About Us - Our Community

MSFHR's successes reflect and are shared by the community we serve, including health researchers and trainees, universities, teaching hospitals, research institutes, health authorities, non-profit research funding agencies and government. On the occasion of the Foundation's fifth anniversary in March 2006, they have acknowledged MSFHR's role in increasing BC's capacity to be at the leading edge of health research:

"As a member of the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research Board, I couldn't resist writing you about the amazing progress that has been made in the first five years. I am both a scientist and a clinician and have lived through the years of constraint. I was on the MRC Council during the toughest time of cutbacks. The last five years are nothing short of a miracle. Health researchers have stayed in BC; we have been able to bring health researchers to BC; large numbers of health researchers have been trained, and we have attracted more and more research money from outside the province. The collaborations between various people and various groups have been tremendous. The attitudes of researchers are dramatically different. There is enormous optimism and huge productivity. And they are the brightest, the best, and the cutting edge.

There is no question in my mind that Aubrey Tingle has been truly instrumental in setting up and administrating the Michael Smith Foundation, attracting outstanding staff who are innovative and creative, and attracting the outstanding researchers both to stay in BC and to come to BC. In the long term, we can expect enormous benefit to BC in terms of "home grown" industry, improved health, and our national and international reputation as an excellent place to do outstanding health research of all kinds.

I think congratulations are due all the way around - to the government for having the initiative to start this program, to the researchers for having worked so hard and been so productive, and to the staff of the Michael Smith Foundation for their innovation, standards setting, and enthusiasm."

Judith G. Hall, OC, FCAHS, MD
Professor Emeritus of Pediatrics and Medical Genetics
UBC & Children's and Women's Health Centre of BC
Department of Pediatrics BC Children's Hospital

"Five years ago, the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research was created with $110 million from the provincial government through the Ministry of Advanced Education, with more funding since then from the Ministry of Health. Since 2001, we've seen a steady increase in the amount of health research funding British Columbia post-secondary institutions attract from federal funding sources (CIHR) - almost $83 million in 2004-05 alone - plus funding from other outside agencies. Part of the credit goes to the foundation for innovative program support that has enabled researchers of all levels to compete successfully for federal research funding."

The Hon Murray Coell
Minister of Advanced Education

"The Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research has been a centrepiece in the tremendous revolution in life and health sciences research now underway at the universities in British Columbia.

Through its support of outstanding scholars and scholarship, the Foundation is contributing directly and substantially to the future health of our society."

T.F. Pedersen, FRSC
Dean of Science
University of Victoria

"I certainly remember the dark days of BCHRF when the budget was zero! Think of the wonderful recruits and increased research capacity we now have in BC. In particular, the UBC Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine has relied on MSFHR for crucial early career support of young faculty to allow for protected research time and concerted effort. There are numerous examples of individuals who have subsequently competed successfully in national competitions, thereby bringing new resources to benefit BC. Recent initiatives by MSFHR encourage collective thinking and create synergies and partnerships that drive innovation. Enough can't be said about that. In closing, the first five years of MSFHR have jump-started BC's research competitiveness and accomplishment. I look forward to a new phase of growth, excellence, accomplishment and tangible benefits to the population of BC."

Richard G. Hegele, MD, FRCPC, PhD
Professor and Head, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine
University of British Columbia James Hogg iCAPTURE Centre for Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Research St. Paul's Hospital

"MSFHR has had a profound effect on the research culture in BC. It is truly helping to build a knowledge-based economy where BC has the potential in many areas of scientific endeavor to take a national and international leadership role. The use of MSFHR funding for infrastructure and salary support has put in place an environment which can only further increase BC's contributions."

Mark FitzGerald, PhD
Director, Centre for Clinical Evaluation & Epidemiology

"The capacity-building programs of the Michael Smith Foundation have played a strategic and critical role in supporting the growth, competitiveness, and success of the health research community at the University of Victoria in ways that complement and help to maximize the opportunities created by the federal government's major investment in health research."

Martin Taylor
Vice President
University of Victoria

"The Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research has made an enormous contribution to the development of health research and health researchers in British Columbia. In the past, the major vehicle for those conducting health services research was NHRDP. With a small budget and the need to cover the whole country, NHRDP grants to BC researchers were few and far between.

Further, social science based health researchers often fell between the cracks of federal funding programs. From the start, the MSFHR has had a broad and inclusive vision of capacity-building, fostering the development of researchers from the social sciences, applied areas such as gerontology as well from traditional bio-medical streams. It also should be congratulated for recognizing and supporting research on the social determinants of health, another frequently under-funded area of health research. The networks infrastructure program is yet another area of innovation and vision that has enabled capacity building that would not otherwise have occurred in the province."

Gloria M. Gutman, PhD
Immediate Past-President
International Assn. of Gerontology &
Professor, Dept. of Gerontology
Simon Fraser University

"Direct support of graduate students and postdoctoral fellows through the Research Trainee Program allows highly qualified individuals the opportunity to participate directly in research projects, thereby learning important research skills while at the same time contributing to significant research. The Foundation's broad view of health, encompassing scientific, medical and social aspects of individuals and populations, encourages interdisciplinary approaches to complex problems. New researchers are therefore aware that their studies have ramifications beyond their particular research foci.

MSFHR funding is an important component of financial support for our top graduate students."

Jon Driver
Dean of Graduate Studies
Simon Fraser University

"The establishment of the Michael Smith Foundation has been critical to the research community and to the health care community. The investment that the BC Government is making in the Foundation is paying big dividends in terms of who we are able to train and recruit as internationally recognized leaders in health research and in terms of integrating strategies so that investigators work more closely with each other and become more focused on translation of new knowledge to practice. The support across the spectrum of health research - basic science, clinical and health services research, and population health and health policy - has been and will be critical to improving our service to the citizens of BC and to our ability to be national and international leaders, with all of the economic and quality of care benefits that this focus that brings to our province. British Columbia is unique in many ways and the Michael Smith Foundation has a central role in building on these unique features and opportunities."

Robert W Armstrong MD PhD FRCPC
Associate Professor and Head
Department of Pediatrics, UBC
Chief, Pediatric Medicine
BC Children's Hospital and BC Women's Hospital
Provincial Health Services Authority

"The Michael Smith Foundation for Health Researchers has revitalized health research in British Columbia. Its well-targeted investments in people and infrastructure has helped British Columbia in attracting the best and brightest researchers and ensures that we can build an environment that will retain successful researchers during the most productive phase of their careers."

John W. Schrader MBBS, PhD, FRSC
Canada Research Chair in Immunology
Director, The Biomedical Research Centre
University of British Columbia

"Congratulations on the 5th Anniversary of the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research. From its inception, your organization has provided researchers with the support needed to develop and sustain cutting edge research programs. The importance of your scholarship and research programs cannot be overstated: over the years they have enabled us to retain some of the most promising researchers and trainees in Canada and have given us the leverage to compete nationally and internationally for significant grant funding.

The Prostate Centre has been a beneficiary of your programs since the start. Two of our senior scientists and several of our trainees have received MSFHR Scholar Awards. The greatest impact has been the funding of our PC-TRIADD Research Unit application, which will provide us with the operating funds necessary to develop the Prostate Centre's Translational Research Initiative for Accelerated Discovery and Development. The MSFHR grant, coupled with the CFI and CFI/RHF infrastructure awards, will enable us to nearly double the size of the Prostate Centre's operations and will give the men of British Columbia real hope that they will soon benefit from advances in treatment discovered in our laboratories. You should be very proud of the goals you set and the commitment you have made to see them accomplished. We wish you the greatest success in the future."

Larry Goldenberg, MD, FRCSC, FACS
Professor and Head
Division of Urology (UBC)
Director, The Prostate Centre at VGH
Director, UBC Centre of Prostate Research

Paul S Rennie, PhD
Director, Laboratory Research
The Prostate Centre at VGH
Professor, Dept of Surgery and
Dept of Pathology and Lab. Medicine, UBC

Martin S Gleave, MD, FRCSC, FACS
Distinguished Professor of Surgery
Division of Urology, University of British Columbia
Director of Clinical and Translational Research