The Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) has launched a new $88-million program to train health researchers for the future over the next six years. The Strategic Training Initiative in Health Research (STIHR) is funding 51 transdisciplinary research projects at an average of $300,000 annually. The program was announced at last week’s BIO2002 conference, although just 20 of the projects worth $34 million are directly related to biotechnology.

The announcement represents the first round of the STIHR, with another round of competition just getting underway. The first round received 234 letters of intent, half of which were submitted for full review before the final 51 were chosen. Launch of the program was triggered by a $75 million increase to CIHR’s base budget delivered in the last federal Budget (R$, December 17/01).

The funding is provided as so-called block grants allowing project leaders greater flexibility to recruit nationally and internationally. They’ll be seeking to build a culture of creativity, innovation and transdisciplinary research with talent best suited to a new era of health research. All evidence points to a future of convergence between biological, behavioral and clinical approaches to health and disease, as well as convergence with mathematics, the physical sciences and social sciences and humanities.

“Each project should be programmatic and develop programs at the post-secondary level, says CIHR president Dr Alan Bernstein, adding that there is also a commercialization aspect to the program. “Researchers can use this to encourage trainees to get exposure to industry and meet with their partners. This kind of matchmaking is very successful in the US.”

Bernstein acknowledges that industry participation is light in the first round but anticipates a far stronger representation next time around.

We hope to see more in the future and we also hope they’ll put cash on the table,” he says. “This is a very good example of what CIHR is doing in terms of the innovation agenda. Half of the agenda is about skills and we have a huge backlog of announcements.”

Best estimates suggest that Canada will require 100,000 new researchers and scientists by 2010, many of whom will be needed in the health field. In each STIHR project, researchers from a variety of backgrounds will act as mentors to trainees, with the end product being postgraduate research degrees and post-doctoral research training.

A complete list of the 51 projects can be found at www.cihr.ca.

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