From bench-to-bedside and beyond, medical research advances when investigators have the resources and time to explore their best ideas. Federal funding is a crucial component in making that innovation possible.
As the core of a world-class collaborative research hub, the uOttawa Faculty of Medicine and its top-flight affiliated institutes are accustomed to helping shape the future with groundbreaking discoveries funded by government grants – even as Canada’s science funding is stagnating.
The funding environment makes our community’s recent bumper crop of multi-million dollar successes even more notable.
Simply put, there are just too many exciting research projects to profile in this space (check out this list of the most recent CIHR funding). But below are summaries of two multimillion-dollar projects recently funded by the CIHR. The project funds are being administered and conducted at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute.
Dr. Jodi Edwards & STROKECOG
Dr. Jodi Edwards is leading STROKECOG (STROKE and COGnition), a national training platform with research co-applicants from across Canada. It’s funded by the CIHR Clinical Trials Fund for $2.9M over three years.
It’s already a trailblazing project: Her team’s innovative platform was ranked first overall in the first CIHR competition of its kind.
The STROKECOG platform led by Dr. Edwards will develop a new generation of more diverse stroke clinical trial leaders, with training to conduct inclusive complex trials in diverse populations, across a wider range of care settings. It embeds equity, diversity, inclusivity and accessibility to maximize the benefit of stroke clinical trials for more Canadians.
Why is that important? Currently, the majority of stroke clinical trials in Canada take place in major population centres with limited participation from the highest risk populations and sometimes those with the most severe deficits. This limits the benefits of trial advances.
The burden of stroke is high: One in six individuals worldwide will experience a stroke in their lifetime and it’s a leading cause of death. In Canada, roughly 878,500 Canadians live with the effects of stroke – which occurs when blood stops flowing to any part of the brain.
“We expect it to not only redefine the skillset expected of stroke trialists, but also set a new standard for meaningful trial outcomes that are generalizable to the populations with the highest risk and the most severe deficits,” says Dr. Edwards, Associate Professor in the Faculty of Medicine’s School of Epidemiology and Public Health and Director of the Brain and Heart Nexus Research Program at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute.
STROKECOG was developed in partnership with the Canadian Stroke Consortium (CSC) and the Heart and Stroke Foundation Canadian Partnership for Stroke Recovery (CPSR).
Dr. Marc Ruel & the ODIN trial
Dr. Marc Ruel is a principal investigator on an innovative project that was recently funded by the CIHR for seven years at a total budget of nearly $3M. That’s among the top 2 percent of all CIHR grants within the Project Grant competition by total value.
Dr. Ruel and his team proposed the first randomized controlled trial comparing short-term dual antiplatelet therapy (DAPT) to standard of care in patients undergoing coronary artery bypass surgery for stabile ischemic heart disease.
Their project, entitled “One-month DAPT In CABG PatieNts: the ODIN trial,” will explore possibilities of improving outcomes after bypass surgery, including the optimal use of antiplatelet medication.
With patients, the team plans to test whether dual anti-platelet therapy for one month after CABG surgery is superior to aspirin alone to prevent clotting of the bypass grafts while minimizing the risk of bleeding events.
The project aims to fill an existing knowledge gap regarding the optimal antiplatelet regiment for patients with stable ischemic heart disease (SIHD) undergoing coronary artery bypass surgery. Dr. Ruel and his team says there’s a need for post-bypass surgery antiplatelet regiments that reduce bleeding risk yet preserve efficacy against ischemic events.
Other investigators on Dr. Ruel’s talent-rich team include researchers from Weill Cornell Medical College, the University of Gothenburg, and the Medical University of Vienna.
Dr. Ruel is a professor in the uOttawa Faculty of Medicine’s Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine and the endowed chair of research in the Division of Cardiac Surgery at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute.
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