Table of Contents |
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| Message from the Scientific Director | 5 | |
| Profile of the Institute | 7 | |
| Outstanding Research | 8 | |
| Excellent Researchers and a | ||
| Robust Research Environment | 11 | |
| Partnerships and Public Engagement | 15 | |
| Translation and Use of Knowledge | 18 | |
| Organizational Excellence | 20 | |
| Financial Statements | 25 |
As the Scientific Director of the Institute of Musculoskeletal Health and Arthritis (IMHA), I am pleased to have this opportunity to share with you the challenges, opportunities and fruits of our collective labours over the course of this past year.
One of the most important tasks for any "start up" is the development of a strategy and vision that will effectively guide an organization's efforts. To address this issue, our outstanding Institute Advisory Board (IAB) participated in a two-day retreat last October designed to nail down a plan that would serve as a road map for IMHA's future. With the release of our first Strategic Plan, I am confident that we have indeed succeeded in creating such a road map. Not only will our plan help us establish ourselves as the main meeting ground for all stakeholders interested in IMHA and its research priorities but, most importantly, it will help us achieve our vision - to sustain health and enhance quality of life by eradicating the pain, suffering and disability caused by arthritis, musculoskeletal, oral and skin conditions.
Overall, our Strategic Plan represents our best efforts to match our remarkable scientific strengths and opportunities with public health need. Even before our plan was formalized, however, we knew that one of the most effective ways to accomplish this task was to bring stakeholders together to look at the issues and to formulate pertinent research questions. And so, over the past year, IMHA spearheaded and participated in a number of workshops designed to do just that. Of these, the Osteoarthritis (OA) Consensus Conference most definitely stands out as a model for the future.
Organized in partnership with The Arthritis Society and the Canadian Arthritis Network, the OA Consensus Conference provided a forum for nearly 200 people: physicians, scientists, health policy makers, industry, consumers and advocacy groups to come together to examine current research and to share information that will lead to the formulation of a national osteoarthritis research strategy - one that we hope will help eradicate the most crippling disease of Canada's aging population. The OA Conference also paved the way for an even grander undertaking, the creation of a National Arthritis Plan. While we are at the very preliminary stages of this endeavour, we hope to move quickly to bring it to fruition.
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Creating the kind of research environment necessary to tackle conditions like osteoarthritis, however, demands that we work together towards building research capacity. In July 2001, we launched the Strategic Training Program to support the development of innovative, effective and competitive research training programs. To date, we are contributing to ten of these training centres across the country and are the CIHR lead for five centres spearheaded by prominent research leaders - Dr. Richard P. Ellen, Dr. Graeme K. Hunter, Dr. Hubert Labelle, Dr. David Goltzman, and Dr. Ronald Zernicke.
As a follow up to the Strategic Training Program, we recently launched a number of new Requests for Applications (RFA's) designed to foster research in our six focus areas - arthritis, bone, skin, muscle, rehabilitation and oral health. Each of the new RFA's posted on our website were designed to address a particular need, and to help create the kind of culture that
will attract and support the 100,000 new researchers and scientists Canada is expected to require by the year 2010.
As an Institute, we recognize that we have a tremendously important responsibility - to assist in formulating CIHR's research agenda by identifying the goals and outcomes required to address the changes inherent in our aging population. Today, IMHA's research findings are transforming knowledge -not only in the way musculoskeletal health care is delivered, but also in terms of creating an improved system of health for all Canadians. With your help, we believe that we can continue to add significant value to all stakeholders in the Canadian health research community by providing new information, new financial resources, strategic leadership, recognition of our people and achievement of our vision.
Dr. Cyril Frank
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The Institute of Musculoskeletal Health and Arthritis (IMHA) is one 13 virtual Institutes created by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research to bring representatives of the research community, provincial government agencies, international research organizations, health professions, policy-makers, industry, patients and partners together to shape a national health research
Unlike most Institutes, IMHA is comprised of six equally important focus areas -Arthritis, Rehabilitation, Bone, Muscle, Skin and Oral Health - each led by a member of the Institute's Advisory Board. Working together, IMHA is committed to achieving its vision - to sustain health and enhance quality of life by eradicating the pain, suffering and disability caused by arthritis, musculoskeletal, oral and skin conditions.
In March 2002, IMHA's Board set out to more clearly define its direction creating a list of four broad research priorities that would provide the focal point for IMHA-related research in 2002. These priority areas include:
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Outstanding research requires definition of the important research questions -questions that are clear, concise, relevant and action oriented. One of the best ways to create these kinds of questions is to bring stakeholders together to identify the issues and formulate key research questions. These questions serve as the basis for generating Requests for Applications (RFA's), in partnership with all participants, and the funds necessary to support outstanding research - the kind of research that will lead to more effective health services and a strengthened Canadian health care system.
Thus, working together with other Institutes and a broad range of stakeholders, IMHA has spearheaded and participated in workshops that revolve around its six foci. The following provides an overview of some of the workshops supported to date:
Wound Workshop (July 2001)
The objective of the Wound Workshop was to identify issues relevant to the care of problem wounds. Workshop outcomes included a preliminary assessment of costs pertaining to restricted areas of wound care in selected Canadian institutes; identification of RFA's around wound healing research and creation of a Canadian Wound Research Group (CWRG) that will function as the basic wound research platform in Canada.
Disability Models and Disability Statistics in Canada Workshop (Nov 2001)
The Disability Models and Disability Statistics in Canada Workshop was designed to develop a rationale for the importance of expanding - and making coherent - Canada's approach to collecting disability data. Some of the outcomes included: collecting administrative data on health encounters across the continuum of care; inclusion of disability-related questions in both the Canadian Community Health and the General Social Survey; generation of RFA's setting out requirements of use of existing data streams using interdisciplinary teams of researchers and including individuals with disability in all aspects of research.
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Rehabilitation Workshop (March 2002)
The Rehabilitation Workshop set out to create a national rehabilitation strategy that would involve a variety of components from syntheses of research and best practices and establishment of a rehabilitation/disability framework to the creation of goals for both research and knowledge translation and identification of constraints and issues. At the conclusion of the workshop, a multi-organizational task force was created to begin exploring asset mapping and identification of specific sub-areas of development (i.e. Aboriginal people's health; Health Economics and Peer Review). Potential for NCE applications in rehabilitation was also identified as a key outcome.
Osteoarthritis (OA) Consensus Conference (April 2002)
The OA Consensus Conference was planned and executed in an exciting partnership amongst the Institute of Musculoskeletal Health and Arthritis, The Arthritis Society and the Canadian Arthritis Network. It was a first of its kind endeavour, one that set a unique precedent for osteoarthritis research not only in Canada, but also around the world. Bringing together a broad range of stakeholders from members of the voluntary sector, researchers, industry representatives, trainees and consumers, the conference focused around a vision -to bring an end to the pain, suffering and disability of people affected by osteoarthritis. As a result of the conference, IMHA has launched an RFA addressing the need for knowledge translation-related research in osteoarthritis. The conference also laid the groundwork for the development of a national osteoarthrtis research strategy that will fall under the umbrella of an overarching National Arthritis Plan, currently in development, that will see many other important research initiatives and partnerships develop over the next few years.
Grant Writing Workshop (April 2002)
In the interests of building research capacity, IMHA sponsored a Grant Writing Workshop, to help take the mystery out of preparing a grant application. Led by Mary Ann Linseman, as a follow up to the OA Consensus Conference, the workshop endeavoured to provide answers to some of the most commonly asked questions and to help increase an investigator's chances for success. In future, as much as possible, IMHA plans to organize these kinds of workshops in conjunction with other programs and activities it is involved in.
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The session also focused on strategies designed to improve the recruitment and training of future researchers and academics.
Oral Health Workshop (June 2002)
In June, IMHA spearheaded an Oral Health Workshop to define the priorities in oral health. Bringing together a broad group of stakeholders from the research community, academic administrators, patient representatives and professional organizations, the workshop set out to define oral health problems within specific Canadian populations and to examine the oral health research priorities expressed by dentists and oral researchers. The participants identified a series of research priorities that should be transformed into RFA's. The session also focused on strategies designed to improve the recruitment and training of academics. A post-conference action plan is currently in development and, upon completion, will be posted to IMHA's website for public feedback and subsequent action.
Muscle Workshop (July 2002)
Canadians are international leaders in muscle research and have helped elucidate the molecular basis of a variety of muscle diseases. Yet, the community is scattered and communication is poor. With the advent of the Xth International Congress on Neuromuscular Diseases in Vancouver, IMHA seized the opportunity to bring stakeholders together to explore the landscape and take steps towards the establishment of a Canadian Muscle Research Subcommittee.
Research Priorities and Planning Committee (RPPC)
IMHA is participating in a number of CIHR's cross-cutting initiatives including: the Rural and Northern Health; Environmental Influences on Health; Reducing Health Disparities and Promoting the Health of Vulnerable Populations and Clinician-Scientist. IMHA also plans to take on a greater role in the development of an "Injury, Repair and Restoration" initiative in collaboration with other Institutes.
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Over the next two decades, the prevalence of many chronic diseases and conditions is going to increase, consuming a far greater proportion of Canada's health care resources. Chronic pain, loss of mobility and function, and loss of independence are common outcomes of a host of musculoskeletal and connective tissue conditions from arthritis and systemic rheumatic diseases, to osteoporosis, caries and periodontal disease, and orofacial neuropathies. We know that the incidence of IMHA-related conditions is increasing, and governments and taxpayers have begun to realize the impact of these kinds of common diseases on their health agendas, systems, services and budgets. To address these problems, we must support programs and activities that will create a robust research environment - one that not only supports excellence today, but also cultivates and builds a strong foundation for the researchers of tomorrow.
Novel, exciting and innovative research is a cornerstone of CIHR. To facilitate more rapid evolution of breakthrough technologies and thinking IMHA has, in partnership with the Institute of Genetics, developed and implemented two new program tools:
New Discoveries (RFA)
The New Discoveries RFA provides seed grants that are specifically designed to encourage novel, innovative, and inventive research. Successful applications must be more than unique, original, and extraordinary, however, they must be of excellent quality and potential. Despite their inherent risks, proposals submitted to the New Discoveries program must prove exciting to peer reviewers and demonstrate the potential for significant impact.
Invention - Tools, Techniques and Devices for Research and Medicine (RFA)
Hypothesis-driven-biomedical research projects currently rely on an array of tools, techniques and methodologies. The invention, development and/or improvement of new research tools and techniques, however, is crucial and tightly linked to scientific discovery. This program is designed to promote the engagement of Canadian scientists in research projects designed to advance research tools and techniques in the broadest sense where invention and development, rather than discovery, is the essence of these projects.
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To complement these new programs and to arm our communities with the best evidence available, IMHA is, in partnership with stakeholders and led by its IAB members, conducting an analysis of research strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) in its six foci areas. In addition, IMHA is working to help foster excellent research and a vibrant research climate through the following programs and activities:
Strategic Training Grants
The Strategic Training Grants (STG) program is designed to bring researchers together to benefit from the mutual sharing of knowledge and experience. IMHA has contributed to 10 of these and has taken the lead on five as follows:
A new RFA was launched in May 2002 to fund up to three new Strategic Training Grants - STG's in muscle, rehabilitation and skin have been strongly encouraged.
Team Building
One of the most effective ways to build capacity is to create a pool of knowledge and experience by bringing individuals together who possess complementary skills and abilities. In this regard, IMHA is supporting the following programs:
Multi-Institute Initiatives
IMHA is supporting, and will continue to support, other Institute-driven initiatives such as: Population Based Health and Health Service Data in Canada; the National Dialogue on Healthy Body Weights and the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging.
Networks of Centres of Excellence
The Networks of Centres of Excellence (NCE) program is an integral component of the federal government's Innovation Strategy involving the "teaming-up" of Canada's top researchers from universities, industry and government and a pooling together of the skills and resources required to investigate areas of strategic importance. IMHA is a strong advocate of these centres and is actively involved in providing seed funding for the development of four potential National Centres: CurePain - led by Jim Henry; Rehabilitation Engineering -spearheaded by Dr. Geoff Fernie; Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine - led by Dr. Michael Sefton; and Richard Worsfold who is working to encourage health researchers to participate in the Mission to Mars submission. Exciting new networks will be seeded by these initiatives.
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Canada Research Chairs
The key objective of the Canada Research Chairs Program is to enable Canadian universities, together with their affiliated research institutes and hospitals, to achieve the highest levels of research excellence and to become world-class research centres in the global, knowledge-based economy. Demonstrating our existing strength, there are currently 41 research chairs relating to IMHA's six foci areas. Over time, IMHA plans to monitor the development and success of these, and others, through its training and program initiatives.
Canadian Foundation for Innovation
The goal of the Canadian Foundation for Innovation (CFI) is to strengthen the capability of Canadian universities, colleges, research hospitals, and other not-for-profit institutions to carry out world-class research and technology development. By investing in research infrastructure projects, the CFI supports research excellence and helps strengthen research training at institutes across Canada. The CFI has awarded over 55 grants of relevance to IMHA's objectives that will serve to broaden and strengthen its research communities; yet another measure of the strength that IMHA plans to build on in conjunction with its partners.
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As IMHA moves forward, it is critical that stakeholders with a vested interest in IMHA-related issues and activities are engaged early on in the research-agenda-setting process. Through partnerships, IMHA will be empowered to draw stakeholders together to address pressing health issues resulting in the generation and translation of new knowledge. Working together as a collective force with common strategies and activities will establish IMHA as a national network, and enhance its ability to compete on an international scale for worldwide recognition. To this end, IMHA has been involved in the following activities.
Partnership Agreements
Working together as a collective force with common strategies and activities will establish IMHA as a national network, and enhance its ability to compete on an international scale for worldwide recognition
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Through programs like the Mission to Mars and Operational Space Medicine, the Canadian Space Agency is actively involved in undertakings that are closely aligned with IMHA's research priorities.
Patient/Public Outreach
Special Programs
For knowledge to be useful in the real world, appropriate mechanisms must be put in place to support a meaningful two-way exchange of information. While stakeholders require accessible information that can be easily understood and acted upon, they must also be provided an opportunity to become active participants in the research-agenda-setting process. On the other hand, the research community, health care professionals and policy makers require public input to guide their decision-making. To facilitate this critical knowledge exchange process, IMHA was/is involved in the following:
While stakeholders require accessible information that can be easily understood and acted upon, they must also be provided an opportunity to become active participants in the research-agenda-setting process.
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To be successful, IMHA requires a strong accountable organization - one that possesses the vision and leadership, human resource capabilities, project management and communication skills necessary to help it achieve its goals and objectives. To position IMHA for success, the following organizational structure has been implemented:
Scientific Director
Assistant Director
Project Manager/ Analyst (Ottawa-based Resource)
Sr. Communications Officer
Administrative Officer
Administrative Assistant
Database Operator/ Communications Assistant
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The Institute enjoys the leadership of a committed and actively involved Advisory Board that meets four times a year, in addition to an annual retreat, to establish and fine-tune the Institute's policies and direction. IMHA's Advisory Board is comprised as follows:
Juliette Cooper, Chair (Manitoba)
Jane Aubin (Ontario)
Elizabeth Badley (Ontario)
Edmund Biden (New Brunswick)
Flora Dell (New Brunswick)
John Dossetor (Ontario)
Cy Frank (Alberta)
James Lund (Québec)
Joan McGowan (NIH)
David McLean (British Columbia)
Robert McMurtry (Ontario)
Henri A. Ménard (Québec)
Denis Morrice (Ontario)
A. Robin Poole (Québec)
Ilona Skerjanc (Ontario)
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The following subcommittees have also been established to better manage the business of the Board:
Executive: Chair, Juliette Cooper Budget: Chair, Denis Morrice
Ethics: Chair, John Dossetor
Workshops: Chair, Henri A. Ménard
RFA: Co-Chairs, James Lund and Ilona Skerjanc
Partnerships: Chair, Hélène Plante
Communications: Chair, Doris Ward
Board Retreat
In September 2001, the Board participated in its first Strategic Planning Retreat to address the following:
IMHA strives to create a vibrant Institute culture based on the following guiding principles:
For further information on the Institute of Musculoskeletal Health and Arthritis, please visit our Website.
Institute of Musculoskeletal Health and Arthritis . Institute Support Grant
For the year ended March 31, 2002
| Available Funds | $1,351,607 | |
| Expenses | ||
| Institute Development | ||
| Conference, symposia and workshops | $67,846 | |
| Institute Advisory board | 41,230 | |
| Professional services | 3,795 | |
| Travel Expenditures | 65,992 | |
| Other costs | 721 | $179,584 |
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| Institute Operations | ||
| Salaries and benefits | $256,869 | |
| Telephone and communication services | 6,358 | |
| Supplies, materials and other services | 23,335 | |
| Office furniture and fixtures | 992 | |
| Computer equipment and IT support | 15,560 | |
| Professional Services | 40,671 | |
| Travel Expenditures | 50,492 | |
| Translation Costs | 1,380 | |
| Other expenditures | 44,530 | $440,187 |
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| Total Expenses | $619,771 | |
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| Unspent Balance* | $731,836 | |
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* Note : The unspent balance as at March 31, 2002 is carried forward to the subsequent fiscal year
Institute of Musculoskeletal Health and Arthritis . Investments in Strategic Initiatives
For the year ended March 31, 2002
| Initiatiaves stratégiques | Nombre | 2001-02 | 2002-03 | 2003-04 | 2004 et après | Total |
| Knowledge Translation | 1 | $50,000 | $50,000 | |||
| New Emerging Team Grant Program (NET Program) | 1 | 6,250 | 75,000 | 75,000 | 218,750 | 375,000 |
| Strategic Training Initiative in Health Research | 6 | 90,991 | 981,278 | 996,660 | 3,765,251 | 5,834,180 |
| 8 | $147,241 | $1,056,278 | $1,071,660 | $3,984,001 | $6,259,180 |
* Note: Grants and awards in respect to these programs are approved for 1 to 6 years. Figures displayed represent CIHR financial commitments for those programs in 2001-02 and subsequent years. Availability of these funds in future years are subject to funding appropriations by Parliament. For some initiatives, partners also contributed to the funding of the grants and awards.
