Thank you, Madam Chair.
I wish to thank the committee for the invitation to appear here today. It is a great privilege, both as CIHR's president and as a scientist, to join my colleagues in addressing the inaugural members of Canada's parliamentary committee dedicated to science and research.
In the preamble to the act, which established CIHR in 2000, Parliament recognized that excellence in health research is fundamental to improving the health of Canadians. CIHR has since endeavoured to deliver on its mandate by investing in high-calibre, peer-reviewed research, and its translation into better health for Canadians.
As we strive to build on our successes, we see an opportunity to modernize the concept of research excellence, and address many of the challenges currently facing the research community and Canadians. It's an opportunity to firmly position Canada as a global leader in inclusive and collaborative science focused on real world impact.
The challenges of emerging health threats and a rapidly evolving world only underscore these imperatives. The current state of science and public investment in science is a subject that merits full attention. This committee's study is timely and extremely important in this regard.
During the pandemic, [Technical difficulty—Editor] remarkable drive to develop vaccines against COVID-19. In fact, we know this achievement was built upon decades of research involving hundreds of people worldwide, including crucial contributions by Canadian scientists.
What may have been less evident to many Canadians was how our research community truly rallied at the very onset of the pandemic, despite its disruptions in our lives. They initiated urgent research, guided public health responses and supported peer-review as CIHR mobilized its rapid funding, becoming the first national agency in the world to launch an open call for COVID-19 research.
CIHR has since invested over [Technical difficulty—Editor] continues to fund studies on gaps and emerging priorities. I am also proud to say that, in parallel, CIHR has continued to deliver its investigator-initiated research programs at full funding levels. This was critical.
It is important to realize that there is no overnight success in science, but rather incremental steps forward, driven by hard work, collaboration and sustained investment in both fundamental and applied research. This means supporting excellence across what we call the four pillars of health research: biomedical, clinical, [Technical difficulty—Editor] and population health. It's targeting research to help governments and health care partners address a broad range of priorities, such as the opioids crisis, mental health, climate change and reduced health costs.
As we emerge from the pandemic, CIHR is poised and uniquely positioned to contribute to building a healthier, more prosperous Canada.
In January, we established the Centre for Research on Pandemic Preparedness and Health Emergencies to support ongoing research for emergency preparedness, prevention, [Technical difficulty—Editor] biomanufacturing and life sciences strategy. CIHR will soon launch a new clinical trials fund to strengthen Canada's bioinnovation pipeline.
During the pandemic, CIHR also introduced [Technical difficulty—Editor] in our history. This plan outlines an ambitious vision for a healthier society built on research excellence.
Our engagement with the community identified key challenges. For instance, how do we strengthen fundamental research while continuing to support strategic priorities? How do we define research excellence, and how do we ensure that research excellence is adequately supported in Canada? How do we ensure that the best scientific evidence is quickly put into the hands of those who can use it? How do we bridge the so-called valley of death in innovation, so that discoveries in Canada lead to successful commercialization and to new solutions for Canadians?
Our strategic plan looks to address these themes and others, for instance, by better integrating evidence into health decisions, through knowledge mobilization and learning health systems, where patients, health professionals, managers and scientists, embedded in the health system, work together to determine where the problems lie, and what the solutions should be.
[Technical difficulty—Editor] while strengthening investigator initiated research, the cornerstone of medical science.
Moving this vision forward will require a vibrant, globally competitive research community—