Dr. Francoise Bayliss, ethicist, member of CIHR Governing Council (GC) and former member of the CIHR Institute of Genetics IAB joined the meeting for a discussion regarding GC, and its interactions with the Institutes and IABs. The discussion focused mainly on flagship initiatives, CIHR partnerships plan, research excellence, stem cells, Training Grant program, budget allocated to individual institutes and ethics.
The Chair, Tony Phillips, called the meeting to order. Following approval of the agenda and of the minutes of the last two meetings, Rémi Quirion provided an update on recent activities of INMHA. His article "A Canadian experiment: the Institute of Neurosciences, Mental Health and Addiction" appeared in the May issue of Trends in Neuroscience [TINS (2002) 25: 268-270]. He is part of a committee on Innovation with Alan Bernstein, two members of Governing Council, Mr. Joseph Rotman and Mr. Hubert Gauthier, and Morris Barer, Scientific Director of the Institute of Health Services and Policy Research. He attended a forum at Health Canada with other CIHR Scientific Directors to present their respective Institutes and participate in panel discussions. He attended events in Montreal and Saskatoon for Brain Awareness Week (March 11-17). He and Astrid Eberhart met with the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and World Health Organisation (WHO) in Geneva to look at opportunities for international collaboration with INMHA.
Rémi also provided on update on current INMHA initiatives, including; working with the Fogarty International Center and the US National Institutes of Health on an initiative for the joint funding of a program on stigma and working with Statistics Canada and other partners on funding an initiative for the analysis of the Canadian Community Health Survey on Mental Health and Well being. The Canadian Tobacco Control Research Summit was held April 19-21 and a report should be available for distribution shortly.
The Scientific Director announced that the RPPC research priority committee of CIHR has selected nine flagships project and that he will be the leader for two of them: Nicotine addiction and tobacco abuse and Regenerative Medicine. There is a lot of commitment for regenerative medicine.
Stan Kutcher introduced Dr. Sotelo and Dr Ruis from the Mexican Instituto Nacional de Neurologia y Neurocirugia, with whom he had met when he traveled to Mexico as part of the CIHR delegation to the Mexican Institutos Nacionales de Salud. Drs. Sotelo and Ruis gave an overview of their Institute and discussed opportunities for collaborative work with INMHA: exchange of post graduate students, short training visits (3 months), sabbatical visits, collaborative co-funded projects, courses and lectures.
Two Dalhousie University based researchers gave presentations on their research work. Dr. Bill Baldridge, CIHR New Investigator from the Laboratory for Retina and Optic Nerve Research in the Departments of Anatomy & Neurobiology and Ophthalmology presented "Retinal ganglion cell calcium dynamics in experimental glaucoma". Dr. Sherry Stewart, CIHR Investigator from the Department of Psychology presented "Substance Abuse Sub-Types: Implications for Treatment Matching and Prevention".
IAB focus groups provided updates on their work.
Rémi highlighted funding research personnel awards from the Fall 2001 CIHR Research Personnel Awards competition. He a discussion on the use of the uncommitted funds for 2002-2003. A consensus was reached on funding more grants from the March competition whose results will be known in June. Dr Steinbach suggested that these one-year grants be named "bridging grants". action: the uncommitted budget for year 2002-2003 will be affected to funding more grants related to INMHA in the March competition
Gordon Duval attended a conference in San Francisco on Ethics and Neurosciences. Neurosciences face many difficult ethical issues. He also reported on a teleconference of the focus group. There is the need to increase capacity in Canada. Françoise Baylis commented on the ethical aspect of gene therapy research conducted by George Karpati and his team. action: It was decided to organize a workshop on Ethics related to topics relevant to INMHA in the fall.
Stanley Kutcher discussed collaboration with Mexico: co-funding of projects, co-training, co-development, exchanges. Mexico could be used as a model to work with other international agencies. Michel Maziade reported on his visit at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden to discuss with scientists involved in genomics research. There are many outstanding scientists in that field in Canada. According to Rémi, the Karolinska is very interested to partner with CIHR and INMHA. action: Stan Kutcher will work on a fundgin agreement with Mexico. Roberta Palmour and Michel Maziade will work on a proposal dealing with neurogenomics for a workshop in the fall.
Rémi would like that INMHA put forward Canadian researchers for prizes and awards (Order of Canada, Medical Hall of Fame, Nobel Prize, Lasker Award). Actions : Rémi invited suggestions of candidates for these awards and names of scientists or lay persons whose contributions could be recognized at INMHA annual meeting.
Marlene Reimer and the members of the group prepared a list of do and don'ts from review of the last Training Grants program. The group also wrote a response to Clinician Scientist initiative CIHR. It is suggested not to use such physician-centric approach and to consider clinical scientist in a broader perspective: nurse, physiotherapist, etc. action : This list of do and don'ts related to Training Grant Application will be translated and put on the Web site.
Phil Upshall reported on the Standing Committee on Human Rights and Justice, chaired by Andy Scott. He also distributed a copy of Chapter 5 of the Report of the Standing Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Science, and Technology, chaired by Senator Kirby. CIHR and research community need to communicate with the government and its agencies. action: Phil proposed to send a letter of support to Rick Hansen following the launch of its major initiative. Strong links with the new vice-presidents should be established.
Lisa McKerracher provided update on ways for INMHA to interact with biopharma companies, support partnerships, and work with researchers and industry. action: Lisa proposed that a committee starts to work on a potential industrial fellowship program and training program on commercialization.
Local IAB member Stan Kutcher hosted dinner on the first evening, with guests Dr. Benjamin Rusak, CIHR University Delegate for Dalhousie University and representatives of the Nova Scotia Minister of Health and the World Health Organization.
On the second day, Martin Steinbach reported on the Vision Health Research meeting planned for June 2nd, 2002 in Toronto. The meeting will identify research needs in the area of vision health with approximately forty participants, representing all areas of vision research, other CIHR Institutes, NGO partners and also the US National Eye Institute.
Eric Single reported on a new instrument (MGIS) created by David Brown to measure gambling problem. He proposed to create a focus group on new methodologies and to hold a workshop to promote better measurements. This initiative could involve most of CIHR Institutes.
Rémi Quirion thanked IAB members and Institute staff for their work and commitment during the first year of their mandate. IAB members looked back over the year and discussed work and areas neglected. Tony Philipps thanked the Scientific Director and the staff for the major accomplishments of the first year, the strategic plan being an important one.
Updates were provided on three of the four large themes of the INMHA strategic plan
Nicotine addiction and tobacco abuse initiative: A final report on the Tobacco Summit held in Ottawa in April should be available in July. RFA should be launched in early 2003 in collaboration with our partners. Addiction is the key of this initiative. Peter Scholefield, Eric Single, Roberta Palmour et Stan Kutcher will be in charge to develop this initiative further for INMHA.
Regenerative medicine: Stem cells are a very hot topic. Rémi will attend a meeting on nanotechnology in Ottawa in June. Rémi, Martin Steinbach, Peter Scholefield, Lisa McKerracher and Gordon DuVal will be in charge of this initiative.
First episodes: Stan Kutcher, Jack Jhamandas and Richard Brière are in charge of this strategic initiative. David Withehorn, Acting Director of Nova Scotia Early Psychosis Program, was hired by Stan Kutcher to help in the development of this initiative. The topic is very innovative and it is difficult to evaluate the response of the community to an RFA on it. action : it was decided to invite a panel of leaders in the field to develop the research agenda in the fall before launching the RFA in early 2003.
Two IAB members gave presentations on aspects of their research;. Alain Lesage presented "Downsizing psychiatric hospitals: needs for care, costs and organizational analysis" and. Tony Phillips presented "Towards a valid animal model of depression".
The meeting ended with discussions on the plans for the INMHA Annual Meeting, which will be held on Montreal October 5th and 6th, 2002 with INMHA partners, NGOs, VHOs, and scientists. The next IAB meeting will take place Friday, October 4th in Montreal, preceding the INMHA Annual Meeting.
