I appreciate this opportunity. Thank you very much for inviting me to speak about the importance of research and the pivotal role of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research in Canada's response to COVID-19.
Before we begin, I want to express my sincere appreciation and gratitude to all the health care professionals, front-line and essential workers who are tirelessly working to support the health, safety and well-being of Canadians. This includes many employees who work with my federal colleagues present with me today. I also wish to commend the incredible efforts to date of the Canadian research community.
I am proud to say that our researchers are among the very best in the world and they've played a key role so far in coordinating both the global and domestic research response to COVID-19. I am pleased to be with you today to provide the committee with more details on COVID-19 research currently under way in the country and abroad, as well as outline the research initiatives that CIHR has been able to rapidly implement in response to the pandemic.
Before I do so, and recognizing that a collective and collaborative approach has been a key element of success in the current circumstances, I wish to emphasize that CIHR's efforts to address the COVID-19 outbreak continue to be undertaken in close collaboration with our federal partners, including the Public Health Agency of Canada; Health Canada; Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada; and the National Research Council, among many others.
CIHR is also working hand in hand with international partners such as the World Health Organization, and the Global Research Collaboration for Infectious Disease Preparedness, otherwise known as GloPID-R. This is a coalition of 29 countries to establish a global research and innovation road map and determine how Canadian researchers could help in the global research efforts. It's important to highlight that one of CIHR's scientific directors is currently vice-chair of GloPID-R, and as such, our scientific leadership played a key role from the outset and continues to be a key hub in facilitating this fast-moving collaboration that is needed across a multiplicity of players domestically and internationally.
Furthermore, to ensure that research evidence is shared rapidly and openly to inform the public health response and to help save lives, CIHR has joined 67 international research-funding organizations in signing a joint statement to share research data and findings relevant to the COVID-19 outbreak. We also support the calls made by chief science advisers around the world to ensure that research outputs such as data and publications are publicly available to support the ongoing global emergency response efforts. As such, in early February, our organization moved rapidly to mobilize the research community to coordinate a rapid response to COVID-19.
In just a few weeks, CIHR was able to select, through a rigorous peer review process, the most scientifically excellent research projects that will help us to better understand the biology of the virus, its spread, and identify strategies to fight it. With federal partners and some provincial support, we were able to invest $54.2 million to support 99 COVID-19 research projects. This investment is part of Canada's plan to mobilize science to fight COVID-19, as announced by the Prime Minister on March 23, and will greatly contribute to the Government of Canada's response to the COVID-19 pandemic. With this funding, researchers at 36 institutions across the country are working with the utmost urgency to develop and evaluate new vaccines, therapies and diagnostics, as well as public health strategies to tackle misinformation, stigma and anxiety.
It is important to point out that many of these projects have international collaborations and partnerships with government departments as well as industry, and many are equipped for real-time data sharing. This positions the research to be more quickly translated to effective prevention, detection, clinical management and policy measures for addressing the COVID-19 outbreak within and across jurisdictions in Canada and internationally.
Perhaps you'll let me give a few examples of some of the important projects that were funded through this. The first one relates to the identification of vaccines, which we heard a bit about a moment ago. Dr. Darryl Falzarano of the University of Saskatchewan is working with animal models to understand how the SARS-CoV-2 virus, the actual virus that gives rise to this, causes the disease, whether vaccines can be developed to protect from the disease and how the virus might actually be transmitted. These are really critical questions that need to be addressed when a new pathogen such as this emerges. Given concerns that less-than-optimal vaccines or previous exposure to related pathogens could actually worsen the disease, this project is also investigating whether these animal models can be used for testing to ensure the vaccines are safe, prior to testing in human clinical trials.
Through work led by Dr. Srinivas Murthy at the University of British Columbia, Canada is also currently participating in the WHO solidarity trial. This randomized clinical trial led by Dr. Murthy involves over 50 hospitals across Canada and is investigating the efficacy of existing combination drugs on patients hospitalized for COVID-19, thereby contributing to the global efforts to study the effectiveness of potential therapies for this disease.
We are also supporting research on point-of-care diagnostics. For instance, Dr. Denis Boudreau at Université Laval is working on developing a portable rapid point-of-care test for COVID-19 to enable front-line workers to be rapidly tested for the virus. This device will be developed with an easy to use platform that can be operated by untrained personnel so it can be deployed locally, within quarantined regions, at temporary health centres and neighbourhood clinics, thus reducing the flow of people in urban centres.
Critically, we are also supporting research related to social behaviour, public health messaging and clinical management studies. For example, Dr. Patrick Neumann at Ryerson University will study the impact of infection control routines on nurses to determine how to implement these measures while delivering the highest quality of care and maintaining the safety of both patients and nurses.
Finally, Dr. Tim Caulfield at the University of Alberta is working to understand the spread of COVID-19 misinformation from multiple angles to develop evidence-based communication and education tools to strategically counter misinformation, stigma and fear related to the COVID-19 pandemic. This project will provide policy recommendations for public health planning, decision-making and response for both COVID-19 as well as future outbreaks.
These examples and many others will provide the scientific evidence needed to help us fully understand the novel coronavirus and develop tools to fight it.
As I mentioned earlier, new research evidence will be useful only if it can be rapidly translated into effective tools and treatments.
We recognize that in the coming weeks and months it will be critical not only to generate but also to coordinate the sharing and translation of ideas, data, innovative solutions, novel treatments, diagnostics and vaccine technologies across all levels of government to enhance timely and effective responses.
As I reflect on the tremendous work to date that has taken place across government to address this pandemic, I am truly proud to say that CIHR's research response to COVID-19 has really brought the transformative nature of our mandate to life.
Through a single efficient funding call for proposals we were able to fund outstanding research. Our mandate has always enabled us to support not just knowledge generation, but also the translation of research evidence into improved health for Canadians.
On that front, CIHR is leading the development of a series of knowledge mobilization events that strengthen connections between researchers funded through the COVID-19 rapid response competition and Government of Canada departments and agencies in order to accelerate this knowledge translation.
We are also strongly encouraging our funded researchers to participate in the recently launched CanCOVID platform. This online platform promotes collaboration, communication and coordination between Canadian and international researchers working on COVID-19, health care practitioners, funding agencies and government policy-makers.
As you can see, the balanced medical, social and policy research approach that CIHR has taken is critical to ensuring that Canadian scientists are seeking to understand this virus, its spread and how to mitigate the impact from a variety of pathways. I am confident that this approach will help us to quickly develop new evidence-based tools to address the crisis.
In the meantime, we continue to work daily with our national and international partners to address the need for additional research and trials. We know where the gaps are, and looking at ways to further support the scientific community in addressing these gaps as soon as possible is a priority. I would be pleased to report back to your committee on any developments in this regard.
Again, thank you for inviting me here to speak about the COVID-19 research under way and the role that research plays in Canada's response to this public health crisis. I'll be very happy to answer any questions the committee may have.
Thank you.