ICRH Scientific Director: Dr. Jean L. Rouleau

January 2011

It is with pleasure and enthusiasm that I have taken on the position of scientific director of the Institute of Circulatory and Respiratory Health (ICRH) of the CIHR. The two first scientific directors, Bruce McManus and Peter Liu have worked hard and have had great success in moving our community forward. We owe them an immense debt of gratitude, and as their successor, I have many lessons to learn from them. On behalf of our community, I would also like to thank Tina Lawton, Kimberly Walker, and Katherine Gardner for having done such a great job from the Toronto office. Finally, I would like to thank Lori West for having so capably done the job of interim scientific director for the last 6 months; she led the Institute with a steady hand and was tremendously supportive and helpful during the transition period. ICRH is now entering a period of transition, and there is much to learn and adapt to. Fortunately, we can count on the strong team of Ilana Gombos and Jennifer Ralph who will continue to do a great job for ICRH from the Ottawa office.

The role of the ICRH is to strategically and collaboratively work with its community and CIHR to help meet CIHR's mission, which is:
 » To excel, according to internationally accepted standards of scientific excellence, in the creation of new knowledge and its translation into improved health for Canadians, more effective health services and products and a strengthened Canadian health care system » .

In addition, ICRH has the responsibility of fulfilling the mandate that was given to each institute in the CIHR Act, including:

  1. together pertain to all aspects of health,
  2. biomedical research, clinical research, research respecting health systems, health services, and the health of populations, societal and cultural dimensions of health and environmental influences on health and other research as required,
  3. work in collaboration with the provinces to advance health research and to promote the dissemination and application of new research knowledge to improve health and health services, and,
  4. engage voluntary organizations, the private sector and others, in or outside Canada, with complementary research interests;

As the incoming scientific director, I believe the following values should guide ICRH in the next few years: Rigor, Responsibility, Respect, Innovation, Social Responsibility, and Excellence. I suggest that we focus on making a difference by: helping our teams be the best they can be and successfully compete on an international level; supporting networking on national and international levels; assuring continuity of successful programs but having the courage to make choices; objectively evaluating the Institute's performance; and including patients as partners.

Other countries have developed strong and well funded initiatives to help them build on, or maintain, their leadership positions in health-related research. In Canada, the overall funding of health research is competitive with that of other countries; however, we must build on our strengths - integrated teams and networks - to maximize available resources and successfully evolve in a very competitive and rapidly changing research world.

Over the next few months, we will be working along with the Institute Advisory Board (IAB) and other leaders of our community to identify the best strategic directions for ICRH. I will be visiting our researchers and stakeholders, university by university and province to province, to learn more about our communities and hear your suggestions on how to best move forward.

I look forward to working with you in moving our community forward over the next few years. I hope that you will have some time for me when I visit your milieu.

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