It is a must-read for anyone who wants to better understand the complexities of the HIV journey.”

In 2020, Dr. Pauline Sameshima received an unexpected email: A group of top HIV scientists based in the United States wanted her to join their research collaboration. 

Called the HIV Obstruction by Programmed Epigenetics (HOPE) Collaboratory, the group was working on finding a cure for HIV using a novel approach. 

Dr. Sameshima—professor and former Canada Research Chair in Arts Integrated Studies at Lakehead University—had never participated in HIV-related research. But the call represented the culmination of her work as a pioneer in the use of art, imagination, and creativity to transform learning and help people understand complex research outcomes. 

“These brilliant scientists are leading the world in HIV research. They’re getting closer to a cure rooted in the ‘block-lock-stop’ approach, which aims to permanently control the virus by making it dormant and unable to reproduce,” says Dr. Sameshima. 

“Treatment will likely be in the form of an injectable, so educating the public about what that means and where to access it is incredibly important.” 

The HOPE Collaboratory scientists were drawn to the potential of Dr. Sameshima’s work to help them develop creative strategies for reaching people at risk of, and diagnosed with, HIV/AIDS. Rooted in a research model called Parallaxic Praxis, which Dr. Sameshima developed, her approach centres on the idea that sharing information from multiple perspectives and through multiple formats enables scientific outcomes to reach more people with greater results. 
​
“The beautiful part about Parallaxic Praxis is that it takes into account the viewpoints of everyone involved in an issue—so the perspectives of people living with HIV are equally as important as the perspectives of the scientists developing the cure,” she says. 

Members of the HOPE Collaboratory community at a book launch event for Holding HIV: Poems of HOPE in San Francisco. L to R: Dazié Grego, co-author, poet, performance artist, and HOPE Collaboratory community member; Dr. Pauline Sameshima, co-author, professor, HOPE Collaboratory Community Arts Integrated Research Lead; Dr. Patricia Defechereux, HOPE Collaboratory Community Engagement Coordinator; and Ebony Gordon, San Francisco AIDS Foundation HOPE Collaboratory liaison.
​

From Poetry to Dance and Beyond
​​One of Dr. Sameshima’s major achievements in her work with the HOPE Collaboratory is the recent publication of Holding HIV: Poems of HOPE, a book of poetry exploring what a cure would mean for people living with HIV. 
Each poem draws on the voices and perspectives of 27 community members in San Francisco who are living with or affected by HIV/AIDS. 
​
Participants were asked to respond creatively to two questions: “What excites you about an HIV cure?” and “What are your fears regarding an HIV cure?” The result is a collection of raw, powerful insights that aim to build compassion, reduce stigma, and raise awareness about the necessity of a cure in the face of a volatile funding landscape for HIV research. 

“We are really proud of this book, which is widely available to the public,” says Dr. Sameshima, who notes that 2,500 copies of the book are being freely shared. “It’s been a highlight of my career, bringing research together with art and community engagement in a way that gets ideas and data out into public spaces through creative avenues.” 
Dr. Sameshima’s work extends beyond public education—she is also focused on shifting the perspectives of scientists themselves through the power of the arts. 
During her work with the HOPE Collaboratory, Dr. Sameshima designed a dance activity that represented the ‘block-lock-stop’ approach to an HIV cure. All participants were part of the research team, and many were apprehensive about dancing. 

“We used different strategies to help them feel more comfortable, which allowed them to see how this concept can be applied to public education around an HIV cure,” she says. 
“For example, they now have a better understanding of the importance of offering treatment directly in communities where people living with HIV are already accessing services—places they feel comfortable, safe, and supported.”

Dr. Sameshima’s body of work advances a number of United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including #3: Good Health and Well-Being, #4: Quality Education, and #10: Reduced Inequalities.   

A Champion of Imagination in Research ​
When she considers the long-term benefits of her work, Dr. Sameshima—who wrote her PhD thesis as a fictional novel to encourage more people to read it—says she hopes to demonstrate that imagination has a critical place in research. 

“If we can imagine something, that’s the first step to making it a reality,” she says. “I want to support and champion the freedom and space to imagine, especially in the context of education and research.” 

As a poet, writer, and artist in academia, she believes telling people’s stories in creative ways is crucial to building a more compassionate future. 

“Everyone’s voice matters, and bringing those voices to the forefront offers important perspectives that uplift our lives and work—not just in the sciences, but in every sector of society.” 

A book launch for Holding HIV: Poems of HOPE will take place during Lakehead’s Research and Innovation Week at Entershine Bookshop in Thunder Bay on February 24 at 7:00 pm. Dr. Sameshima is also curating an art exhibit during Research and Innovation Week from February 21 to 27. The Art Walk Tour will take place on February 24 at 4:00 pm in the CASES Building. Featuring works by community members from Lakehead, Thunder Bay, and beyond, the exhibit will showcase the power of creative practice to foster connections between people and communities. 

Research in Action highlights the work of Lakehead University in various fields of research.

Link of Education News
By Jan Oakley

Dr. Pauline Sameshima (Professor, Faculty of Education) has been awarded the Post Secondary Teacher of the Year, 2022 award by the Ontario Art Education Association (OAEA).

The OAEA recognizes excellence in Visual and Media Arts education, and honours visual art schools and community educators who exemplify standards of quality in art education in Ontario.

Pauline was nominated for the award by Andrew Dean, Vice President, Research and Innovation at Lakehead University, for her numerous and significant contributions to the arts. As written in the nomination letter:

"Since her arrival as the Canada Research Chair in Arts Integrated Studies (a first in this field) at Lakehead University in 2012, Pauline has continued to promote the arts and alternative representations of research knowledge as ways to engage and stimulate thought, conversation, and learning across wide audiences, disciplines, and communities. Her work provides extensive opportunities for artistic expression and learning, and introduces new artistic techniques and arts integrating methodological approaches to the university community, the Thunder Bay community locally, and internationally through the galleries she curates… Her leadership and contributions to art education here at Lakehead, in our community, and internationally through her research and curation are richly deserving of this award.”

Some of Pauline’s notable achievements include:

• opening and curating seven Galleries spaces: six on-site campus locations plus a virtual gallery that host hosts local, national, and international juried art exhibitions as well as featured art work. The galleries are used to teach about local research, build community and research capacity, and showcase local community artists in an academic setting;
• publishing Parallaxic Praxis: Multimodal Interdisciplinary Pedagogical Research Design (2020), an arts integrating methodology book that won a Society of Professors of Education Outstanding Book Award;
• creating her own artwork. One artwork was recently selected as one of the 80 of 425 submissions to be exhibited in the 2022 National Art Education Association’s Members’ Juried Exhibition;
• participating in a current research project with a large scientific research team on a 26.5 million USD National Institutes of Health grant. Pauline leads the Community Arts Integrated Research program for this grant, which seeks to develop, with scientists and community members, an education curriculum for HIV cure research through the arts; and
• being inducted into the College of New Scholars, Artists and Scientists of the Royal Society of Canada, one of the highest honours for a Canadian academic.

A Zoom awards ceremony was held to honour Pauline and the other award winners, hosted by the OAEA Awards Committee.
Congratulations, Pauline!

Link to Lakehead Education News
by Jan Oakley

Dr. Pauline Sameshima (Professor and Canada Research Chair in Arts Integrated Studies) has received a 2022 Teaching Innovation Award from Lakehead University’s Senate Teaching and Learning Committee.

The Committee highlighted Pauline’s implementation of the “the Slides Strategy,” a teaching technique that “stimulates high levels of engagement in students, allowing them to understand each other’s perspectives well and affording much more creativity and the ability to participate in reading assignments to a greater depth than existing alternatives.”

The Teaching Innovation Award recognizes the development and/or implementation of innovative pedagogical practices and technologies.

For an explanation of “the Slides Strategy,” please see the publication by Pauline Sameshima and Tashya Orasi, “What’s better than the asynchronous discussion post?”
​
Congratulations, Pauline!

Lakehead's Research & Innovation Office has funded $2250 in LAIR Galleries Awards! Join us for our Climate Action in Action artist tours during the R&I Events! Below is "Deluge II" by Sandra Johnstone. 

Listen to the interview 

​Monday, August 30 – Thunder Bay, Ont.
by Jacklyn Bucik

Dr. Pauline Sameshima, Lakehead University’s Canada Research Chair in Arts Integrated Studies, is part of an international team of researchers recently awarded a five year, $26.5-million (USD) grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to try a new strategy for curing HIV.

Known as the HIV Obstruction by Programmed Epigenetics (HOPE) Collaboratory, the multi-institution collaboratory will be led by researchers at Gladstone Institutes, Scripps Research Florida, and Weill Cornell Medicine. Their approach, which aims to both silence and permanently remove HIV from the body, takes advantage of knowledge about how other viruses have become naturally inactivated over time.

“This is a fundamentally different approach to targeting HIV than what everyone else has been trying,” said Dr. Melanie Ott, Director of the Gladstone Institute of Virology, and the program director and a principal investigator of the HOPE Collaboratory. “I think it’s extremely important for us to explore a broad range of scientific approaches to find the best cure for people living with HIV, as quickly as we can.”

A world-leading expert in education and curriculum development using the arts, Sameshima will be a co-investigator working alongside Dr. Patricia Defechereux, the community engagement coordinator at HOPE, to develop the Community Arts Integrated Research (CAIR) plan.

“It is so exciting to be part of this multi-disciplinary team of researchers that is taking this new approach to curing HIV,” said Sameshima. “My role on this team demonstrates the importance of educators on research teams and the necessity for collaborative interdisciplinary, diverse, and inclusive perspectives being valued in high-level research.”

Utilizing the award-winning Parallaxic Praxis research model, which invites multiple perspectives and recognizes different forms of learning through artful and creative ways, Sameshima and Defechereux will work with community members to create innovative CAIR approaches that will not only enable the development of an HIV cure curriculum that resonates at local levels in different countries, and among historically under-represented groups in HIV research and educational effort (women, Black, Indigenous, and transgender individuals and people who use substances), but also allow for the scientists and medical field to learn about the needs of the populations they serve. The end goal is for learning and understanding to travel in multiple ways.

The CAIR approach will see insights from communities disproportionately affected by HIV shared with scientists and others to develop new, culturally relevant community-generated curricula based on the HOPE scientific plan. The curricula will include stories, plays, documentaries, paintings, poetry, and other modes to stimulate conversation, provoke thinking, and provide feedback.

Ultimately, these creative works will provide knowledge to communities and scientists on how to communicate HIV cure research to the broader public in multiple forms people may understand. Cure research can be shared through events such as public art displays, exhibitions and community gatherings. Imaginative lay-language for HIV cure will aid community understanding, satisfaction, and acceptance of research and ultimately HIV cure(s).

“As we have seen with COVID-19 vaccine rollout, misinformation and unclear messaging are often the reasons why we see vaccine hesitancy,” explained Sameshima. “The arts are a unique and powerful vehicle for knowledge dissemination, one that will help to increase HIV cure literacy.”

Sameshima will play a lead role in creating the HIV cure education curriculum (in collaboration with Defechereux, the HOPE scientific team, community partners and community members) to be used in the arts activities. She will design study cohorts; host CAIR training for HOPE staff who will conduct research; and co-lead the focus group cohorts with participants in the United States and other international sites. She will also conduct data analyses (in collaboration with artists and students) and art-making collectives.

“The fact that arts integrated research is such a significant component of this ground-breaking research is extraordinary,” said Sameshima. “I am so grateful to Lakehead University for supporting my work in arts integration. I am honoured to be part of this high-calibre scientific team at the forefront of epigenetic research.”

“Congratulations to this international team on securing this significant research grant,” said Dr. Andrew P. Dean, Vice-President, Research and Innovation at Lakehead University. “More and more we are seeing that big questions in research require multiple interdisciplinary views to tackle those questions. This is an excellent example of how research in arts and education can add a whole new dimension to research in the health sciences area.”

More information about the HOPE Collaborative and the new approach to curing HIV can be found at https://gladstone.org/news/new-approach-curing-hiv.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Media: For further information or to arrange an interview, contact Jaclyn Bucik, Media, Communications & Marketing Associate, at 705-330-4010 ext. 2014 or [email protected].

Lakehead University is a fully comprehensive university with approximately 9,700 full-time equivalent students and over 2,000 faculty and staff at two campuses in Orillia and Thunder Bay, Ontario. Lakehead has 10 faculties, including Business Administration, Education, Engineering, Graduate Studies, Health & Behavioural Sciences, Law, Natural Resources Management, the Northern Ontario School of Medicine, Science & Environmental Studies, and Social Sciences & Humanities. Lakehead University’s achievements have been recognized nationally and internationally, including being ranked, once again, among Canada’s Top 10 primarily undergraduate universities in Maclean’s 2021 University Rankings; as well as included in the top half of Times Higher Education's 2020 World Universities Rankings for the second consecutive year, and 99th among 1,115 universities from around the world in THE's 2021 Impact Rankings (which assesses institutions against the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals). Visit www.lakeheadu.ca.

About the HOPE Collaboratory
The executive committee for the HOPE Collaboratory is led by Program Director Melanie Ott from Gladstone Institutes, and includes Principal Investigators Susana Valente from Scripps Research and Lishomwa Ndhlovu from Weill Cornell Medicine, as well as Co-Investigator Douglas Nixon from Weill Cornell Medicine. Operations will be overseen by Danielle Lyons from Gladstone, the collaboratory’s program manager.

The Hope Collaboratory also includes three co-directors for different research programs (Warner Greene and Nadia Roan from Gladstone, and Priti Kumar from Yale School of Medicine), a community engagement coordinator (Patricia Defechereux from Gladstone), 10 members (Cedric Feschotte from Cornell University, Joachim Hauber from Heinrich-Pette-Institut in Germany, Julie Ake and Denise Hsu from the US Military HIV Research Program, Esper Kallas from the University of Sao Paulo in Brazil, Niren Murthy from UC Berkeley, Eric Verdin from Buck Institute for Research on Aging, Betty Mwesigwa and Hannah Kibuuka from the Makerere University Walter Reed Project in Uganda, and Pauline Sameshima from Lakehead University), and four consultants (Jennifer Doudna from UC Berkeley, Gladstone, and the Innovative Genomics Institute; Peter Glazer from Yale School of Medicine; Avi Nath from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke; and Mauricio Martins from Scripps Research).

In addition, the HOPE Collaboratory will work in partnership with the Last Gift Study led by Sara Gianella and Davey Smith at UC San Diego and the African Cohort Study (AFRICOS) led by Julie Ake at the US Military HIV Research Program, as well as with the San Francisco AIDS Foundation and industry partners Amgen, Constellation Pharmaceuticals, and Sangamo Therapeutics. The HOPE Collaboratory is supported by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases of the National Institutes of Health under award number UM1AI164559.

Keywords: 
Pauline Sameshima, HIV, Education, Arts Integrated Studies, Gladstone Institutes, HOPE Collaboratory

Story from https://www.lakeheadu.ca/about/news-and-events/news/archive/2020/node/60582 


​The Royal Society of Canada (RSC) and its members have included Lakehead University’s Dr. Pauline Sameshima among the incoming class of the College of New Scholars, Artists and Scientists.

Dr. Sameshima, Canada Research Chair in Arts Integrated Studies and Professor in the Faculty of Education, is one of 50 new Members of the College of New Scholars, Artists and Scientists, which includes top mid-career leaders in Canada.

The College provides the RSC with a multi-generational capacity to help Canada and the world address major challenges and seize new opportunities including those identified in emerging fields.

Dr. Sameshima is the second Lakehead professor to be included in the incoming class of New Scholars, Artists and Scientists. The RSC inducted Dr. Chris Mushquash, from Psychology, into the class in 2017. Recognition by the RSC is the highest honour an individual can achieve in the Arts, Social Sciences and Sciences.

The RSC selected Dr. Sameshima based on her innovative work in curriculum theory, poetic inquiry, teaching, research dissemination, and civic engagement development.

“I am humbled that President McPherson nominated me,” she said, “and I’m honoured that the work on community engagement, collaboration, researching, teaching, and learning through the arts is being recognized.

“The arts nurture imagination, decision-making, and flexibility of thought – critical skills needed to re-invent new curricula for our lives as we navigate the pressing breakdowns in our earth, health, and social systems.”

Dr. Sameshima joined Lakehead University in 2012. She is a curriculum theorist who works on interdisciplinary teams across science and humanities fields to mobilize research to broad audiences and provide innovation to collaborations.

She is the Director of the Arts Integrated Research (AIR) Lab, Curator of the Lakehead Research Education Galleries, and Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of the Canadian Association for Curriculum Studies.

“Congratulations to Pauline and thank you to the RSC for recognizing her important work,” said Dr. Moira McPherson, Lakehead’s President and Vice-Chancellor. “She is a highly innovative researcher and artist who brings her unique vision to every project she partakes in.”
Founded in 1882, the Royal Society of Canada advises the government and the larger society, recognizes excellence, and promotes a culture of knowledge and innovation in Canada and with other national academies around the world.

“The Royal Society of Canada is delighted to recognise this year’s exceptional cohort of inductees, as the contributions of these outstanding artists, scholars and scientists have significantly impacted their respective disciplines at both national and international levels,” said RSC President Jeremy McNeil.

The 2020 roster of truly remarkable individuals will be invited to accept membership to the RSC on Friday, Nov. 27 in Toronto.
​
This induction builds on the achievements of Dr. Roger Mitchell, Professor Emeritus of Geology at Lakehead University, who was elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 1994, one of the highest honours bestowed upon a scientist in Canada.

2020 Society of Professors of Education Outstanding Book Award for Parallaxic Praxis and Honourable Mention for Ma: Materiality in Teaching and Learning!  News story by Jan Oakley.