NLIS 6
May 12, 2000
(Health and Community Services)

Newfoundland and Labrador Centre for Applied Health Research 
poised to reap benefits from new funding in health research

Officials of Memorial University of Newfoundland and the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador today officially launched the Newfoundland and Labrador Centre for Applied Health Research. The centre is located at Memorial University and was established with start-up funding of $500,000 received from the Department of Health and Community Services. The provincial government has also indicated that it is committed to continued funding of the centre in the future. The centre will promote interdisciplinary and interfaculty teamwork in health research and collaboration between academic researchers and decision makers in government and the health care system. Dr. Kevin Keough, vice-president (research and international relations) at Memorial, described the new centre's research perspective.

"This centre will help Memorial develop interdisciplinary research initiatives related to important health issues such as eldercare and health promotion which affect the people of this province," Dr. Keough said. "The university already has strong capabilities in several key areas -- clinical epidemiology, community health and human genetics, for example -- and this centre will gather and focus these research strengths and will enhance our ability to compete for federal research funding."

Last month, federal legislation was passed to create the Canadian Institutes for Health Research (CIHR) which replaces the Medical Research Council with a broader mandate and more resources. The mandate includes not only the traditional area of basic bio-medical research but also population health, applied clinical research, and health services research.

"As a result of this new centre, the health sector will benefit from being able to make decisions that take into consideration up-to-date data on the health status and health needs of the population, on the changing demographic and economic context, and on the relative effectiveness and costs of different approaches to a given problem," said Roger Grimes, Minister of Health and Community Services. "Increased research on subjects identified as priorities by health policy makers can mean more efficient use of provincial resources, better identification of

needs and therefore better delivery of health services for the people of Newfoundland and Labrador."

One of the key objectives of the centre is to make the results of scientific research available to health system decision makers on an ongoing and accessible basis. "The centre will serve as a bridge linking the policy community, the research community and those responsible for providing health care services," noted Elizabeth Davis, CEO of the Health Care Corporation of St. John's. "The centre will help us deliver health care effectively and more efficiently by enabling us to base our decisions on the best scientific evidence."

The centre is an independent research institute which reports to a management committee representing the university, the Department of Health and Community Services and the health boards.

The centre will develop linkages with other similar research units elsewhere in Canada and participate in national research panels and associations. The centre's director is Dr. Stephen Bornstein, who joined Memorial as a faculty member in the Department of Political Science and who is seconded to the Faculty of Medicine for five years. The centre is located at the Faculty of Medicine in the Health Sciences Centre.

"The Newfoundland and Labrador Centre for Applied Health Research can take advantage of new funding opportunities by helping researchers across campus to work more effectively with one another in interdisciplinary teams in a very broad target area -- applied health research," Dr. Bornstein said. "The new centre will focus on research that is directly relevant to public policy-making in health, health care, community services, health promotion, prevention and community health."

The $500,000 provided by the Department of Health and Community Services will be used for both infrastructure and research activities. Dr. Bornstein said the bulk of the provincial money will be used directly on research activity, including a set of health research grants and a program of in-house research projects on issues of direct concern to the Department of Health and Community Services, the health care system and the people of Newfoundland and Labrador.

For further information, please contact:

Ivan Muzychka, manager, Memorial University News Service, (709) 737-8665
Sharon Gray, information officer (health sciences), Memorial University, (709) 737-4250
Carl Cooper, Department of Health and Community Services, Government of Newfoundland and Labrador, (709) 729-1377.

2000 05 12                         5:20 p.m.