INMD IAB Minute Highlights - February 2011

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February 24-25, 2011
Vancouver, British Columbia

The Institute of Nutrition, Metabolism, and Diabetes (INMD) held their 31st Institute Advisory Board (IAB) Meeting in Vancouver, British Columbia at the University of British Columbia. The meeting commenced with a poster session, combined with a Meet and Greet session, which was held on campus February 23, 2011. The Poster session provided the IAB members with an opportunity to engage with new researchers. Poster session presenters included students from University of British Columbia, and Simon Fraser University.

The IAB meeting observers for the first day of the Advisory Board meeting were Karen Seto and Gary Fagan from the Canadian Liver Foundation and Tim Murphy from the Children with Intestinal and Liver Disorder (CH.I.L.D.) Foundation. These observers attended the Meet and Greet session and first morning of the IAB meeting.

Two lectureships were provided at the meeting:

1. Timothy Kieffer, University of British Columbia, delivered a compelling lecture entitled: Cell-Based Insulin Replacement for Diabetes.
2. Tanya Verrall, IAB Member, Health Quality Council, Saskatchewan, delivered a compelling lecture entitled: Partnerships for Health System Improvements (PHSI) in action: From funding idea to research reality.

Pan Institute Affairs and Initiatives

Terry Campbell, Director of Pan-Institute Affairs Branch at CIHR, provided an overview of the role of her branch, in supporting the Institutes especially during the transition period when new Scientific Directors are appointed.

International Review

P. Sherman and S. Atkinson reported on the International Review process. Both met with the INMD Expert Review Panel (ERP): Drs. Garret Fitzgerald (Chair), Christian Bréchot and Philip James, along with INMD-related researchers/stakeholders Drs. Denis Richard (Laval – Obesity) and Steve Collins (McMaster – GI).

The next step of the International Review will take place at the end of March, and will focus on CIHR as a whole. The final report will be presented to Governing Council (GC) in June. The Institutes will be required to draft a brief response between June and August.

Workshop Debriefings

Advancing Food and Health Research Priorities
M.J. Makarchuk presented a summary from the INMD workshop, Advancing Food and Health Research Priorities, held November 5-6, 2010 in Edmonton, Alberta.

In order to prioritize the research gaps and opportunities identified at the workshop, a sub-group of the IAB will be created. This committee will help the Institute identify priorities, gaps, strengths, and opportunities. A presentation of the deliberations will be shared with the broader research community in Canada at the annual meeting of the Canadian Nutrition Society in Guelph in June 2011. Feedback from this meeting with stakeholders will be provided to the IAB at the fall meeting, which is being held in Guelph in September 2011.

Developing a Research Agenda to Support Bariatric Care in Canada
P. Belanger presented a summary of the Bariatric Care Workshop held in Montreal, Quebec, December 9-10, 2010. This workshop was co-led by the Canadian Obesity Network (CON). Bariatric Care was defined broadly encompassing a continuum of services and care for people suffering from severe obesity.

The IAB noted that the Bariatric Care workshop and report were focused and presented clear options for research funding; they also acknowledged the strong clinical and health service component to the research agenda.

The next steps are to work with other institutes, provinces, non-governmental organizations, and industry partners to delineate what resources can be leveraged to support this research. A small ad hoc advisory group will be struck to help move this priority along in a timely manner.

INMD Activities Reports

L. Grossman reported on his recent attendance, on behalf of INMD, at the third Building Trust meeting. These gatherings are focused on building trust among academics, NGO's, industry, and government to address the epidemic of obesity.

L. Grossman reported on his recent attendance, on behalf of , at the third Building Trust meeting. These gatherings are focused on building trust among academics, 's, industry, and government to address the epidemic of obesity.

K. Sharkey attended a bariatric workshop, on behalf of INMD, organized by Dr. Denis Richard at Laval University. The meeting focused on clinical aspects of bariatric surgery and on how researchers are using bariatric surgery to better understand energy balance, food regulation, and obesity mechanisms.

R. Haché reported on the changes to the current Institute Advisory Ethics Designates Committee.

S. Atkinson reported on two INMD Café Scientifiques, October 7, 2010 in St. John's and February 2, 2011 in Toronto, which were both entitled Vitamin D: Hope or Hype? The second Café was done in partnership with IMHA (Institute of Musculoskeletal Health and Arthritis). Both sessions with the public were especially interesting given the November 2010 release of the U.S. Institute of Medicine Report on the Dietary Reference Intakes for Calcium and Vitamin D.

P. Sherman announced a number of multi-institute initiatives in which INMD is participating, such as: the Rare Diseases initiative that INMD is co-leading with Institute of Genetics (IG); the Institute of Infection and Immunity (III) workshop on Transplantation; the upcoming Inflammation in Chronic Disease workshop; and the Microbiome meeting in Vancouver.

INMD has been asked to represent CIHR at the annual CIHR - National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) workshop. Every year, a joint scientific workshop is convened, and this year the topic of the workshop is diabetes. The workshop will be held in Shanghai in September. INMD is working with the NSFC to identify mutual topics of interest and potential speakers.

INMD Legacy Programs

P. Bélanger presented on INMD Legacy Programs, including CAG, KRESCENT, and Priority Announcements. He explained how these programs contribute to the mandate of the institute and to its strategic priorities. The purpose of the discussion was to gauge the IAB's level of support for continuing to support these legacy programs.

 

The IAB stressed the importance of getting more evaluation data on outputs and outcomes for all three programs.
Board members also suggested that the Institute have an open policy to other groups interested in partnering to co-fund research. A suggestion was made to develop criteria to guide the Institute in identifying appropriate additional partnerships.

INMD Gaps

INMD staff and board discussed gaps related to diabetes research in INMD's new strategic plan. INMD has had two meetings the Canadian Diabetes Association (CDA). These meetings have been extremely collegial, and the Institute looks forward to working together with the CDA in the future. INMD is also participating in an international partnership opportunity with the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NFSC) in the area of diabetes research.

 

Many other organs are affected by diabetes, and it was suggested that the Institute look for ways to link diabetes to these diseases. Food and Health, Community-Based Primary Health Care, and Personalized Medicine are also highly relevant to diabetes. It was suggested that the INMD consider diabetes research as it related to the strategic plan, to other diseases, and to the level 3 signature initiatives to make sure that diabetes is not forgotten.

INMD Gaps - What's Next?

The IAB discussed how the INMD strategic objectives map onto the new matrix. The ensuing discussion focused on three main initiatives: 1) Food and Health, 2) Environments, Genes and Chronic Disease, and 3) Implementation Research of Clinical Practice Guidelines in diabetes care.

 

Grants and Awards

The Institute Community Support (ICS)
The Institute Community Support (ICS) Program was discussed. P. Sherman provided background on Institute Community Support program, which has had difficulties attracting large application pressure in the past. Overall, the IAB felt this type of program was important to the research communities. It was determined that INMD needs to simplify the application process as well as increase efforts to promote the program.

Prizes and Awards
A comparison of existing prizes and awards within CIHR was discussed. The IAB raised many positive and negative points regarding whether or not INMD should create its own competition for prizes and awards. For the time being, it was decided not to create a competition for prizes and awards.

Travel Awards
The IAB decided to continue to support a travel awards competition for PhD students and post-doctoral fellows. The IAB also felt that the travel awards should be open across the four pillars and across the full mandate of INMD.

Grants and Awards Budget Update
An update of the grants and awards budget was presented. The IAB looks forward to launching grants on Food and Health in the fall of 2011. A workshop on Environments, Genes and Chronic Disease will be planned for next fiscal year (early 2012) to move this research priority forward.

Next Meeting

The next INMD IAB will be held September 2011 at the University of Guelph, Ontario.