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The last year has witnessed many changes at IHDCYH. In May 2003, John Challis resigned as Scientific Director (SD) to assume his new position as Vice President for Research and Associate Provost at the University of Toronto. As the previous Chair of the Institute's Advisory Board, I was asked to serve as the interim SD, then appointed to the "permanent" post as of last November. The Institute's office was moved to the McGill University Health Centre in Montreal, and the official opening at The Montreal's Children Hospital will be held in November 2004. Pregnant women and children have often been excluded from clinical trials of new drugs and other therapies, but this experiment bucked the tradition: IHDCYH was the first of CIHR's Institutes to move and the first to change SDs. Hopefully, the child will be the father of the man and CIHR will learn from this experience! Many thanks to Jocelyne Arès in the Toronto office and especially to Denise Moretto, who has functioned at a very high level and with boundless commitment before and since the Institute's move to Montreal.
The good news is that IHDCYH has now assembled an excellent team both in Montreal (Anne-Cecile Desfaits, formerly Assistant Director of CIHR's Institute of Aging, Michelle Champagne, and Stella DiPiano) and in Ottawa (Louise Poulin, formerly with the NCE program, and Gwendoline Simard) and that we have a number of excellent funding initiatives planned over the next few months and years. These include a re-launch of our Healthy Pregnancy RFA in June 2004 and planning for joint RFAs on childhood asthma (with CIHR's Institute of Infection and Immunity) and ethical-legal-social issues in pregnancy and childhood (with the CIHR Ethics Office) in the coming year.
New partnerships have been developed for our RFA in Developmental Trajectories, including sister CIHR Institutes and a major NGO (NAAR, the U.S.-based National Alliance for Autism Research). We have also collaborated with CIHR's Institute of Neurosciences Mental Health, and Addiction (INMHA), Institute of Aging, and the Japanese Society for Promotion of Science to fund joint Canadian-Japanese basic research teams in reproductive and child health. We have agreed to partner with CIHR-INMHA, NAAR, and the National Institutes of Health (NIMH, National Institute of Mental Health and NICHD, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development) in an upcoming RFA on the genetics of autism. Finally, IHDCYH and NICHD are offering joint one-week training institutes next summer in both maternal/fetal pharmacology and reproductive/perinatal epidemiology.
With a new staff and boundless energy, IHDCYH is poised to play a major role in reproductive and child health research in Canada and beyond. With your suggestions and participation, we can do great things. Please let us know how we can help you, and stay tuned!
Michael S. Kramer
Results of the Institute Strategic Initiative: Healthy Developmental Trajectories of Infants, Children, and Youth
In partnership with the Institutes of Gender and Health, Nutrition, Metabolism, and Diabetes, Population and Public Health and the National Alliance for Autism Research, CIHR - IHDCYH is pleased to announce the results of the RFA "Healthy Developmental Trajectories of Infants, Children, and Youth". The objective of this RFA is to investigate the interplay between biological, psychosocial, environmental, and cultural influences and how the interactions among them shape developmental trajectories of infants, children and youth. Three applications were approved for funding.
Results of the Spring 04 Priority Announcements: IHDCYH Start-up grants for young investigators
CIHR IHDCYH funded 3 start-up grants for young investigators through the Priority Announcements. The maximum grant awarded is $100,000 per grant for up to one year and is non-renewable. If applicants are successful in obtaining funding in the next open grants competition, start-up funding will terminate at the start date of the new grant.
IHDCYH IAB Renewal
CIHR has completed its second cycle of IAB membership renewal and has selected 51 new members to fill the recent vacancies on the Institute Advisory Boards. The new members will serve 3-year terms, effective September 1, 2004. IHDCYH is pleased to welcome 4 new members in its IAB. During the next IAB meeting in Toronto in September, William Fraser (Université de Montréal), Victor Han (University of Western Ontario), Lucie Jeannotte (Université Laval), and Brenda Kirtzinger (Intersectoral Programming, Prairie North Health Region) will officially join IHDCYH's IAB. The meeting will also mark the departure of four founding members, Lynn Krepart the former interim Chair (Canadian Foundation for Women's Health) Sylvain Chemtob (Université de Montréal), Harvey Guyda (McGill University), and Bryan Richardson (University of Western Ontario). We wish to take this opportunity to extend our gratitude for their commitment over the past four years.
Official Language Minority Communities
In follow-up to CIHR's March 2004 workshop on "Needs, Gaps and Opportunities: Improving Access to Health Services for French and English Speaking Minorities", CIHR has taken some steps to respond to the suggestions that emerged from the workshop. As a key initiative, the Official Language Minority Communities variable has been added to the mandate of eight of CIHR's permanent peer review committees, including the committee on Children's Health.
CIHR announces the Douglas Kinsella Doctoral Award for Research in Bioethics
Starting this Fall, CIHR, led by its Ethics Office and Institute of Musculoskeletal Health and Arthritis, is pleased to offer the Douglas Kinsella Doctoral Award for Research in Bioethics to honour Dr. Kinsella's accomplishments in bioethics and his lifelong promotion of the ethical treatment of humans in research. This award is offered to an outstanding individual whose research focus concerns ethical issues related to health and/or health research. The deadline for submitting applications is October 15, 2004.
Michael Smith Prize in Health Research
This prize is provided annually to an outstanding Canadian researcher who has demonstrated a high degree of innovation, creativity, leadership, and dedication in health research. The prize consists of a medal and a research grant of $100,000 per year for five years. The prize is intended to provide a significant boost in funding for an exceptional investigator who will continue over the next five years to produce research of exceptional merit. Candidates must be nominated by a member of the Canadian health research community by November 1, 2004.
Michael S. Kramer
Scientific Director
michael.kramer@mcgill.ca
Anne-Cécile Desfaits
Assistant Director
adesfaits@cihr-irsc.gc.ca
Michelle Champagne
Administrative Assistant
(As of October 2004)
Stella DiPiano
Administrative Assistant
stella.dipiano@muhc.mcgill.ca
Ottawa-based staff:
Louise Poulin
Assistant Director, Partnerships and International Relations
lpoulin@cihr-irsc.gc.ca
Gwendoline Simard
Institute Support Project Officer
gsimard@cihr-irsc.gc.ca
Institute of Human Development and Child and Youth Health
The Montreal Children's Hospital
Les Tourelles T-118
2300 Tupper Street
Montreal, QC
H3H 1P3
Phone: (514) 412-4414
Fax: (514) 421-4253
