Minutes - 23rd Institute Advisory Board Meeting

Date: May 9, 2008

Place: Hilton Montréal Bonaventure

Present:

IAB Members

  1. Ron Barr
  2. Angela Brooks-Wilson
  3. Heather Bryant (Chair)
  4. Jacques Corbeil
  5. Richard Doll
  6. Elizabeth Eisenhauer
  7. Margaret Fitch
  8. Scott Leatherdale
  9. William Mackillop
  10. Les Mery
  11. Anne-Marie Mes-Masson
  12. Mark Nachtigal
  13. Morag Park
  14. Steve Pillipow
  15. Cheryl Robertson
  16. Michael Tyers

Guests

  1. Michael Wosnick (NCIC)

CIHR and ICR Staff

  1. Kimberly Banks Hart
  2. Philip Branton (Scientific Director)
  3. Judy Bray
  4. Diane Christin
  5. Dale Dempsey
  6. Isabel Faustin
  7. David Hartell
  8. Benoît Lussier
  9. Gwendoline Malo
  10. Claudia Mongeon
  11. Stephanie Pineda
  12. Diana Sarai
  13. Andrea Smith

Day 2: Friday, May 9, 2008

Call to Order

The meeting was called to order at 9:00 a.m. by Heather Bryant. Minutes of the previous IAB meeting in Ottawa were approved with minor changes in the NCIC report. This meeting agenda was approved with a slight change in the schedule of events. All action items were carried out from the previous meeting.

ICR Budgets and Financial Reports

(Refer to Appendix #1)

Dr. Lussier gave an overview of the Institute budgets in preparation for the IAB’s discussion on funding research priorities. The 2007-08 financial reports and budgets were handed out. He informed the board that there has been a change on how the Institute can use and distribute funds, so that CIHR abides by the rules of the Treasury Board. There are two types of budgets: the Grant vote and the Grant and Contribution vote. Until April 1, 2008, eacdh Institute had two budgets, ISI and ISG. After April 1, Institutes have another budget, the Institute Community Development (ICD) Budget, which is administered in Ottawa and comprises the Meeting, Planning and Dissemination (MPD) Grant and the Institute Community Support.

ICR Portfolios:
ISI Budget: $8M
ISG Budget: $1M
ICD Budget: $100K for workshop and community support – under administrative review

ISG is a stand-alone budget, where funds are not returnable to Ottawa. ISI funds are spent on RFAs and can be used to pay grants in the MPD program (workshops); MPD can also be paid out of the ICD budget. Funds are transferable between ISI and ICD.

ICD Budget: $100K

  • $50K for cancer organizations, e.g. CTCRI
  • $50K for workshop support (MPD grants)

ICR Workshop program: $240K

  • remaining $190K from the ISI Budget (MPD Grant)

The ISG financial report was presented. About $1M was spent in the past year and about $200K is left and will be rolled over next year. ISI budget was prepared for 4 months only because of the end of the SD mandate, effective July 31, 2008. $333K was received on April 1st with carry on of about $200K. Severance pay was budgeted for staff. The ISI Budget was submitted in early April to Ottawa. $6.5M out of the $8M budget is already committed, about $100K is deferred, which leaves uncommitted funds of about $1.4M. There will be no more re-profiling in 2008-09, so we are budgeting at $8M. We might not be able to fund $240K for workshops; but this situation might change through the course of the year as bridge funding might apply in March, and we might get a return.

There is currently a large uncommitted balance in 2009-10 of about $2.9M to launch new initiatives. The earliest launch would be in December 2008 so we must plan as soon as possible. Unspent money will be returned to the CIHR general pool, and will probably be used to fund operating grants. Unspent balance in strategic funds from one PI goes to the next PI.

Update on NCIC/CCS

Dr. E. Eisenhauer gave an update on NCIC and CCS. Both institutions have been partners for the past 61 years. CCS created NCIC to carry on research. Since its inception, there has been a single CEO for both organizations although there are two separate boards. In the past year, CCS contributions to NCIC have been about $50M. At this time the most likely scenario is that the business of NCIC will continue more or less as currently, but by next year under the direct control of CCS. Final decisions will be forthcoming shortly.

Action Item: Bill Mackillop proposed that Terry Fox be invited at the future ICR IAB Meetings, in the same fashion that NCIC was invited.


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Update on Partnerships

Dr. Branton reported on the Canadian Cancer Research Alliance (CCRA). As per yesterday’s discussion, it appears as that CCRA has become a critical tool to coordinate the Canadian cancer research efforts and the Canadian Partnership Against Cancer Corporation (CPACC) is a perfect organization to lead this national discussion. Dr. Branton is currently the chair of the Research Action Group of CPACC until the end of June, 2008. A CCRA Board meeting will soon be organized to plan for the future. CCRA is expected to coordinate priorities and synergize efforts in the country to advance cancer research. Dr. Branton’s experience at NCRI might benefit in future CCRA discussions. A strategic planning working group might also need to be established within CCRA for its next year of operations. Dr. Branton is encouraged about CPACC’s involvement in CCRA.

TFRI is up and running. There are four nodes and funding has started. Partnerships with CPACC on biomarker initiatives ($3M). Translational research focused. Major investment; different structure, not open competition, although peer-reviewed.

CBCRA and CTCRI are both affected by the CCS/NCIC merger:

  • CBCRA is up for renewal following a 2-year extension on Phase III. A National Breast Cancer Research Summit is taking place this month during which a planning meeting is intended for discussing a research strategy. CBCRA is looking at a new structure and partners; however, CIHR will remain a major partner along with others institutions such as Avon.
  • CTCRI: Tobacco is still a big issue in cancer and ICR will continue to provide its financial support with other CIHR Institutes. Even more institutes might join. There are two plans: the first alternative is to house the CTCRI secretariat within CBRPE (Roy Cameron’s unit) or, since about 75% of funds for CTCRI come from CIHR, the 2nd alternative is to house the secretariat within CIHR – with other partners. Other possibilities may be forthcoming, including a greater role by the CCS.

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Update on CPACC

(Refer to Appendix #2)

Dr. Heather Bryant gave an overview on the strategic organization of CPACC, “Cancer control continuum”, from prevention, to treatment and palliation. The main objectives of CPACC are to reduce cancer incidence, enhance the quality of life for those living with cancer and lessen the likelihood of dying from cancer. There is an advisory council working in concert with the board. The main goal is to increase effectiveness and efficiency of the cancer control domain.

Proposed objectives:

  • Close gaps in knowledge to enhance cancer control
  • Accelerate action on what we know
  • Optimize quality and access across Canada
  • Improve cancer experience for Canadians.

Current alignment of CPACC priorities and Action groups:

  • Promoting Optimal Performance
    • Quality and Performance Assurance AG
  • Facilitating Cancer Prevention and Early Detection
    • Primary Prevention AG
  • Supporting the Cancer Patient’s Journey
    • Standards AG
  • Supporting the Cancer Workforce
    • Health Human Resources AG
  • Encouraging Cancer Research
    • Research AG
  • Improving Cancer Information and Access
    • Surveillance AG
  • Providing Excellence in Governance and Accountability
    • CPAC Corporate Management

Key areas of focus:

  • Content Focus areas
  • Foundational Focus areas

Specific initiatives:

  • CAREX – carcinogenic exposure;
  • Cohort – enrolment of 300,000 Canadians;
  • Colorectal and cervical initiatives;
  • Population-based initiative in screening (prevention);
  • Survivorship;
  • Staging;
  • Synoptic reporting (assessments of surgical pathology reports);
  • Indicators (to drive system change);
  • Guidelines.

Some major RFAs will come out from CPACC, but its role is not to fund research.


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CIHR Blueprint II

Dr. Branton indicated that CIHR Blueprint II has just been finalized; however, with the change in President at CIHR and the emergence of the government’s S&T strategy, considerable discussion will take place before this document becomes public.

On another note, Dr. William Mackillop has been recommended as the new IAB Chair and, pending approval by GC, would take over from Dr. Heather Bryant at the end of her term next spring, unless the new SD, in full authority, wishes to amend this decision.

Discussion on Programs to be launched in December:

Advisory Board Members discussed the $2.9M budget to be used in the next fiscal year (2009-10). In order to spend the funds within the time frame, ICR needs to write RFAs by September/October 2008 for the December 2008 launch.

Dr. Branton mentioned that CIHR plans to invest $5M of the $34M budget increase into the cancer stem cell initiative. The Acting-President Pierre Chartrand expects an amount of $1M from ICR for a total of $6M per year, thereby matching Genome Canada investment. Total investment in Canada might total $250M over 5 years. The Cancer Stem Cell Consortium will involve CIHR and other partners to coordinate funding. California is launching its initiative in January 2009, so a December 2008 launch for CIHR-ICR is a good timing.

Creation of sub-group:

ICR will manage the cancer stem cell initiative for CIHR. Dr. Morag Park might discuss it further in a small IAB sub-group and submit ideas to Pierre Chartrand (sub-group is composed of Michael Tyers, Anne-Marie Mes-Masson, William Mackillop and Jacques Corbeil).

Therefore, if this initiative materializes, ICR will have $1.9M of disposable funds for fiscal year 2009-10.

It was noted that the following CIHR Institutes/Organizations have approached ICR for partnering:

  • IMHA – Physical Activity Initiative in 2010 ($0.5M per yr for 5 yrs)
  • IG – From Genes, proteins, cells and patients initiative (emerging team RFA) – December 2009 ($0.5M per yr for 5 yrs)
  • CTCRI ($0.5M)

Options discussed for an RFA, amongst others:

  • R. Doll: CPACC and NCIC are investing in survivorship; it is a relevant area to Canadian populations and provinces. Should we issue a KT grant? Survivorship should be discussed at CCRA.
  • J. Bray: launched one-year funding programs; select appropriate priorities to launch a long-term initiative; what do we do with current programs ending funding, such as Palliative Care and CTRNET?
  • In the fall, the 2010-11 RFAs will be discussed in greater length.
  • Do something similar as CTCRI with IDEA grants (small amount of money for high risk projects that would never have been funded but that constitute a great benefit for the advancement of research should they turn out to be successful). – Proof of Principle (POP) grants. Young investigators.
  • Training: Post-doc, personnel support
  • In case the timeframe does not allow launching anything, ICR might use the money for bridge funding.
  • Key areas: short-term initiatives ($1M); Knowledge Synthesis Grants, one-year funding for new investigators
  • Workshop pool

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Decision:

IAB members agreed to spend the left-over $2.9M on the following projects:

  • $1.0M on Cancer Stem Cells
  • $0.5M CTCRI Funding
  • $1.2M in Bridge Funding (with 50% going to young investigators)
  • $0.2M in Workshop Support

The IAB needs to talk about longer term plans in the fall. We have a list of priorities and we need to look at the envelope of funding mechanisms and tools available. We must identify other priorities, such as ‘survivorship’ (CCRA), and establish a smaller group to plan all this. We should add the NCIC Leadership Fund priorities to the pool and ponder if translational research is still something we wish to do. The facilitator needed for the September IAB Meeting must review the research area, the initiatives currently being funded, the opportunities, and issues to recommend, etc. ICR might wish to concentrate on one or two priorities as opposed to six.

Action Items:

  • Prepare a site review to renew CTRNet (Canadian Tumor Repository Network)
  • Identify champions for the priorities by the September IAB Meeting
  • Recruit a facilitator for the September meeting outside the ICR staff and IAB group

Some agenda items were not covered at this meeting and will be discussed in the fall.

It was agreed to hold 3 meetings per year (September 2008, January 2009 and May 2009) with the first meeting being in either Toronto or Montreal. Other cities were discussed for the remaining IAB meetings, i.e. London, Victoria, Regina and Sherbrooke – all cities which ICR has yet to visit.

Action Item: D. Sarai will send an e-mail to finalize dates for the next IAB meetings.

The meeting on Day 2 was adjourned at 15:15 p.m.

Prepared by Diana Sarai