The Ottawa Hospital Research Institute (OHRI), formerly Ottawa Health Research Institute, is a non-profit academic health

research institute A research institute, research centre, or research organization is an establishment founded for doing research. Research institutes may specialize in basic research or may be oriented to applied research. Although the term often implies natural ...

located in the city of

Ottawa Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. It is located in the southern Ontario, southern portion of the province of Ontario, at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the cor ...

. It was formed in 2001 following the merger of three Ottawa hospitals. The Ottawa Hospital Research Institute is the research arm of The Ottawa Hospital and affiliated with the

University of Ottawa The University of Ottawa (), often referred to as uOttawa or U of O, is a Official bilingualism in Canada, bilingual public research university in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on directly to the northeast of Downtown Ot ...

. As of 2022, the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute houses approximately 2,200 scientists, clinician investigators, students, research fellows, and support staff. It has five research programs: Cancer Therapeutics; Chronic Disease; Clinical Epidemiology; Regenerative Medicine; and Neurosciences. Its researchers are studying more than a hundred different diseases, conditions and specialties with an overall focus on translating discoveries and knowledge into better health. Ronald G. Worton was the research institute's founding CEO and Scientific Director in 2001. In 2007, Duncan Stewart, formerly Chief Cardiologist of St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto and Director of Cardiology of

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university whose main campus is located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded by ...

, took over as CEO and Scientific Director.

History

COVID-19

During the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, scientists at the OHRI developed an early-stage COVID-19 vaccine candidate called TOH-Vac1. The candidate is a live replicating virus vaccine using a vaccinia virus vector. Results from pre-clinical studies were published in '' Molecular Therapy'' in October 2021. The research team was led by John Bell and was funded by the Thistledown Foundation, Ottawa Hospital Foundation and the

Canadian Institutes of Health Research The Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR; ; IRSC) is a federal agency responsible for funding health and medical research in Canada. Comprising 13 institutes, it is the successor to the Medical Research Council of Canada. CIHR supports ...

Notable discoveries and accomplishments

* Harold Atkins and Mark Freedman pioneered the use of autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation for the treatment of

multiple sclerosis Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune disease resulting in damage to myelinthe insulating covers of nerve cellsin the brain and spinal cord. As a demyelinating disease, MS disrupts the nervous system's ability to Action potential, transmit ...

. * Michael Rudnicki was the first to characterize adult skeletal muscle

stem cell In multicellular organisms, stem cells are undifferentiated or partially differentiated cells that can change into various types of cells and proliferate indefinitely to produce more of the same stem cell. They are the earliest type of cell ...

s. * Ian Stiell developed the Ottawa ankle rules. * David Moher led the development of the

CONSORT __NOTOC__ Consort may refer to: Music * "The Consort" (Rufus Wainwright song), from the 2000 album ''Poses'' * Consort of instruments, term for instrumental ensembles * Consort song (musical), a characteristic English song form, late 16th–earl ...

reporting guidelines for clinical trials and the PRISMA reporting guidelines for systematic reviews and meta-analyses. * Doug Manuel developed ProjectBigLife, a life expectancy calculator that helps educate people about healthy lifestyle choices. * John Bell and his colleagues demonstrated for the first time that an intravenously-delivered viral therapy can selectively infect and spread within tumours in humans. * Dean Fergusson and Paul Hebert discovered that aprotinin is associated with an increased risk of death compared to other drugs routinely used to prevent blood loss during heart surgery. * Annette O'Connor pioneered the use of Patient Decision Aids. * Natasha Kekre is leading the first clinical trial of made-in-Canada CAR-T cells for the treatment of cancer.

Notable faculty and alumni

* John Cameron Bell * Dean Fergusson * Ian Graham * Jeremy Grimshaw * Michael McBurney * David Moher * Annette O'Connor * Michael Rudnicki

References

External links

* {{authority control Medical research institutes in Canada Research in Ottawa University of Ottawa 2001 establishments in Ontario Educational institutions established in 2001