Researcher of year uses prize to launch endowment for research trainees

CIHR health research awards

One of the two main prizes awarded this year by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) will have ramifications far beyond its recipient. Dr Michael Hayden, the winner of the Michael Smith Prize in Health Research (Biomedical and Clinical Research) has announced that he will leverage the award's high profile and $500,000 cash prize to establish an endowment for research trainees in four areas that hold profound personal significance.

In accepting the award earlier this month at a ceremony in Ottawa, Hayden unveiled the name of his new endowment – Ripples of Hope – inspired by a speech he heard Robert Kennedy make as a child in Cape Town SA. He also outlined his efforts to secure corporate and institutional support for the four research areas: global health, rare diseases, mental health and biotechnology/entrepreneurship.

"This award to me is a recognition of more than me. It recognizes the forces that allowed me to achieve my goals. (The endowment) provides a way to recognize the factors that influenced my personal life," said Hayden in an interview with RE$EARCH MONEY.

For each research area, Hayden is seeking $700,000 for an endowment that would generate approximately $35,000 annually. In the area of global health, he plans to bring a trainee from Africa to Vancouver in any area relating to health.

"South Africa is my homeland and it's in peril. The continent is in peril. I created this endowment to bring people from Africa to Vancouver to be enriched," said Hayden, whose research led to a predictive genetic test for Huntington disease.

So far, Hayden and staff have raised $1 million towards their $2.8-million goal, including $750,000 from an unnamed pharmaceutical firm. The BC Innovation Council and Genome BC are among the organizations that have expressed interest in participating.

While fundraising is ongoing, the trainee awards will be funded from the CIHR prize, which should last for about three years. But Ripples of Hope is not being limited to an endowment. Hayden says it could also include cash to top up trainee awards for a period of time or matching funds to pay for operating expenses.

In addition to Hayden, CIHR also selected another scientist as Canada's Health Researcher of the Year in the area of health services and systems and population health research. Dr Peter Tugwell, director of the Univ of Ottawa's Centre for Global Health and a professor of medicine, was this year's recipient. Tugwell was honoured as one of Canada's premier health care scholars and for a career in which he has championed the fight against global health disparities.

In addition to health equity, Tugwell's area of specialization is arthritis. He is also a member of the Cochrane Collaboration, a global network of volunteers who evaluate health interventions to determine which are most effective.

In addition to Hayden and Tugwell, CIHR made the following awards:

CIHR BIOTECanada/Schering-Plough Canada Fellowship — Dr Etienne Gagnon, research fellow, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School;

CIHR Synapse Youth Mentorship Award — Dr Sarah Flicker and Crystal Layne, Toronto Teen Survey;

CIHR Douglas Kinsella Doctoral Award for Research in Bioethics — Rose M. Geransar, PhD candidate, Office of Medical Bioethics and Department of Community Health Services, Univ of Calgary;

CIHR Partnership Award — Dawn McKenna, executive director, Down Syndrome Research Foundation;

CIHR National/International Knowledge Translation Award — Dr Matthew Tennant, assistant clinical professor, Department of Opthalmology (Tele-Ophthalmology Group), Univ of Alberta;

Canada's Premier Young Researcher: The Peter Lougheed/CIHR New Investigator Award — Dr Charles Cunningham, scientist, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre.

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