Message from the President: Contribute to the 2011 International Review of CIHR

As part of its commitment to accountability and transparency toward Canadians, CIHR's Governing Council is commissioning an International Review of CIHR. This comprehensive review process will commence in February 2011 with reviews of CIHR's Institutes and will conclude in March 2011 with a review of CIHR as a whole. The purpose of the review will be to obtain rigorous, authoritative and objective advice on how effectively CIHR is fulfilling its mandate.

The review will be conducted by a prestigious panel of international experts, chaired by Dr. Elias Zerhouni, former Director of the US National Institutes of Health. Various sources of evidence will inform the International Review Panel deliberations, including internal assessments, interviews with key stakeholders, and open and targeted surveys.

To voice your views and opinions on CIHR's performance, and to comment on areas of improvement, we invite you to complete an online open submission questionnaire to be accessible from our website starting October 27, 2010. The website will be open until midnight on November 23, 2010.

In addition to the above questionnaire, CIHR is conducting a comprehensive survey to assess its core business practices. This survey will be sent to all CIHR applicants, grantees, peer reviewers, Vice Presidents and Directors of Research. Results from both surveys will be provided to the International Review Panel. Your participation in either one of these two surveys is critical for the International Review process.

For more information about the 2011 International Review, please visit the CIHR International Review 2011 Web page.

Thank you for your time and participation.

Sincerely,

Alain Beaudet, M.D., Ph.D.

President of CIHR