IMHA On The Move – Winter 2012

Table of Contents

• Message from the Scientific Director
• Funding Opportunities and News
• Recent Publications
• Good News Stories
• Partner Corner
• Meetings of Interest
• Contact Us

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Message from the interim scientific director

Welcome to the Winter edition of IMHA On the Move! It has been a busy and productive fall here at IMHA, and I hope that it has been for the research community as well.

Last month, the IMHA Institute Advisory Board (IAB) gathered in Halifax for our fall IAB meeting. IMHA continues to hold IAB meetings in different cities in Canada to connect with researchers at academic institutions across the country. We also use the opportunity to host an outreach activity involving researchers and the public – Halifax was no exception.

Whereas IMHA has been hosting Café Scientifiques during our last 9 consecutive board meetings, we decided to host an open forum on the evening following the first day of our meeting this time. About 40 Dalhousie researchers and representatives from our partner organizations in the Halifax area attended. After a presentation about IMHA and CIHR, people had the opportunity to ask questions and network with one another and with members of our board. One of the main topics of conversation was the changes to CIHR's open suite of programs and enhancements to the peer review process (please follow the link to get the latest updates). We were honoured to have Dr. Martha Crago, Vice-President (Research) at Dalhousie University welcome our guests and attend a session with the IAB the next morning. Overall, it was a great opportunity for IMHA to learn about the research program at Dalhousie, to meet some of the community and to share updates from CIHR and IMHA.

In funding news, IMHA is pleased to announce that we are once again partnering with Muscular Dystrophy Canada on an Operating Grant Priority Announcement (Rachel Fund) which will provide funding for applications in the area Myotonic Dystrophy. The Rachel Fund is an initiative to advance research on Myotonic Dystrophy, initiated through a donation provided by Tribute Communities, a generous donor to Muscular Dystrophy Canada. Please see page 2 for new funding opportunities as well as others with fast-approaching deadlines.

Wishing you health and happiness in 2013!

Sincerely,

Phillip Gardiner PhD, Interim Scientific Director
Institute of Musculoskeletal Health and Arthritis

Funding Opportunities and News

IMHA Funding Opportunities

For information on current funding opportunities, please visit IMHA's Funding Opportunities.

Operating Grant: Winter 2013 Priority Announcement

• Musculoskeletal Health, Arthritis, Skin and Oral Health (Bridge Funding)
• Musculoskeletal Health, Arthritis, Skin and Oral Health – New Investigators
• Myotonic Dystrophy (Rachel Fund)

Registration deadline: February 1, 2013
Application deadline: March 1, 2013

Undergraduate: Mobility, musculoskeletal health and arthritis
Application deadline: January 15, 2013

Travel Awards: Institute Community Support
Application deadline: January 25, 2013

Master's Award: Winter 2013 Priority Announcement
Application deadline: February 1, 2013

Dissemination Events: Winter 2013 Priority Announcement
Application deadline: February 15, 2013

Planning Grants: Winter 2013 Priority Announcement
Application deadline: February 15, 2013

Knowledge Translation Prize
Application deadline: February 18, 2013

External Funding Opportunities

Call for applications: Network for Canadian Oral Health Research (NCOHR) Team Building Workshop

The purpose of this funding opportunity is to fund a workshop to facilitate the development of new, collaborative, multidisciplinary research teams to investigate one of the following oral health priorities:

• Oral health disparities/vulnerable populations
• Oro-facial pain
• Caries/restorative materials

Other research themes may be considered.
Please contact Iona Worden-Driscoll at iona.worden-driscoll@dal.ca for application details.
Application deadline: January 11, 2013

Call for Submissions: Young Investigators Initiative Grant Mentoring and Career Development Program

The United States Bone and Joint Initiative (USBJI) and Bone and Joint Decade Canada are dedicated to raising public awareness and to increasing research of musculoskeletal diseases. Research in the musculoskeletal diseases performed by young investigators is not keeping pace with the increasing burden of these diseases. In response, the Young Investigator Initiative is a career development and grant mentoring program that provides early-career investigators an opportunity to work with experienced researchers in our field to assist them in securing funding and other survival skills required for pursuing an academic career.

To date 111 participants have successfully obtained more than $98 million in research grants and consider this program instrumental to their success.

The program runs April 26-28, 2013.
For application details contact usbji@usbji.org
Deadline for submissions: January 15, 2013

Postdoctoral Fellowship

The Université de Montréal Public Health Research Institute (IRSPUM: Institut de recherche en santé publique de l'Université de Montréal) is offering 2-year post-doctoral fellowships to encourage and support young researchers in the development of research in one of the IRSPUM's public health research areas. Depending on the nature of the project, financial partnership may be sought with other organizations. The budget for this program allows for the attribution of two fellowships.
Application deadline is February 14, 2013.
For application information contact marie.helene.chastenay@umontreal.ca.

Announcement of Catalyst Grants for Environments, Genes and Chronic Disease

This is an announcement regarding the launch of Environments, Genes and Chronic Disease (EGCD) Catalyst Grants. These grants aim to build on research opportunities identified at the Environments, Genes and Chronic Disease National Workshop held in February 2012.

These Catalyst Grants are supported by INMD, in partnership with the Institutes of Aboriginal People's Health, Cancer Research, Gender and Health, Genetics, Infection and Immunity, Musculoskeletal Health and Arthritis, and Population and Public Health.

The Catalyst Grants, of $100K for one year to each successful applicant, will provide up to $1.1M to assist researchers in developing new research activities, such as feasibility studies and multi-disciplinary collaborations, which relate to advancing knowledge in the field of environment-gene interactions in chronic disease.

The Environments, Genes and Chronic Disease Catalyst Grant funding opportunity is posted on the CIHR website. For more information on this RFA, please contact Keeley Rose at keeley.rose@sickkids.ca, INMD Project Manager.

Recent Publications

What makes a strong, sustainable health care system? Attention to patients and their families; a focus on proven, cost-effective treatments; concern for the well-being of health care workers; and a willingness to collect and use research evidence to improve service delivery.

Show me the Evidence showcases some of the evidence being produced by Canadian health researchers in response to the challenges listed above. This issue reports on the progress of several researchers who are helping support a high-quality, accessible and sustainable health care system. In Canada and around the world, their research is making a difference. These stories highlight:

• a new tool to protect health care workers in developing countries from workplace exposure to infectious diseases and other health threats;
• an innovative program that has drastically altered the service delivery model used to diagnose and treat dementia patients in rural communities; and
• a new approach for systematically improving the level of care provided to newborns admitted to neonatal intensive care units.

These CIHR-funded research projects have delivered:

• a 30% reduction in hospital-acquired infections;
• a model of care used internationally;
• a tool to protect health care workers; and
• diagnosis and treatment plans for dementia in a day, not a year

IMHA Reports

Catalyst Grant: Muscle and Musculoskeletal Rehabilitation

In 2010, IMHA initiated a knowledge translation activity that involved a comprehensive approach to data collection, analyses, and evaluation. This activity generated reports on the outcomes of IMHA's funded programs and initiatives. Our most recent outcome report is on IMHA's Catalyst Grant: Muscle and Musculoskeletal Rehabilitation program, which provided financial support to five new research projects, each receiving an average of $79,233.

IMHA's catalyst program met its primary goal to serve as a catalyst for the generation of preliminary findings as a first step towards the pursuit of more comprehensive funding opportunities, with many of the funded researchers reporting success in acquiring subsequent funding to follow-up on initial findings, and the others with grant applications in progress.

Overall, the research findings of the funded projects were reported in many peer-reviewed publications disseminated at numerous conferences through presentations and posters. Many trainees and post-doctorates worked on and were financially supported through these catalyst grants.

Substantial progress has been made by the projects seeded by the program, with outcomes expected to contribute to informing future developments and advancements in muscle and musculoskeletal rehabilitation research.

IMHA Young Investigators Forum

Last June, IMHA held a Young Investigators Forum at the Kingbridge Conference Centre in Toronto. The forum offered young investigators (YI) tools to better prepare for and enhance their success in CIHR's grant competitions, with the overall goal of providing them a 'home' in the Institute of Musculoskeletal Health and Arthritis (IMHA) research community.

Eighty young investigators from across Canada participated in the forum and took part in a poster session where they each presented findings from their scientific research. The young investigators in attendance provided positive feedback on an online survey and were enthusiastic about future initiatives of this kind.

Full conference report

Good News Stories

Oral Health Network Catalyst grant awarded

Oral health is essential for overall health and well-being. While the oral health of Canadians has improved dramatically over the past 30 years, many challenges remain. Drs. Debora Matthews, Dennis Cvitkovitch and their team, who were recently awarded a Network Catalyst Grant, hope to address some of these challenges through their newly established Network for Canadian Oral Health Research.

IMHA had the opportunity to hear Dr. Matthews present an overview of the network at the IAB meeting in Halifax last month. She highlighted the network's main purposes:

1. to develop and support research infrastructure to facilitate collaborative interdisciplinary research teams, and
2. to promote knowledge transfer and translation among researchers, policy makers, dental professionals and the public.

The network will link oral health researchers from ten universities across Canada with the mission of:

• Promoting the mentoring of the next generation of oral health researchers
• Guiding the development of sustainable infrastructure
• Aiding the development of interdisciplinary research teams
• Enabling the sharing of research-related resources
• Facilitating communication between and among knowledge creators and knowledge users

With a Steering Committee, representing 9 faculties/schools of dentistry including and a Knowledge Translation Council, chaired by Dr. John O'Keefe, CDA director of knowledge networks, and member of the IMHA Partnerships and Knowledge Translation Committee, the network is well positioned to meet its goals. Congratulations to Dr. Matthews and the team; we look forward to learning about the outcomes of this exciting project.

IMHA board member earns international recognition as recipient of the first Cotrel Foundation-Institut de France Medal

Dr. Alain Moreau, vice-chair of the advisory board of the CIHR Institute of Musculoskeletal Health and Arthritis, was recently honoured with the very first Cotrel Foundation-Institut de France Medal. An associate professor at Université de Montreal and researcher at Sainte-Justine University Hospital, Dr. Moreau was recognized for his exceptional contribution to the field of idiopathic scoliosis, a disease that results in deformity of the spine and whose cause is unknown. The Cotrel Foundation-Institut de France is an organization dedicated to supporting research on idiopathic scoliosis. It was founded by French orthopedic surgeon Dr. Yves Cotrel. As one of its first grant recipients, the Foundation has supported Dr. Moreau's research since 2001.

CIHR-supported study reveals faulty weight shifting as the most common cause of falls in seniors

Dr. Stephen Robinovitch, a CIHR-supported researcher at Simon Fraser University, has provided new evidence on how and why seniors fall. Dr. Robinovitch and his colleagues used video cameras set up in two long-term care facilities in B.C. to capture the falls of residents. In analyzing the footage they found that the most frequent cause of falls was incorrect weight shifting followed by other causes such as tripping or being bumped by someone or a closing door. This research provides new insights into how to prevent falls, which are the number one cause of injury in older adults. The results were recently published in the journal The Lancet.

Dr. Robinovitch is a member of the advisory board of the CIHR Institute of Musculoskeletal Health and principal investigator of the CIHR Team in the Cause and Prevention of Falls in Residential Care.

Partner Corner

Cochrane Canada Live! 2013 Webinar Series on Using Evidence

Register Now!

Decision Aids and their Uses: Chiropractic Applications
January 16, 2013 at 12:00 p.m. EDT

Supporting Evidence‐Informed Policymaking: The Role of Health Systems Evidence, Stakeholder Dialogues, and Other Initiatives
January 23, 2013 at 12:00 p.m. EDT

Evidence‐Based Health Reporting
January 30, 2013 at 12:00 p.m. EDT

Soutenir l'élaboration de politiques fondées sur des données probantes : Le rôle de Health Systems Evidence, des dialogues avec les parties prenantes et d'autres initiatives
February 6, 2013 at 12:00 p.m. EDT (in French)

JointHealth™

A fourth joint exam video is now available to be viewed from the JointHealth™ website. The video is part of a series of five originally created for the ArthritisID PRO app for iPhone. Now you can watch them from your personal computer.

Though specifically meant for physicians to use in their practice, arthritis consumers can also watch these videos so they know what to expect. Or, if you suspect you have arthritis, you can show the joint exams to your healthcare provider. Encourage your doctor to visit JointHealth™ website or download the free app to view the videos.

The joint exams are demonstrated in English by Dr. John Esdaile, Scientific Director at the Arthritis Research Centre of Canada (ARC) and in French by Dr. Diane Lacaille, Research Scientist also at ARC.

Meetings of Interest

Canadian Rheumatology Association Annual Meeting
February 13-16, 2013
Ottawa, ON

International Association for Dental Research
March 20-23, 2013
Seattle, WASH

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