Federal Science and Technology: The Pursuit of Excellence - Appendix

Canadian Institutes of Health Research

In June 2003, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) celebrated its third anniversary. The CIHR’s legislated mandate 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.”

As Canada’s premier health research organization, the CIHR supports research and training in four pillars of health research: biomedical science; clinical science; health services and systems research; and social, cultural and environmental determinants of population health. In addition, the CIHR has a mandate not only to create new knowledge but also to translate that knowledge into improved health for Canadians. Knowledge translation means turning research into results to improve health products and services, create more effective health policy and practice, and to strengthen the health care system.

After three years of developing a vibrant health research enterprise, the CIHR launched its Blueprint 2007 to usher in the next step in its evolution. Blueprint 2007 is a strategic plan that identifies five key areas where CIHR will focus over the 2003 to 2008 period:

1. Strengthen Canada’s health research communities.
   
   
2. Address emerging health challenges, and develop national research platforms and initiatives.
   
   
3. Develop and support a balanced research agenda that includes research on disease mechanisms, disease prevention and cure, and health promotion.
   
   
4. Harness research to improve the health status of vulnerable populations.
   
   
5. Support health innovations that contribute to a more productive health system and prosperous economy.

The CIHR cannot fulfil its mandate alone, and has entered into partnerships with other Canadian and international health research organizations, including the voluntary sector, provincial organizations, federal departments and agencies, and biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies. Since research must engage the users and practitioners of health care, the CIHR has also engaged communities and stakeholders in health research on issues relating to safe food and water, homelessness, global health, environmental health, and rural and northern health, to name just a few.

Major Science and Technology Achievements

During the 2002–03 fiscal year, the CIHR supported 4524 operating grants, clinical trials, equipment and maintenance grants, and other grants and awards, at a total cost of $423 362 000. The CIHR also provided 713 salary-support grants and awards, totaling $38 835 000, and 1939 research training grants and awards, totaling $42 246 000. The CIHR was able to increase its number of grants over last year by 9 percent, and its average grant value by almost 11 percent. Success rates in CIHR competitions are now comparable to those of the U.S. National Institutes of Health (around 30 percent).

Other initiatives in support of research (conference support, travel and exchange, institute support grants) totaled $23 127 000, for 142 projects and initiatives. The CIHR also supported the Networks of Centres of Excellence ($25 031 000) and 250 Canada Research Chairs ($34 225 000).

The Government of Canada’s sustained investment in health research and training, and the CIHR’s dedication to excellence in these areas, are yielding nationally and internationally recognized results.

Responding to SARS

A team of Canada’s top health researchers at the University Health Network in Toronto (UHN), has shown positive results for a potential therapeutic treatment for SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome). The UHN’s team, which is composed of physicians and scientists in several Toronto hospitals, alongside other researchers across Canada, took just 11 weeks to sequence the SARS genome. Toward the end of last year, the UHN team announced that they had developed not one, but three potential SARS vaccines, ready to test in animals — and they gave credit for their accomplishments to the CIHR’s ability to get the funding where it was needed, fast. The treatment uses a combination of steroids and an antiviral drug called interferon. The study was published in The Journal of the American Medical Association. In June 2003, the CIHR’s Institute of Infection and Immunity issued a rapid response to SARS by mobilizing Canada’s health research community. As part of an overall three-part health research strategy for SARS, the CIHR announced that Canadian research teams will receive $1.7 million to support research on the causes and consequences of SARS, and the creation of the Canadian SARS Research Consortium to coordinate, promote, and support Canadian research on SARS and newly emerging infectious diseases.

Diabetes

If research in Edmonton by Drs. James Shapiro and Ray Rajotte and their team holds up, Canada will once again have made a major contribution to juvenile diabetes research and treatment. The Edmonton Protocol is supported by a unique partnership between the CIHR, the Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research, the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, and Wyeth-Ayerst. This unique study, involving the transplantation of islet cells into the liver to help patients stay insulin-free, illustrates the potential of health research to yield enormous economic and social returns on relatively small investments. Diabetes is the seventh leading cause of death by disease, affecting more than two million Canadians and costing the health care system $9 billion annually. Indirect costs, including time off work by parents and the social costs of living with a lifelong chronic disease, are also substantial.

Neurology

Thanks to support from the CIHR, Drs. Molly Shoichet and Charles Tator of the University of Toronto have grown spinal cords in porous tubular bridges implanted in rats. While it is too early to declare a solution to spinal cord injuries, the results of this research show that this bridge, which allows tissue to grow, may be a cause for hope.

Extending Life Through Commercialization

Thanks to a CIHR Proof of Principle (POP) grant, Dr. Yves Raymond of the Université de Montréal is determining the potential of a unique technology to improve the life expectancy of thrombosis (stroke) victims and to reduce health care costs. POP program grants provide support for research projects aimed at establishing proof of a discovery’s principle, thereby improving the likelihood of its commercialization. The POP program is offered in conjunction with three other notable programs: the Proof of Principle Partnered (POPP) grants, the CIHR SME Program and the CIHR/Rx&D program. POPP grants fund previous POP grantees at the co-investment stage, undertaking follow-on proof-of-principle activities in partnership with a non-academic investor. The CIHR SME Program is jointly funded by Canadian biotechnology companies to strengthen Canada’s technology-transfer capacity by supporting research commercialization in start-up companies, university spinoffs and SMEs. The CIHR/Rx&D program is a partnership between the CIHR and Canada’s research-based pharmaceutical companies that facilitates collaborative partnerships between universities, academia and governments, with the aim of developing new drugs for the treatment of disease.

Protection Against E. Coli

Tragedy struck Walkerton, Ontario, after E. coli from cow fecal matter contaminated the town’s drinking water. As a result, government inspectors adopted a policy of zero tolerance toward beef that carries a particular E. coli strain. The cost to meat producers has been staggering — as much as $5 billion annually. CIHR Distinguished Investigator Dr. Brett Finlay, a professor at the University of British Columbia, has developed a vaccine to protect cows against E. coli. Dr. Finlay’s vaccine has been effective in a small number of cows, and is now being tested in more than 70 000 of these animals. If successful, the vaccine will help reduce both the dramatic economic and health costs associated with E. coli contamination.

Training and Career Development

Developing a culture of innovation in Canada requires skilled people with training in research, and knowledge of the innovation pipeline. As part of its commitment to training the next generation of health researchers, the CIHR Strategic Training Initiative in Health Research was launched to train new research scientists and develop the adaptability, problem solving, and other key skills necessary to conduct research in an environment of convergent disciplines and approaches. This initiative, the most ambitious and innovative training program of its kind in North America, is critical to building Canada’s health research capacity. To date, more than 80 projects, worth about $1.8 million each, have been funded across Canada in areas such as bioinformatics, cardiovascular health, and genomics (with a total investment in excess of $125 million over six years).

The CIHR’s Establishment Grants contribute to brain gain in Canada by helping host institutions develop competitive recruitment packages that attract established, internationally recognized health researchers. Dr. Prabhat Jha was recently recruited to Toronto’s St. Michael’s Hospital from the World Health Organization in Switzerland to research the spread of HIV- and tobacco-related illnesses. Dr. Jeremy Grimshaw was recruited to the Ottawa Health Research Institute from the University of Aberdeen in the U.K. Dr. Grimshaw’s research will focus on ways to improve the uptake of research findings by health professionals.

Contact Information
Canadian Institutes of Health Research
Tel.: (613) 941-2672
Web site: www.cihr-irsc.ca