Virtual Transformation
New Agency Creates National Network of Institutes Focused on Integratred Health Reseach

Health research in Canada is at a unique point in its history, a time of innovation and excitement that is forging a future bright with promise. Dramatic discoveries in genomics and proteomics are revolutionizing our understanding of our basic make-up and of diseases as varied as cancer, diabetes, schizophrenia and muscular dystrophy. Keeping pace with these new insights are the dramatic advances in our understanding of the interconnectedness of social, cultural, economic and environmental factors that affect our well being. Canadian researchers are world leaders in this global revolution.

CIHR, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, epitomizes the changed landscape of the future. Its vision embraces a whole new way of defining, organizing and funding health research for Canada.

CIHR is a paradigm for the future because of the way it will integrate different areas of health research, different sectors of the economy, and the many steps along the way from the laboratory to hospitals, health care decision makers, and the private sector. The creation of CIHR is a story of transformation - in economic climate, in political support, in social policy and in research thinking.

The CIHR Act is predicated on the belief that "Canadians value health as central to happiness and fulfilment and aspire to be among the healthiest people in the world". After all, Canada's health care system matters to all Canadians - it is a defining Canadian value that distinguishes us from our American neighbour and is based on the right of all citizens to equal access to health care.

But the CIHR vision includes additional elements which promise to transform the entire health research enterprise. First, as stated in the Act, CIHR's mandate is wide ranging and inclusive, embracing all research that has the potential to impact on health. The Act explicitly highlights biomedical and clinical research, research on the health of populations, and health services research. The Act also expects that these four "pillars" of CIHR will not simply be pillars of excellence, but will form a single continuum, a "pipeline" of excellence, that translates fundamental discovery into improvements in the health care system and informs public policy.

Operationally, the Act anticipates the creation of virtual health research institutes, led by Scientific Directors and guided by Institute Advisory Boards. These Institutes will bring together researchers, widely separated by geography and discipline, to focus on important and timely national research initiatives.

Since June 7, when Minister of Health Allan Rock launched CIHR, we have plunged into building a new agency that will not just fund research projects, but will enunciate coherent strategic objectives that together will set the health research agenda for Canada for the next decade.

A slate of 13 institutes that will make up CIHR was confirmed on July 25. Recruiting and selecting outstanding men and women from the research community to serve as Scientific Directors and members of Institute Advisory Boards occupies much of our time now. There is no shortage of excellent candidates in a pool of 130 applicants for SD positions, and over 1,200 for IABs. By year end, institutes will be ready for action.

• Institute of Aboriginal Peoples' Health

• Institute of Cancer Research

• Institute of Circulatory and Respiratory Health

• Institute of Gender and Health

• Institute of Genetics

• Institute of Health Services and Policy Research

• Institute of Healthy Aging

• Institute of Human Development and Child and Youth Health

• Institute of Infection and Immunity

• Institute of Neurosciences, Mental Health and Addiction

• Institute of Musculoskeletal Health and Arthritis

• Institute of Nutrition, Metabolism and Diabetes

• Institute of Population and Public Health

The mandate of CIHR is "to excel, according to internationally accepted standards of scientific excellence, in the creation of new knowledge and its translation into improved health for Canadians, more effective health services and products and a strengthened Canadian health care system." Our challenge is to do this in a way that is both inspiring and inclusive - to forge an integrated health research agenda that includes all disciplines, sectors and regions of Canada; that reflects the emerging health needs of Canadians and the system that handles them; and that supports health policy decision-making.

Convergence and integration are happening across georgraphic boundaries, as technology erases the barriers that used to keep us apart. Integration is happening across disciplines, as investigators discover that broader expertise enriches insight and accelerates discoveries. Just the names of some of the most exciting new areas of research -- bioinformatics, genetic epidemiology, bioethics, behavioural genetics -- connote this cross-disciplinary trend. As well, convergence is beginning to draw together different sectors of the economy - public, private, and non-profit.

CIHR is a prime example of this move toward integration. Through the 13 institutes, we are integrating the four pillars of health research - basic biomedical, applied clinical, health services and systems, and population health. But integration in the CIHR world reaches beyond disciplines. We have been expressly charged, in the legislation, with integrating new knowledge and translating it into better health for Canadians and better health practices.

As Canadians, we are ideally positioned to take advantage of this revolution thanks to a sea change in the government's growing appreciation of the central role of science and R & D, to Canada's future. This sea change is fuelled by new federal instruments in support of health research - the Canada Foundation for Innovation, Canada Research Chairs, Genome Canada, and CIHR.

Government support for research is steadfast. In a speech to the Toronto Board of Trade in September, Finance Minister Paul Martin called on Canada to increase its investment in R&D and aim to rank Canada in the top five among OECD countries. He said: "Basic research creates ideas and pushes forward the frontiers of knowledge. Applied research transforms this knowledge into new products, services and technologies. We need to do more of both. And we need to do it better."

By fostering partnerships with the voluntary health charities, governments, universities, research hospitals and the private sector, I hope that CIHR will become our country's meeting ground, attracting intellectual and financial investment, energy and commitment from all Canadians dedicated to making our health and health research programs the best in the world.

There is considerable international interest in the CIHR "experiment" as noted in recent articles in Science and Nature. Colleagues in Japan, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Sweden and the United States are watching closely as we create these virtual institutes and build research partnerships.

Above all, CIHR is about people, the real engine of discovery. We are in the business of creating knowledge by fostering the "minds that matter" - it is people who make the discoveries, outstanding researchers who create new knowledge.

CIHR will help us attract the best and brightest young people into health research. Today, Canada's established health researchers, many of whom rank among the very best in the world, have the opportunity to plan boldly for the future, to dream, and to forge the new partnerships and collaborations that will enable them to contribute fully to this global revolution in health research.

The government's investment in CIHR will approach half a billion dollars in 2002. It is a good first step that will help make Canada the "place to be" in the 21st century, to conduct health research. The next bold step is to reach a level of funding commensurate with a billion dollar vision.

For almost a century, Canadian researchers have made internationally recognized discoveries that have contributed to the global efforts to eradicate disease and promote human health. Today, we are in the midst of an unprecedented revolution in health and research. In a very real sense, the future of Canada will depend on how successfully we contribute to this revolution.