Funding Programs - New Opportunities / Partnerships Program

The Michael Smith Foundation was established in March 2001 with the mandate to build BC's capacity for excellence in health research. Under the provisions of the five-year, government-approved plan for the allocation of the Foundation's $110 million funding envelope, up to $8 million was earmarked over five years for the New Opportunities/Partnerships Program. The goal of this program is to fund new opportunities and partnership initiatives that address emerging priorities, innovation and change specific to the needs of BC's health research community.

The funds available for this program in MSFHR's first five-year funding allotment were allocated to support and leverage funding for two key BC health research initiatives. This included a $6.1 million grant to Genome BC, which leveraged a matching grant from Genome Canada, and a $1.8 million commitment to support seven BC-led interdisciplinary health research training centres. These Centres also brought in $10 million in funding from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, for an overall investment of $12 million for health research training in British Columbia.

MSFHR continues to work with partners to identify and fund new opportunities for developing BC's health research capacity. For more information about the Foundation's partnerships and endowments, see Partnerships & Endowments.

Canadian Institutes of Health Research
In 2002, the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research partnered with Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) in an innovative $12 million investment to support the creation of seven world-class research training programs: six at the University of British Columbia and one at the University of Victoria. These programs are designed to prepare future research leaders to work collaboratively across health research themes, an essential approach in dealing with the complex health issues facing our health systems and communities. MSFHR's contribution of $1.8 million supported training programs in:

Bioinformatics
Transdisciplinary Training in Community Partnership Research
Ethics of Health Research and Policy Training
Health Informatics
Bridging Public Health, Engineering and Policy Research
Neurobiology and Behaviour
Transplantation

Genome BC
This not-for-profit corporation was established in 2000 to fund and develop a co-ordinated approach to genomics research among universities, research hospitals and centres, government and industry in British Columbia. Funding is provided by Industry Canada through Genome Canada and is contingent on receiving matching funds from provincial sources.

The Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research was the first BC organization to partner with Genome BC, contributing $6.1 million for health research projects, which triggered the release of matching funds from Genome Canada. The MSFHR funds have been used primarily to support cancer research at the BC Cancer Agency and other genetic research at the University of British Columbia. Researchers associated with Genome BC projects have also been awarded more than $1.94 million from MSFHR's Scholar and Trainee Programs.