The meeting began with two presentations describing initiatives that have put INMHA-related research into the spotlight at UBC.
Dr. Allison Buchan, Senior Associate Dean of Research, described the BC Clinical Research Networks, a new province-wide initiative designed to catalyze interaction among clinical, research and mental health communities to provide evidence for medical practices and treatments. The initiative is focused on the "research cluster" concept, whereby multidisciplinary groups including community partners will create knowledge and move it into the discovery development stage and beyond to ensure an impact on health and the economy. The first cluster will be in neurology, mental health and addictions.
Dr. Max Cynader, Director of the Brain Research Centre, described the Centre's activities which are aimed at bringing basic discovery from the bench to the bedside. The facility's 150 faculty members have research programs in multiple sclerosis, vision, neurotrauma, stroke, learning, and aging. Its accomplishments include networking, community building, the creation of a nurturing environment for research, development of partnerships, training and commercialization of research.
Canadian Mental Health Services Knowledge Translation Network
Alain Lesage described a proposal for a Canadian Mental Health Services Knowledge Translation Network, whose goal would be the dissemination and uptake of knowledge to inform policy-making and improve the mental health system. Attention would be focused on both the creation of reports (best practices, research syntheses) and increasing the capacity to take up this new knowledge at all levels of decision-making and service provision. A lively discussion followed on where the responsibility for translating knowledge should lie, who should fund this activity, and to whom such a group should be accountable.
Unique Challenges in Mental Health Research
In response to Sen. Kirby's challenge to INMHA's IAB at its last meeting to propose a national mental health research agenda, INMHA launched a call for ideas from its stakeholder community. Entitled "Unique Challenges in Mental Health and Addiction Research", it was intended to elicit proposals to address the most serious challenges in mental health research. Rémi Quirion reported that over forty proposals were received from basic scientists, industry, health service experts and non-governmental organizations. These will be reviewed for merit by an international panel by the end of November. The best ideas will inform INMHA's 2006-2010 strategic plan.
Chair in Neuroethics
In an effort to increase capacity in this area of research, Rémi Quirion proposed a request for applications will be launched for a Chair in Neuroethics in December 2005. The RFA will be open to both Canadian and international applicants.
Regenerative Medicine and Nanomedicine initiative (Eric Marcotte)
Peer review results are now in from the June 2004 launch of this program but the list of grants funded cannot be released until the budget available for the program is confirmed. The RFA was re-launched in June 2005, with Team Grant LOIs due on November 1st, 2005 and New Discoveries: High-Risk Seed Grants registrations due on April 1, 2006. . Of the LOIs submitted to the last competition, approximately 20% were in the area of rehabilitation, 40% in regenerative medicine and 40% in nanomedicine.
Co-morbidity workshop (Barbara Beckett)
A meeting of about 50 stakeholders representing researchers from all four CIHR pillars, clinicians, voluntary and professional organizations, and consumers was held in Ottawa on September 22nd and 23rd to discuss this area identified as a strategic priority by INMHA during its first strategic planning process. During two days of lively interactions, the group discussed co-morbidities associated with mental illness, addiction, and brain and sensory disorders. Five priority areas for research were suggested as the basis for an RFA in 2006, with gaps and opportunities, ongoing research, possible partners, and possible research questions identified for each area. A report will be posted shortly on the INMHA website.
International Focus Group Activities (Astrid Eberhart)
The first meeting of the ground-breaking International Partnership on Mental Health Research was held in Toronto on September 12th, 2005. Current partners are the Canadian Psychiatric Research Foundation, the Schizophrenia Society of Canada, and two US-based organizations - the National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression and the National Educational Alliance for Borderline Personality Disorders. Major goals of the Partnership are to coordinate research funding and the establishment of funding partnerships.
Industry Focus Group Activities (Lisa McKerracher)
Lisa McKerracher and Patrice Roy reported on a new training program designed to help foster commercialization of research will be launched in the near future by CIHR's Research Translation Branch. This training module designed to train young researchers how to interact with pharmaceutical companies, would supplement the training programs offered by current Strategic Training Initiatives in Health Research (STIHRs). Designed for INMHA-related research programs, it is hoped that the concept will be adopted for CIHR-wide training programs.
Developing closer relationships between INMHA and industry is the aim of a meeting that will take place in Vancouver on October 28th and 29th. Rémi Quirion, David Brener from CIHR's Research Translation Programs Branch, a number of key researchers and industry representatives will discuss guidelines for working together and agree on some priority areas of CNS research where pilot projects could be started quickly. Closer ties with industry would result in leveraging INMHA's research dollars, and optimize the chances of bringing basic discoveries to clinical application.
Voluntary Health and Professional Organization Focus Group Activities (Mary Jardine)
Several INMHA members participated in the recent Partnership Roundtable meeting in Toronto hosted by the Institute of Genetics. Representatives of the voluntary health organizations (VHOs) that were present were enthusiastic about past and present partnership activities with CIHR, in large measure because of the perceived excellence of CIHR's peer review process, and were keen to partner further with CIHR. Ms. Jardine noted that Canadian VHOs raise $400 million annually to invest in health research.
The Partnerships Focus Group has invested most of its energy since the last IAB meeting in planning a session on Knowledge Translation for INMHA's annual meeting on October 14th.
Training and Education Focus Group Activities (Mike Salter)
The first workshop bringing together researchers and students from the 18 STIHRs that INMHA invests in will take place in Montreal November 28th and 29th. The purposes will be to network and share experiences, make presentations about the research programs, and discuss evaluation and the future of the STIHR program.
Government relations Focus Group Activities (Phil Upshall)
Reports: "Hospital Mental Health Services in Canada 2002-2003" has just been released by the Canadian Institute on Health Information (CIHI). The data is important, but some of the interpretations would have been more legitimate had community groups been involved. The Canadian Alliance on Mental Illness and Mental Health (CAMIMH), in partnership with CIHI, Health Canada and Statistics Canada will soon release its "Report on Mental Illness 2005".
The Coalition on Mental Illness and Mental Health had its third annual "Champions of Mental Health" lunch on October 5th 2005 in Ottawa. This year's champions are Lt.-Gen. Romeo Dallaire, Hon. Ujjal Dosanjh, broadcaster Vicki Gabereau, philanthropist Edith Jacobson Low-Beer, Hon. Mr. Justice Edward Ormston, researcher Dr. James Waldram, and Global Business and Economic Roundtable on Addiction and Mental Health Chair Bill Wilkerson.
The Standing Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology chaired by Sen. Michael Kirby is preparing its final report on Mental Health, Mental Illness and Addiction. It is anticipated that Sen. Kirby's Senate Committee's final report on Mental Health, Mental Illness and Addiction will include a recommendation for a commission to facilitate the implementation of mental health reform. There will almost certainly be a recommendation for increased funding for mental health research, but it is unclear where those funds will be recommended to go.
Institute Evaluation (Richard Brière)
The report prepared by INMHA for EKOS Consultants is now complete, and some initial feedback has been made available to the Institutes by EKOS Consultants on their broad evaluation process. This was provided to IAB members for this meeting. In general, feedback from the key informants in the research community, NGO community and staff and from a general survey of researchers who identify with INMHA was very positive as regards both CIHR-wide strategic goals identified in the CIHR Blueprint, and the INMHA strategic plan goals. Partnership and international activities received particularly positive comments. Reports on all Institutes will go to the international review panel early in 2006.
Clinical Research Initiative of CIHR
Rémi Quirion gave a status report on this high-profile CIHR initiative, whose goal is to strengthen clinical research and close the gap between basic discoveries and their application to the understanding, treatment and prevention of human disease. In the near future there will be a call for applications for Clinical Research Centres and Clinical Research Platforms. Additional funding for this program is still being sought. Centres will consist of nationally networked teams of clinical researchers, with physical infrastructure provided from the Hospital Research Fund of the Canadian Foundation for Innovation (CFI). Platforms will provide core services in informatics, technologies, data repositories and biobanks. INMHA may have an opportunity to support teams applying in the area of mental health and addictions, perhaps through a priority announcement as part of the RFA.
A number of ongoing activities will feed into this process, including the results of the EKOS Consultants stakeholder survey, CIHR's new international strategy (once it is completed), feedback from the INMHA STIHR workshop to be held November 28th and 29th 2005, input from the Unique Challenges process, and consideration of some gaps in INMHA's activities that have been identified through informal processes (knowledge translation, vision health, pain, language and communications, etc.). There may also be stakeholder meetings in early 2006 through which stakeholders could provide additional input.
