CH.I.L.D. Foundation and CIHR launch Pediatric Inflammatory Bowel Disease Research Network

Improving the quality of life of Canadian children by developing more effective treatments and research.
 

For immediate release –

2012-32

Vancouver, British Columbia (June 29, 2012) – Dr. Grace McCarthy, Chairman of the Board of The Foundation for Children with Intestinal and Liver Disorders (CH.I.L.D), today announced an important new partnership with the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) to fund the creation of the Canadian Children Inflammatory Bowel Disease Network: A Joint Partnership of CIHR and the CH.I.L.D. Foundation. The aim of this national research network and data platform is to pursue a cure for Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) in children and to improve the quality of care for patients and their families who suffer from these debilitating diseases.

"I am pleased that CH.I.L.D. is providing research funding for this important challenge, and that our Government can partner with them to support research for a cure," said the Honourable Leona Aglukkaq, Minister of Health. "Many children and adolescents are affected by this disease, and this partnership will help efforts to find better treatments for them."

"This partnership is an historic one, which will for the first time in Canada produce a framework to bring researchers and all stakeholders together to work collectively with their focus on a cure for pediatric IBD," said Dr. McCarthy. "It opens up opportunities to exchange information with researchers, patients and families, hastening the cure and providing better care on the way to finding the answers to these diseases. This day we are grateful for the groundbreaking decision by the Government of Canada to help us work towards a cure."

CIHR and CH.I.L.D. have launched a competition open to the best Canadian researchers in the field to create a network of at least five centres of pediatric IBD research expertise across the country. The national network and data platform will help put in place a framework to share the latest advances and best ideas in treating children with IBD, and to apply them as promptly as possible in new treatment regimens built on the principles of standardized high quality patient focused care.

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The CH.I.L.D. Foundation was established in 1995 to fund research for children who are stricken with Crohn's Disease, Ulcerative Colitis, and liver disorders. We are a federally registered organization, and our charitable tax number is BN 89897 4951 RR0001. We are fuelled by dedicated volunteers and have created an unprecedented public awareness, due in large part by donated support from the media and the business community. The CH.I.L.D. Foundation has taken this severely under-funded health issue in children and raised the profile to such an extent that health providers and hospital leaders, as well as the general public, are much more attentive to the needs of these children.

It has been seventeen years since Grace McCarthy, oc, obc, Lindsay Gordon, and Mary Parsons founded The CH.I.L.D. Foundation. The Foundation has established the very first Endowed Chair in Canada for Pediatric Gastroenterology Research at the University of British Columbia and the first Endowed Program at B.C.'s Children Hospital.

We have built B.C.'s first research lab on the site of B.C.'s Children's Hospital. It now has over twenty researchers and investigative staff and they are receiving National recognition for their work. We will launch a new initiative this year which employs all the latest technologies such as the Internet and Bio-informatics. A grant from the Government of British Columbia will allow us to initiate a Collaborative Approach to finding a cure for I.B.D. This will be a Canada-wide program. Imagine! All those in clinical and research centres all working together to focus on finding the cure! A first in Canada, this is the way of the future of research.

A total coordinated approach for care from bench research to bedside is envisioned, where young patients have the benefit of a coordinated approach from knowledgeable health care professionals and dedicated research scientists.

The Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) is the Government of Canada's health research investment agency. CIHR's mission is to create new scientific knowledge and to enable its translation into improved health, more effective health services and products, and a strengthened Canadian health care system. Composed of 13 Institutes, CIHR provides leadership and support to more than 14,100 health researchers and trainees across Canada.

Fact Sheet

Further information:

David Coulombe, CIHR, 613-941-4563