University of British Columbia health scientists have received
research grants worth $1.6 million this year from the Medical Research
Council of Canada (MRC), less than one-third of the amount received
last year.
Of 97 UBC projects submitted for funding, only eight were approved
for operating grants which support the efforts of individual researchers.
“I’m proud of the UBC researchers whose important work has been
recognized by the council,” says Bernie Bressler, vice-president,
Research. “But the continued decline in overall funding to the MRC
is having a crippling effect on the ability of Canadian scholars
to pursue basic research.”
Grant recipients come from a variety of disciplines including medicine,
dentistry, psychology and health services and policy research. Projects
are funded for one to five years and range from a study of wait
lists for selected surgical procedures to reducing hostility in
cardiac patients.
MRC funds are granted on the basis of rigorous peer review of applications
received in a broad range of programs. Peer review is carried out
by hundreds of leading scientists from Canada and other countries
who volunteer their expertise.
Despite budget reductions of 13 per cent since 1995, the council
has been able to support almost the same number of investigators
as in previous years, says Dr. Henry Friesen, president of the MRC.
UBC research has created 71 spin-off companies during the last
12 years, employing close to 1,450 people and attracting more than
$630 million in private investment.
As the major federal agency funding health research and training,
MRC has distributed a total of $47.5 million over five years in
the form of 216 operating grants to Canadian universities, research
institutions and teaching hospitals in the recent competition.
A list of the MRC operating grant recipients at UBC, and a brief
summary of their projects are available for viewing on the MRC web
site at www.mrc.gc.ca.
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