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NLIS 2
January 25, 2001
(Health and Community Services)

 

Health research centre awarded $2.1 million grant

Julie Bettney, acting Minister of Health and Community Services, said today that a $2.1 million federal grant to the Newfoundland and Labrador Centre for Applied Health Research (NLCAHR) is great news for the fledgling research institute.

The Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) have announced the Memorial University-based research centre is one of 19 grant recipients chosen from 178 national applicants to its Community Alliances for Health Research (CAHR) competition.

"This funding will be instrumental in allowing the provincial health research centre to pursue projects which meet the specific needs of people in Newfoundland and Labrador," Minister Bettney said.

In March 2000, the Department of Health and Community Services allocated $500,000 in start-up funding to establish NLCAHR, an independent research institute which reports to a board of directors whose members represent Memorial University, the Department of Health and Community Services, provincial health boards and community organizations.

"This $2.1 million infusion represents an excellent return on our initial investment," Minister Bettney said. "It comes because of a partnership developed with the provincial government, the university, health boards and community organizations in Newfoundland and Labrador. The fact this collaborative effort has reaped such a tremendous benefit is very gratifying."

Dr. Stephen Bornstein, director of the NLCAHR, said the funding - $422,203 annually over the next five years - will be administered through the centre to support a comprehensive research program which targets health and safety issues in the coastal and marine economic sectors, such as the fishery, vessel safety, industrial diving, and offshore oil and gas.

The program will be directed by Dr. Bornstein and Dr. Barbara Neis, a sociologist at Memorial.

"We will coordinate nine research teams, each composed of academics from Memorial and other universities as well as decision-makers from a wide range of public agencies, private companies and community groups - a unique and innovative network of collaboration," Dr. Bornstein said.

The NLCAHR director said these coastal and marine research activities are of particular relevance to Newfoundland and Labrador and to the whole Atlantic region, as little health and safety research is being conducted on them elsewhere in Canada.

"An interesting component of our research program will be collaboration between university-based researchers and the staff at the Workplace Health, Safety and Compensation Commission," Dr. Bornstein noted.

"We also hope to use this funding to help us develop our long-term provincial and regional capacity to undertake ongoing research on workplace health and safety issues."

Media contacts:
Dr. Stephen Bornstein
Newfoundland and Labrador Centre for Applied Health Research
(709) 777-6768.

Sharon Gray
Memorial University (Faculty of Medicine)
(709) 777-8397

Heather May
Department of Health and Community Services
(709) 729-2788

2001 01 25                                                2:55 p.m.


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