The Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR; french: Instituts de recherche en santé du Canada; IRSC) is a federal agency responsible for funding health and medical research in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by to ...

. Comprising 13 institutes, it is the successor to the Medical Research Council of Canada. CIHR supports more than 13,000 researchers and trainees through grants, fellowships, scholarships, and other funding, as part of the federal government's investment in health research. The

peer review Peer review is the evaluation of work by one or more people with similar competencies as the producers of the work ( peers). It functions as a form of self-regulation by qualified members of a profession within the relevant field. Peer revie ...

process is a vital part of CIHR. Review by panels of peers from the research community ensures that proposals approved for funding by CIHR meet internationally accepted standards of scientific excellence. Along with the

Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC; french: Conseil de recherches en sciences humaines du Canada, CRSH) is a Canadian federal research-funding agency that promotes and supports post-secondary research and traini ...

, and the

Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council The Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC; french: Conseil de recherches en sciences naturelles et en génie du Canada, CRSNG) is the major federal agency responsible for funding natural sciences and engineering rese ...

, the CIHR forms the major source of federal government funding to post-secondary research and are collectively referred to as the "Tri-Council" or "Tri-Agency".

History

CIHR was created by an Act of Parliament on June 7, 2000, bringing together existing government activities. CIHR's annual budget is approximately $1 billion. In 2021, Carrie Bourassa, the scientific director of CIHR's Indigenous health arm, was placed on immediate leave after the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) found no evidence to support her repeated claims of Indigenous ancestry.

Governance

CIHR is a departmental corporation listed in Schedule II of the ''Financial Administration Act''. As an arms' length agency of government, it is accountable to Parliament through the minister of health. CIHR is managed by the president and the 17 members of Governing Council, who are assisted by various Standing and Advisory Committees and a 7-member executive team.

President

Alan Bernstein was the founding president of the agency (2000-2007), followed by Alain Beaudet (2008-2017). Michael Strong, an

ALS Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as motor neuron disease (MND) or Lou Gehrig's disease, is a neurodegenerative disease that results in the progressive loss of motor neurons that control voluntary muscles. ALS is the most comm ...

researcher, was announced as the new president in June 2018.

Institute structure

CIHR consists of 13 "virtual" institutes, each headed by a Scientific Director and assisted by an Institute Advisory Board. They work together to shape a national health research agenda for Canada. The institutes bring together researchers, health professionals, and policy-makers from voluntary health organizations, provincial government agencies, international research organizations, and industry and patient groups from across the country with a shared interest in improving the health of Canadians. The work of the institutes embraces the four pillars of health research: # biomedical; # clinical; # health services; and # population health. A major goal of the institutes is to forge relationships across disciplines to stimulate integrative, multifaceted research agendas that respond to society's health priorities while adhering to the highest ethical standards.

Member institutes

Each institute focuses on a specific area of research. *Institute of Aging *Institute of Cancer Research *Institute of Circulatory and Respiratory Health *Institute of Gender and Health *Institute of Genetics *Institute of Health Services and Policy Research *Institute of Human Development, Child and Youth Health *Institute of Indigenous Peoples' Health *Institute of Infection and Immunity *Institute of Musculoskeletal Health and Arthritis *Institute of Neurosciences, Mental Health and Addiction *Institute of Nutrition, Metabolism and Diabetes *Institute of Population and Public Health

COVID-19

In June 2020, CIHR provided $109 million in funding to 139 research teams across Canada for COVID-19 research. On February 16, 2021, CIHR launched the CIHR-CEPI Leadership Award for Excellence in Vaccine Research for Infectious Diseases of Epidemic Potential, co-administered with the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI).

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Canadian Institutes Of Health Research Medical research institutes in Canada Health Canada Federal departments and agencies of Canada Funding bodies of Canada 2000 establishments in Canada Government agencies established in 2000 Research funding agencies