Good morning. I'd like to speak to you this morning about health research.
In the 21st century, health research and innovation will be central to Canada's future. Harnessing our investments in health research are key to improving the health of our citizens, building sustainable, evidence based, leading edge health care and public health systems, and developing the transformative new technologies of tomorrow.
It was with this vision that CIHR was created only three and a half years ago. In that brief period, Canada has built a brand new organization and health research community that has become a model for the world.
From SARS to childhood obesity, to the Edmonton protocol, to research on access to health services, CIHR's virtual Institutes and the Canadian health research community are poised to address some of the most exciting and challenging problems facing Canadians and people everywhere.
We are at a unique moment when the spectacular advances being made in our understanding of human health and disease are being fuelled by new ways of thinking, new technologies, new partnerships, and new industries.
Virtually every field of study - the biological, clinical, natural, information and social sciences, humanities, engineering and more - are all converging around the challenges and opportunities presented by human health and the eradication of disease.
This Tsunami wave of science is already starting to reach the shores of the health system, transforming medicine from a reactive and descriptive art to an activity that will be increasingly proactive, mechanism-based and individualized.
From the fundamental new insights into the human body as a complex array of molecular interactions, to at the same time, a deepening understanding of humans as social beings whose health is ultimately governed by the complex interplay between the biological, genetic, psychosocial, economic and environmental determinants of health, research-based advances are transforming how we diagnose, treat and prevent disease and promote health.
This revolution in health research is creating transformative new technologies and industries that are bringing whole new words into our vocabularies - words like proteomics, gene-chips, and medicine.
In 2003, CIHR-funded Canadian researchers, working together, took just 11 weeks to sequence the SARS virus genome - a world first.
Toward the end of last year, Canadian researchers announced that we have, developed not one, but three, potential SARS vaccines, ready to test in animals.
Also at the end of last year, Canadian researchers announced that they have discovered a potential treatment for SARS, using a combination of steroids and interferon.
First, the SARS outbreak and now the mad cow incidents have underscored how research is at the core of rapid and effective responses to new emerging health threats and the potential for research to save the Canadian economy literally billions of dollars in lost revenues.
Last year was also the year that a vaccine against E. coli 0157 - the bacterium responsible for the Walkerton water crisis of the summer of 2000 - was shown to be effective in cattle.
By vaccinating herds of cattle, we can reduce the human toll of E. coli, which makes 50,000 North Americans ill each year and kills 500 of them.
We can also reduce the economic costs - estimated at about $5 billion each year - that arise because entire shipments of cattle have to be destroyed if E. coli is found in even one steer.
Dr. Brett Finlay, a CIHR Distinguished Investigator from UBC, together with Dr. Andy Potter from the University of Saskatchewan, developed that vaccine. It is being commercialized worldwide by Bioniche Life Sciences, a Canadian company.
And this is another area where we are starting to do well - it used to be that Canadian researchers made discoveries and companies from other countries commercialized them.
Increasingly, we are building on Canadian discoveries, keeping the economic benefits in Canada while exporting the health benefits around the world. Health related companies, including biotech companies, are responsible for more than $20 billion in revenues each year.
Let me give you just two examples:
The most salient fact about these homegrown success stories is that, like so many others, they have their roots, their origins, in public investment in health research.
Our Prime Minister has declared more effective commercialization of university research to be a priority. CIHR has developed new innovative programs that support moving research from the academic setting to the marketplace. And we are planning to more than double our programs in this area over the next three years.
This is just one area where CIHR has been active. In just three short years, we have developed new problem-based, multidisciplinary programs in partnership with the provinces, health charities, industry and other countries to address virtually every aspect of health and health research.
In total, the new problem-based teams and training centres cover virtually every aspect of health research - some examples:
These new programs are part of a forward investment of close to $400M and involve literally thousands of researchers and community groups working together for the first time.
They represent a new approach to health research designed to bring together researchers, caregivers, policy makers, and other stakeholders to address and solve important health problems.
Health research has another important role to play. We are in a race against time. Health care costs have been rising at an annual rate of 4 to 6 percent in Canada. This rate of growth is not sustainable.
At this rate, the costs of health care threaten to crowd out every other governmental program.
A lot of the excess structural costs in the health care system were eliminated in the 1990s with hospital mergers, hospital closings, bed reductions and so on.
I know of only one approach that promises evidence based changes and cost effective analysis of our health care system - health research.
The objective analysis of the cost effectiveness of new, expensive drugs and new technologies, new models for primary health care and health care delivery are all examples of research that CIHR's Institute of Health Services and Policy Research is supporting.
We are also in another race against time. Canada's rapidly aging population and the epidemic of obesity means that, as night follows day, the incidence of cancer, cardiovascular disease, arthritis and diabetes is going to skyrocket over the next 10-20 years.
Again, I know of only one approach that promises to slow the rising tide - health research. Research aimed at developing new interventions that will keep Canadians physically active, such as the CIHR funded 'Saskatoon on the Move', research aimed at new approaches to the long term care of these chronic conditions, and research aimed at developing new approaches to prevention and treatment.
CIHR and the Canadian health research community have a central role to play in the challenges of the coming years. I am pleased to unveil today CIHR's Blueprint for health research and innovations, a strategic plan to carry us forward through the next four years of our development.
Blueprint sets out a vision for health research that will have a profound impact on the health and prosperity of Canadians.
The plan sets out five broad strategic directions for the next four years. They are:
The benefits of Blueprint are clear. They include:
I spent a good part of the summer traveling throughout Canada as part of our consultations on Blueprint, and I had the opportunity to talk to Canadian health researchers and other stakeholders.
What I repeatedly heard was a strong appreciation for the support the federal government has given to health research - but also a concern about whether the government recognizes the importance of sustaining the momentum that has been created.
I heard concern about CIHR's lack of resources to fund new research and about the cuts we have had to make to our programs, in particular our salary support programs, to free up funds for that new research.
But researchers are increasingly coming or returning to Canada because of the favourable climate being created by federal investment. Clearly it is Canada's best interests to attract the best and brightest young people to our wonderful country.
As Prime Minister Martin said in his speech to the Montreal Board of Trade last September, "we have to ensure that Canada is on the cutting edge of the global economy. And support for university research is a critical part of creating the necessary conditions for sustainable, long-term economic growth."
Over the past several years, the federal government has shown wisdom, and commitment, in investing in health research, not only through CIHR, but also through other programs such as the Canada Foundation for Innovation, which invests in infrastructure, and the Canada Research Chairs Program, which invests in people.
These investments have been tremendously beneficial, creating an internationally competitive research environment.
Last week, I was in Stockholm to speak at an international meeting on the funding of medical research in the 21st century.
I can tell you - Canada and CIHR have become models for the world. Our unique structure, 13 virtual institutes and our broad mandate are raising great interest and admiration all over the world - Europe, Australia, Japan and the United States.
But now we need to decide whether we are committed to stay the course - to give young people the support they need to carry out the work that will make a difference to Canadians.
The health research community recognizes the fiscal pressures facing the Government of Canada. Health researchers understand that there are tough choices to be made, priorities to be decided.
But they also believe that, even in tough circumstances, health research should be at the top of the priority list.
It sits squarely at the crossroads of personal health, public health, innovation and economic growth, with the potential to improve the lives of Canadians.
If we are to succeed, at home and abroad, we cannot stop now. We need to build on the investment that has been made. The alternative - to choose cautious, incremental progress means that we will fall behind.
In just 3 short years we have built a brand new organization and a community that is founded on excellence, and is strategic, responsive, relevant and ready to deliver the outcomes that matter to Canadians - better health, a stronger and sustainable health care system and the knowledge based economy of the 21st century.
Thank you.
