Government of Canada Invests in World-Leading Health Research Projects to Benefit Canadians

Ottawa, September 25, 2012 – The Honourable Gary Goodyear, Minister of State (Science and Technology), today announced the Government of Canada’s support for state-of-the-art research that will have direct impact on the health of Canadians and provide economic benefits for Canada.

“Our Government understands that research and development are essential for achieving higher productivity and maintaining a high standard of living in Canada,” said Minister of State Goodyear. “That is why we support original research: to boost innovation and productivity in all fields including health care.”

The Government’s investment of over $19 million will go to 37 projects and will be provided through the Collaborative Health Research Projects (CHRP) grant—a partnership between the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR). Grants offered under the CHRP assist with interdisciplinary collaborations between researchers in the fields of the natural sciences, engineering, and the health sciences. Grant recipients are selected following a rigorous peer review competition.

“This program demonstrates our Government’s commitment to investing in cutting-edge health research,” said the Honourable Leona Aglukkaq, Minister of Health. “The Collaborative Health Research Projects lead to innovations in health systems and products, which will benefit all Canadians.”

McGill University received over $450,000 to study the impact of air pollution on the health of people living in urban areas. Dr. Marianne Hatzopoulou will explore how pedestrians and cyclists are exposed to higher concentrations of pollutants as compared to other road users. Findings from her research will help cities design better air pollution guidelines to improve street-level air quality in dense urban areas.

“These grants support interdisciplinary research that is finding solutions to challenges in health-related fields,” said Suzanne Fortier, President of NSERC. “World-leading researchers in science, engineering and health will work together to seek solutions to important health care problems, and lead to new treatments and technologies that will help patients for years to come.”

“The Collaborative Health Research Projects place the patient at the heart of the research,” said Dr. Alain Beaudet, President of CIHR. “The program creates incentives for health researchers to work with private sector partners to improve patient care by translating research findings into more effective health products, technologies, and tools.”

NSERC is a federal agency that helps make Canada a country of discoverers and innovators for all Canadians. The agency supports some 30,000 post-secondary students and postdoctoral fellows in their advanced studies. NSERC promotes discovery by funding more than 12,000 professors every year and fosters innovation by encouraging about 2,000 Canadian companies to participate and invest in post-secondary research projects.

CIHR is the Government of Canada’s health research investment agency. CIHR’s mission is to create new scientific knowledge and to enable its translation into improved health, more effective health services and products, and a strengthened Canadian health care system. Composed of 13 Institutes,  CIHR provides leadership and support to more than 14,100 health researchers and trainees across Canada.

More information on the CHRP initiative is available in the backgrounder.

For further information (media only), please contact:

Michèle-Jamali Paquette
Director of Communications
Office of the Honourable Gary Goodyear
Minister of State (Science and Technology)
Tel.: 613-947-2956

Media Relations
Industry Canada
Tel.: 613-943-2502

Daniel Séguin
Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada
Tel.: 613-996-4690
E-mail: [email protected]

Backgrounder

Collaborative Health Research Projects Program

The Collaborative Health Research Projects (CHRP) Program supports collaborative research projects involving any field of the natural sciences or engineering and the health sciences. The CHRP Program is jointly funded by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR).

The CHRP Program supports innovative interdisciplinary research with a strong focus on knowledge translation that will impact on the health of Canadians and provide economic benefits for Canada. In 2012, the 37 recipients received an average grant of approximately $177,500 per year, for up to three years, for defined projects with clear milestones and decision points.

The objectives of the CHRP Program are to:

• translate research results to end users and other stakeholders;
• encourage the NSERC and CIHR communities to collaborate and integrate their expertise in their novel research activities;
• advance interdisciplinary research leading to knowledge and technologies useful for improving the Canadian healthcare system and services; and
• train highly qualified personnel in collaborative and interdisciplinary research relevant to health.

The active participation and support of a non-academic knowledge/technology user organization is required in order to apply to this program. The knowledge/technology user must be an organization with the potential to use the knowledge generated through the research and apply it to new health-related products, policies, programs or practices outside the research setting.

The participation of two or more independent researchers with complementary expertise is required. Team composition must include expertise in the natural sciences or engineering and the health sciences. New collaborations between researchers in the natural sciences and engineering and medical researchers, clinicians, social scientists and humanists are strongly encouraged. Collaborators from other sectors (e.g., government and industry) and foreign researchers are welcome to participate, but are expected to bring their own resources to the project.

NT3