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UUÖ±²¥ has been awarded major funding for five training programs by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR).

Federal Health Minister Anne McLellan is announcing today in Toronto the results of CIHR's new Strategic Training Initiative in Health Research. The initiative is designed to bring Canadian researchers together to train the next generation of health researchers – it is predicted that 100,000 new health researchers will be needed by 2010 in Canada alone.

UUÖ±²¥'s five successful applications (of a total of 51 awards nationwide) will receive more than $8 million in funding over the next six years.

Health Minister McLellan will highlight one UUÖ±²¥ program – the Cancer Research Consortium – in today's announcement. Dr Robert Mackenzie, UUÖ±²¥'s Associate Dean of Medicine (Graduate Studies and Research), said the University's successful applications fulfill the initiative's stated goals of providing multidisciplinary training that addresses two or more of the CIHR research pillars: biomedical, clinical science, health systems and services, and the social, cultural and other factors that affect the health of populations.

The winning UUÖ±²¥ programs are:

• The Montreal Centre for Experimental Therapeutics in Cancer, led by Dr Gerald Batist, Chair of UUÖ±²¥'s Department of Oncology. The Centre's program brings together researchers from 10 universities and other research institutes, with the ultimate aim of discovering and developing novel approaches to the prevention and treatment of cancer.



• Training Program in Skeletal Health, led by Dr David Goltzman of UUÖ±²¥'s Faculty of Medicine and composed of researchers from six universities. The program is designed to give healthcare professionals the skills to address complex issues related to skeletal health. Diseases of the skeleton, such as osteoporosis and arthritis, are estimated to cost Canadian taxpayers $5 million in direct healthcare costs per year.



• Training Centre in Integrative Biology of Infectious Diseases and Autoimmunity, led by Dr Erwin Schurr of the University's Faculty of Medicine. The Centre aims to provide comprehensive training leading to the development of novel interventions for common human diseases. The training program will also look at issues of communication, ethics, intellectual property and technology transfer.



• The Chemical Biology Training Program, led by Dr David Thomas, Chair of UUÖ±²¥'s Department of Biochemistry, and involving mentors from Biochemistry, Chemistry and Pharmacology and adjunct faculty from the biopharmaceutical industry. The program will provide young scientists with a wide range of skills for tackling research challenges posed by the rapid advances in genomics and proteomics.



• The UUÖ±²¥ Cancer Consortium, led by Dr Michel Tremblay, head of UUÖ±²¥'s Cancer Centre, and grouping more than 30 laboratories pursuing clinical and basic research. The aim of the consortium's training program is to ensure continued improvement in cancer research, training and clinical services.

The above training programs are all funded at UUÖ±²¥. UUÖ±²¥ researchers are also participants in successful programs based at other institutions.