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A world-class health research enterprise that creates, disseminates and applies new knowledge across all areas of health research.
CIHR supports health research in order to improve the health of Canadians and to deliver more effective health care services to Canadians. Supporting health research that leads to this outcome may be through: creating health knowledge which leads to the development of new and better ways to prevent, diagnose and treat disease; ensuring Canada has top quality health researchers who can conduct innovative, as well as responsive, health research; commercializing health research discoveries; or advancing the introduction of effective practices and policies.
CIHR supports all of these approaches to better health, through four program activities: Health Knowledge; Health Researchers; Health Research Commercialization; and Health and Health Services Advances. All of CIHR's programs are aligned with the "Healthy Canadians" Government of Canada outcome.
This Program Activity supports the creation of new knowledge across all areas of health research to improve health and the health system. This is achieved by managing CIHR's open competition and related peer review processes based on internationally accepted standards of scientific excellence.
Human Resources (FTEs) and Planned Spending ($ millions) | |||||
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2011-12 | 2012-13 | 2013-14 | |||
FTEs | Planned Spending | FTEs | Planned Spending | FTEs | Planned Spending |
85 | 440.0 | 85 | 449.2 | 85 | 456.0 |
Program Activity Expected Results | Performance Indicators | Targets |
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Health research advances knowledge. | Outputs and impacts of CIHR-funded research. |
Maintain or increase:
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The Open Research Grant Program provides operating funds to support research proposals in all areas of health research.
Canadians benefit from this health knowledge in a number of ways. Some research is aimed at immediate solutions such as finding ways of making the delivery of health services more efficient, while more basic research lays ground work for understanding preventative opportunities, such as the mechanisms underlying sodium-induced health risks.
For example, the work being done by Dr. Hertzel Gerstein of McMaster University has resulted in new insight into treatments that can reduce the risk of heart disease among people with Type 2 diabetes. His work with the ACCORD study group has found that aggressively controlling the blood pressure of Type 2 diabetic patients is not effective and that combining a statin (a drug commonly used to control cholesterol) with another drug called a fibrate was no better at reducing risk than the statin alone. The ACCORD group's work provides important guidance to physicians treating patients with Type 2 diabetes, many of whom are at greater risk of dying from cardiovascular disease.
This Program Activity aims to build health research capacity to improve health and the health system by supporting the training and careers of the best health researchers through a competitive peer review process based on internationally accepted standards of scientific excellence.
Human Resources (FTEs) and Planned Spending ($ millions) | |||||
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2011-12 | 2012-13 | 2013-14 | |||
FTEs | Planned Spending | FTEs | Planned Spending | FTEs | Planned Spending |
32 | 204.7 | 32 | 194.3 | 32 | 187.7 |
Program Activity Expected Results | Performance Indicators | Targets |
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A strong and talented health research community with the capacity to undertake health research. | Number, types and share of graduate trainees in Canada compared to international levels. | Maintain or increase international ranking. |
Number and fields of investigators and trainees funded. | Maintain number and diversity (by theme and Institute domain) of trainees funded. |
The Salary Support Programs provide salary support to help new health researchers develop their careers and devote more time to initiating and conducting health research. There is intense competition globally for talent and CIHR's programs are designed to attract and keep the brightest minds in Canada throughout their research careers. Young investigators will continue to be supported through the awarding of salary support awards that will enable them to devote more time to research.
For example, the Open Salary Support Program provides salary support to help new health researchers develop their careers and devote more time to initiating and conducting health research in any area related to health. In 2011-12, CIHR plans to spend $13.6 million on salary support programs to support approximately 230 researchers.
The Training Support Programs provide support and special recognition to master, doctorate, post-doctorate or post-health professional degree students who are training in health research areas in Canada or abroad. For example, in 2011-12, CIHR plans to spend $26.2 million on Open Training Support Programs.
A number of programs within this Program Activity are administered in collaboration with the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. They are often referred to as Tri-Council programs, and include:
Canadians benefit from this program activity by having a strong research community that is well positioned to respond to the health challenges Canadians face. CIHR provides direct support to approximately 3,000 researchers and trainees, including undergraduates, masters and doctoral students, postdoctoral fellows and new investigators/researchers through research stipends, many of whom are just getting started in their independent research careers. Additionally, more than 6,000 researchers and trainees are supported by CIHR research grants.
The calibre of these researchers emerges when one looks at, for example, Dr. David Hammond of the University of Waterloo, Canada's Premier Young Researcher for 2010. In an effort to reduce the burden of health caused by tobacco use, Dr. Hammond analysed how the tobacco industry designed labels to recruit new smokers, and demonstrated how that same packaging could be used to discourage people from smoking. Findings from his research have been incorporated into the World Health Organization's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC), which aims to reduce the international demand for, and regulate the supply of, tobacco products.
This program activity supports and facilitates the commercialization of health research to improve health and the health system. This is achieved by managing funding competitions to provide grants, in partnership with the private sector (where relevant); by using peer review processes based on internationally accepted standards of scientific excellence; and by building and strengthening the capacity of Canadian health researchers to engage in the commercialization process.
Human Resources (FTEs) and Planned Spending ($ millions) | |||||
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2011-12 | 2012-13 | 2013-14 | |||
FTEs | Planned Spending | FTEs | Planned Spending | FTEs | Planned Spending |
6 | 45.9 | 6 | 43.1 | 6 | 44.8 |
Program Activity Expected Results | Performance Indicators | Targets |
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Commercial activity – products (patents and intellectual property), companies and employment generated. |
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Maintain or increase:
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The Research Commercialization Programs are a suite of funding initiatives that aim to support the creation of new knowledge, practices, products and services and to facilitate the commercialization of this knowledge. This is done by funding research commercialization projects (such as proof of principle projects) which encourage collaboration between academia and industry in the promotion and support of the commercial transfer of knowledge and technology resulting from health research. In 2011-12, CIHR is planning expenditures of $16.0 million for research commercialization programs.
The suite of Networks of Centres of Excellence Programs (NCE) is delivered collaboratively by NSERC, SSHRC, and CIHR through the NCE Secretariat. They support partnering centres of research excellence with industry capacity and resources, and strategic investment to turn Canadian research and entrepreneurial talent into economic and social benefits for Canada. The NCE programs are national in scope, multi-disciplinary and involve multi-sectoral partnerships between academia, industry, government and the not-for-profit sector (non-governmental organizations). These programs include the NCE grants, the Business-Led Networks of Centres of Excellence Program, and the Centres of Excellence for Commercialization and Research Program (CECR).
Encouraging partnership between health researchers and the private and non-profit sectors is an innovative way of fostering both the health and economic benefits of research. Not only does it provide an effective vehicle for translating new health knowledge into products and services that have the potential to improve the health of Canadians, it also stimulates the economy by creating jobs and producing a competitive advantage for Canada in the global economy.
CIHR recognizes the importance of the commercial process and its role in getting innovative health products to Canadians. One such product making its way from bench to bedside belongs to Dr. Michael Glogauer of the University of Toronto, who developed an oral rinse that can detect neutrophil levels and monitor a person's susceptibility to infection. In a recent effectiveness study, the oral rinse was able to reliably predict whether children who had undergone bone marrow transplants were at an increased risk of infection during recovery up to one week earlier than blood tests would normally predict. To date, the rinse has been patented, and is being further tested to demonstrate its ability to predict the onset of periodontal disease. Canadian company CHX Technologies has partnered with Dr. Glogauer, and is eager to commercialize the product.
Through the competitive peer review process, based on internationally accepted standards of scientific excellence, the programs described below aim to support the creation of new knowledge in strategic priority areas and its translation into improved health and a strengthened health system.
Human Resources (FTEs) and Planned Spending ($ millions) | |||||
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2011-12 | 2012-13 | 2013-14 | |||
FTEs | Planned Spending | FTEs | Planned Spending | FTEs | Planned Spending |
112 | 261.6 | 112 | 249.7 | 112 | 246.7 |
Program Activity Expected Results | Performance Indicators | Targets |
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Translation and use of health research takes place as a result of effective funding programs. |
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Increase or maintain:
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The Knowledge Translation (KT) Program consists of a suite of funding opportunities that aim to support the synthesis, dissemination, exchange and ethically sound application of knowledge in any area of health research. This program supports the science of KT, capacity development in KT science, and integrated KT-collaborative research, which involves researchers and knowledge users working together to address relevant research questions and to exchange and apply knowledge to solve health and health system problems. In 2011-12, CIHR plans to spend $25.8 million on various initiatives supporting knowledge translation. Examples of these include:
The Institute Strategic Initiatives Program is led by CIHR's 13 Institutes and funds grants to support research and awards to support trainees and researchers in strategic priority areas to address health opportunities, threats and challenges to Canadians. The Institutes identify these areas in consultation with stakeholders from government, health care, patient and community groups, researchers, and industry. Proposals are solicited from researchers by issuing a Request for Applications outlining the specific theme/area where research is needed. Applications are peer reviewed using criteria specific to the funding opportunity. In 2011-12, CIHR plans to spend $155.8 million on these types of initiatives.
Some of the Institute Strategic Initiatives include:
CIHR also funds pan-Institute strategic initiatives, including:
The funding of health research in strategic areas has a number of benefits. First, it reduces human suffering caused by specific conditions. For example, in the area of regenerative and nano-medicine, Dr. Tim Keiffer from the University of British Columbia is using gene therapy to regenerate healthy beta cells in the pancreas. Beta cells are responsible for the production of insulin in the human body; when these cells are damaged, individuals develop diabetes. If Dr. Kieffer's research is successful, it could spell an end to multiple daily injections of insulin for people with diabetes.
Second, research finds ways to make Canada's health system more responsive and efficient through collaboration and knowledge sharing. For example, SafetyNet, an extensive CIHR-funded community research alliance led by Drs. Stephen Bornstein and Barbara Neis, is bringing together employers, union representatives, government policy makers, researchers, practitioners and community members from Newfoundland and Labrador to find solutions to health and safety risks associated with occupations such as shellfish processing. The use of a Community-Based Approach (CBA) has allowed those people most involved and aware of the realities of their communities to play a leading role in deciding when and how to intervene. The tools and resources they have developed have been shared with coastal communities across Atlantic Canada and with an international network of researchers.
Internal Services are groups of activities and resources that apply across the organization to support the needs of programs and to meet other corporate obligations of CIHR. These services include such functional areas as Finance, Planning, Human Resources, Information, Technology and Administration Management Services, Strategic Policy, Internal Audit, Evaluation and Risk Assessment, Communications and Public Outreach, and Corporate Governance.
As identified in the Management Priorities, CIHR will continue to strive for organizational excellence and offer a world-class working environment. CIHR will also continue to focus on building a culture of ethical research by promoting and assisting in the discussion and application of ethical principles to health research. In 2011-12, CIHR will complete its second international review, which will assess its performance and related benefits of its investments. Upon completion, executive management will review the recommendations made from the panel of 'blue ribbon' experts, and develop an action plan.
Human Resources (FTEs) and Planned Spending ($ millions) | |||||
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2011-12 | 2012-13 | 2013-14 | |||
FTEs | Planned Spending | FTEs | Planned Spending | FTEs | Planned Spending |
193 | 27.2 | 193 | 27.1 | 193 | 27.1 |