Canada's top health research funding organization maps direction for the future

Canadian Institutes of Health Research unveils its Strategic Plan

OTTAWA (January 20, 2004) - Dr. Alan Bernstein, President of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), today released Investing in Canada's Future: CIHR's Blueprint for Health Research and Innovation. Known as CIHR's Blueprint, the document articulates CIHR's vision, mandate and strategic directions for the coming years. CIHR's Blueprint builds on the organization's significant achievements over the past three years and is a significant step in defining CIHR's long-term strategy of becoming Canada's main engine for supporting health research discovery and innovation.

"CIHR is now poised to move to its second stage of evolution - a stage that is designed to accelerate the pace of discovery and its application, ensuring that Canadians reap the health and economic benefits of health research," said Dr. Bernstein. There is a national imperative for health research to move forward more quickly and its results be translated into action more effectively. CIHR vision for the future is to position Canada as a world leader in the creation and use of knowledge through health research that benefits Canadians and the global community."

1. The foundation of CIHR's Blueprint was the extensive work of CIHR's 13 Institutes in developing their own strategic plans. This included wide-ranging consultations with a variety of stakeholders to identify research needs and priorities and to contribute to the development of Canada's first national health research agenda. In addition, CIHR conducted national consultations to gain direct input from health researchers and other stakeholders across the country.
   
   CIHR will continue to play a leadership role in transforming health research in Canada. Over the next few years, CIHR will focus its efforts around five key strategic directions:

1. strengthen Canada's health research communities;
2. address emerging health challenges and develop national research platforms and initiatives;
3. develop a balanced research agenda that includes research on disease mechanisms, treatment, prevention and cure, and health promotion;
4. harness research to improve health of vulnerable populations; and
5. support health innovations that contribute to a more productive health system and prosperous economy.

"CIHR is at the centre of bringing Canada s health research community together," said Dr. Tony Pawson, Director of Research, Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute, Mount Sinai Hospital. "This strategic plan written, by and for, health researchers - provides a clear vision of where we need to go."

"CIHR's Blueprint is a visionary plan that reflects the values and needs of Canada's research institutions and scientific investigators," said Dr. Martha Piper, President of the University of British Columbia. "This new plan will ensure that Canada continues to reap the health benefits from strategic national research investments."

Dr. David J. Hill, Chair of the Council for Health Research in Canada and Scientific Director at the Lawson Health Research Institute commented, "The creation of CIHR has fostered the development of a vibrant health research enterprise in Canada. Now is the time for a forward thinking plan that will help shape the face of health research in Canada and I am confident that CIHR's Blueprint meets this objective."

A key component of CIHR's success is an integrative approach that brings together all members of the health research enterprise, including those who fund research, those who carry it out, and those who use its results. CIHR's Blueprint envisions a future involving close alignment and partnerships among CIHR and its stakeholders, including the public, researchers, universities, hospitals, governments, research agencies, the voluntary health sector, health charities, and industry.

CIHR is Canada's premier agency for health research. Its objective 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 health care system.

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Attachments
Remarks by Dr. Alan Bernstein, President CIHR

Further Information:
Janet Weichel McKenzie,
CIHR, Communications (613) 941-4563