LOCAL BACKGROUND
The University of Prince Edward Island and the Atlantic Veterinary College have entered research-intensive phases in their development. This is the result of the natural development of both institutions, the introduction of graduate programs in many faculties at UPEI, and the hiring of new, highly-qualified faculty.
Faculty at UPEI have been successful in recent years in attracting health-related national grants from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), the Natural Science and Engineering Research Council (NSERC), the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), the Canadian Diabetes Association (CDA), the Heart and Stroke Foundation (HSF), and the National Cancer Institute of Canada (NCIC).
UPEI has approximately 30 faculty members working on health-related research projects, and a number of well-developed health-related research programs exist. An evaluation of health research capacity identified at least 6 areas of significant research activity, and other areas with the potential for significant development.
The School of Nursing is dedicated to training and research in human health, among other programs. The School has active research programs in both health care delivery and health education.
The Faculties of Arts and Science include researchers addressing health professions, human development, stroke, and behavioral health research.
Public health and comparative medicine are integral to both the teaching and research at the Atlantic Veterinary College. The College has a number of health research programs investigating areas such as cardiovascular health, drug safety, breast cancer, neurodegenerative diseases and stroke, environment-health interactions (ecosystem health) and diabetes and obesity.
Collaborative research programs between UPEI researchers and the Provincial government and between UPEI researchers and the Queen Elizabeth Hospital have been developed in the last few years.
The Government of PEI, in the 1999 provincial budget, committed two million dollars to health research under its Health Research Program. On March 7, 2000, in its Economic Development Strategy, "Bridging Tradition and Technology", the Provincial government indicated a need and desire to "expand the Province's capacity and activity in health research, especially at the University."
REGIONAL AND NATIONAL BACKGROUND
The Federal Government has identified research and development as being critical to the economic success of Canada and has made a corresponding commitment to expand Canada's Research and Development capabilities.
The Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) was established to fund new infrastructure to support research. In the 2000 Federal budget the CFI received an additional $900 million to apply to this objective.
The 1999 Federal budget significantly expanded support for health research in Canada, in particularly by establishing the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR). The CIHR has transformed health research across Canada by incorporating the numerous areas of health research under one organization and encouraging inter-disciplinary research. Furthermore, the Federal Government has signaled a clear commitment to ensuring that health research occurs in all regions of Canada.
The ability of UPEI to conduct high quality health research was acknowledged by the inclusion of UPEI in the CIHR's Regional Partnership Program (RPP) in 2000. This program provides an additional one million dollars for health research on PEI when partnered with $1 million from other sources. The provincial Health Research Program, the Heart and Stroke Foundation of PEI, and other provincial partners provide these matching funds. This program has significantly increased the health research capacity of Prince Edward Island, particularly UPEI. The Province now has a Regional Director who administers the RPP program. At the same time, former Health Minister, Alan Rock, announced that PEI, along with all other provinces, would be represented on the Governing Council of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.
Formed in June 2000, Genome Atlantic is a not-for-profit corporation charged with turning the Maritime provinces of Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick and Newfoundland into world leaders in carefully selected areas of genomics research.
The 21st Century Research Chairs established in the 2000 Federal Budget have provided a unique opportunity to retain and attract excellent researchers to UPEI.
The necessity of establishing partnerships among a variety of stakeholders to increase health research activity and the necessity of active programs in all regions of Canada has now been accepted across the health research community and by stakeholders.
The establishment of an Atlantic Canada Health Research Network linking health research activities across the region is under discussion.
