New board members appointed

At our ninth annual general meeting in September, three new board members were appointed: Mrs. Lynda Cranston, President and CEO of the Provincial Health Services Authority; Dr. Michael Hayden, Professor, UBC Medicine/Medical Genetics and Director, Centre for Molecular Medicine and Therapeutics; and Dr. Sally Thorne, Professor, UBC School of Nursing. Our thanks to retiring members Ms. Natalie Dakers and Dr. David Dolphin, as well as ex-officio board member Dr. Paul Zehr, who chaired MSFHR's Research Advisory Council (RAC). Our new RAC chair is Dr. Bruce Verchere, Head, Diabetes Research Program, Child and Family Research Institute, who also joins the board as an ex-officio member. The first meeting for our new board members is November 26, 2010. Read about our board of directors and RAC.

 
MSFHR Board Chair Dr. Martin Taylor acknowledges retiring board member 
Dr. David Dolphin for his contributions.

First progress report launched

Focus Forward, a progress report on our activities during 2009/10, was launched at our September annual general meeting. Stories in the report reflect the three strategic priorities of our Strategic Direction 2009 – 2015: to build health research capacity, to address health and health system priorities, and to partner on a BC health research plan. We produced an online version as well as a scaled-down printed version. We would appreciate your comments on the report — please click the feedback link on the online report and tell us what you think. Read Focus Forward. Read our Strategic Direction 2009/10.

Focus Forward: Online Progress Report

BC Ethics Harmonization Initiative: Project manager hired, work underway

Margo Farren, MHA, is the new project manager for the BC Ethics Harmonization Initiative, aimed at developing a more effective, coordinated approach to ethics approval of research involving human subjects. Funding for the initiative was approved by the MSFHR Board after receipt of a proposal from a consortium of BC universities who collectively conduct at least 80 percent of human subject ethics reviews in BC. Participating in the project are the Universities of British Columbia, Victoria and Northern BC, Simon Fraser University, and provincial health authorities. Farren was granted a leave of absence from the Vancouver Island Health Authority to work on the project, and will be based at the University of Victoria. She has 15 years of research ethics experience, including seven years as manager of research ethics for the Hospital for Sick Children in Ontario, and is a founding member and past president of the Canadian Association of Research Ethics Boards. Read more about the BC Ethics Harmonization Initiative.

MSFHR co-hosts Grand Challenges Canada program launch

Last month MSFHR and Genome BC co-hosted the launch of a Grand Challenges Canada (GCC) funding program Canadian Rising Stars in Global Health. Dr. Liam Brunham, a recipient of two MSFHR Trainee awards, spoke at the launch. The program will fund 20 awards of $100,000 each to Canadian researchers who completed a PhD or health professional degree fewer than 10 years ago. Read more about Grand Challenges Canada.

Dr. Liam Brunham, with some of the young residents at an orphanage in Langa Township, outside of Cape Town, South Africa, where he completed a clinical elective during medical school.

Dr. Nelly Auersperg Studentship Award for Ovarian Cancer announced

MSFHR will provide award review and administration for a new competition co-funded by the BC Cancer Foundation and the VGH & UBC Hospital Foundation. Launched in September, the award is open to PhD trainees with a focus on ovarian cancer and is valued at $20,000 per year for up to three years. Dr. Nelly Auersperg is Professor Emerita in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at UBC. Read more about the award.

Knowledge translation/exchange planning meeting set

Approximately 20 people with a range of experience and expertise in health research knowledge translation and exchange (KT/E) from BC and across Canada will meet in Vancouver on November 2 to provide recommendations on how MSFHR can enhance its efforts to maximize the impact of both the health research it funds and also more broadly in BC. The meeting will be informed by response to a KT/E discussion paper that has been circulating to stakeholders. Recommendations from the meeting will be posted for comments and further input will be sought from the community towards the finalization of a KT/E plan. In the meantime, we welcome comments on both the discussion paper and the summary of feedback to date, to Bev Holmes: bholmes@msfhr.org.

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MSFHR Board member honoured

The Society of Graduates of the Department of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation (HPME) at the University of Toronto recently presented MSFHR Board member Bill Barrable with a leadership award. Read more about the HPME.

MSFHR friends named to 2010 Order of British Columbia

Drs. Marco Marra, Julio Montaner and Robert Brunham were among 15 Order of British Columbia recipients announced earlier this month. Dr. Montaner was MSFHR's 2010 Aubrey J. Tingle prize recipient, Dr. Brunham worked closely with MSFHR during the SARS and H1N1 outbreaks, and Dr. Marra was an MSFHR Scholar in 2001 and 2006. Read more about the Order of British Columbia and recipients.

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