Welcome to Toronto . Welcome to the CIHR

May 6 to 10, 2000 is a great time for the Canadian respiratory community. It is the 100th anniversary of our Lung Association, and it is our chance to host the respiratory world at the American Lung Association, American Thoracic Society International Conference and the Canadian Thoracic Society Annual Meeting. The name Toronto comes from a Mohawk word meaning ‘meeting place’. The rivers that run into Lake Ontario were traditional gathering places for the aboriginal peoples that lived in this area before the coming of the European settlers. My ancestors include both Mohawks and the Mississaugas of the Credit, the native tribe that occupied the Toronto area as its traditional territory until the late 18th century. As we begin this new century, Toronto has certainly become Canada’s international meeting place. Enjoy the city. Enjoy an exciting conference. And in the spirit of the ancestors, welcome. This month represents another opportunity for welcome: Welcome to our new Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), and farewell to the Medical Research Council (MRC) of Canada. While writing this editorial, Bill 13 to establish the CIHR had passed through the House of Commons with a clear majority and was awaiting approval by the Senate, normally a formality but never to be taken lightly. Some CIHR funding programs are already underway, and our health research community is anxious to see how the whole structure will take shape. Our American visitors will recognize the many similarities to the long-established National Institutes of Health (NIH). Indeed, many of the features (but not all) of our new medical research structure are patterned after the NIH, most notably a dozen or so institutes based on thematic groupings such as cancer, genetics or infection. The details remain to be decided, and are anxiously awaited by the Canadian research community. The experiences of a number of other countries were also drawn upon, and it is hoped the CIHR, as a synthesis of this collective experience, will be an improvement over existing models. The other big difference, continuing with established MRC practice, is that health research will continue to be conducted in universities and health centres, and not in central laboratories, as is the case with the NIH complex. In fact, because this is the 21st century and the electronic age, CIHR research units will be virtual in nature, as will most of the CIHR budget. That is to say, there will be real money for the front-line investigators – a substantial increase from the MRC days, in fact – but for each institute, the majority of its funding will be virtual because most grants will be awarded directly to the investigators by the CIHR central administration and not by the institiutes themselves. Still, there will be real advantages associated with each institute, since they will have a chance to establish priorities and new directions for research, and their thematic structure should allow for better opportunities to foster interaction between scientists with common interests. The beginning of the CIHR also is a time of uncertainty for many researchers in this country. The main uncertainty, even anxiety, is the sense of not knowing where one’s research will fit into the overall plan. Instead of research being grouped in the traditional MRC peer-review committees, it will be assigned to large, as yet-to-be designated thematic institutes. The respiratory research community is facing this problem, and it is a cause for great concern. Where will respiratory research fit in? It seems that our first choice of having a dedicated respiratory and critical care health research institute has probably been rejected, and our community is faced with the likelihood that a much larger institute, grouping

respiratory community.It is the 100th anniversary of our Lung Association, and it is our chance to host the respiratory world at the American Lung Association, American Thoracic Society International Conference and the Canadian Thoracic Society Annual Meeting.
The name Toronto comes from a Mohawk word meaning 'meeting place'.The rivers that run into Lake Ontario were traditional gathering places for the aboriginal peoples that lived in this area before the coming of the European settlers.My ancestors include both Mohawks and the Mississaugas of the Credit, the native tribe that occupied the Toronto area as its traditional territory until the late 18th century.
As we begin this new century, Toronto has certainly become Canada's international meeting place.Enjoy the city.Enjoy an exciting conference.And in the spirit of the ancestors, welcome.
This month represents another opportunity for welcome: Welcome to our new Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), and farewell to the Medical Research Council (MRC) of Canada.While writing this editorial, Bill 13 to establish the CIHR had passed through the House of Commons with a clear majority and was awaiting approval by the Senate, normally a formality but never to be taken lightly.Some CIHR funding programs are already underway, and our health research community is anxious to see how the whole structure will take shape.
Our American visitors will recognize the many similarities to the long-established National Institutes of Health (NIH).Indeed, many of the features (but not all) of our new medical research structure are patterned after the NIH, most notably a dozen or so institutes based on thematic groupings such as cancer, genetics or infection.The details remain to be decided, and are anxiously awaited by the Canadian research community.
The experiences of a number of other countries were also drawn upon, and it is hoped the CIHR, as a synthesis of this collective experience, will be an improvement over existing models.The other big difference, continuing with established MRC practice, is that health research will continue to be conducted in universities and health centres, and not in central laboratories, as is the case with the NIH complex.In fact, because this is the 21st century and the electronic age, CIHR research units will be virtual in nature, as will most of the CIHR budget.That is to say, there will be real money for the front-line investigators -a substantial increase from the MRC days, in fact -but for each institute, the majority of its funding will be virtual because most grants will be awarded directly to the investigators by the CIHR central administration and not by the institiutes themselves.Still, there will be real advantages associated with each institute, since they will have a chance to establish priorities and new directions for research, and their thematic structure should allow for better opportunities to foster interaction between scientists with common interests.
The beginning of the CIHR also is a time of uncertainty for many researchers in this country.The main uncertainty, even anxiety, is the sense of not knowing where one's research will fit into the overall plan.Instead of research being grouped in the traditional MRC peer-review committees, it will be assigned to large, as yet-to-be designated thematic institutes.The respiratory research community is facing this problem, and it is a cause for great concern.Where will respiratory research fit in?It seems that our first choice of having a dedicated respiratory and critical care health research institute has probably been rejected, and our community is faced with the likelihood that a much larger institute, grouping respiratory research with cardiovascular and cerebrovascular themes, is the most likely scenario.As it stands now, however, we are in limbo; nothing has been anounced, and nothing is certain.Our community has been severely divided and discouraged by this issue.
The respiratory research component of the CIHR may, thus, end up as a minority partner in a cardio-cerebrovascular respiratory institute along the lines of the United States National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI).If this turns out to be the case, perhaps we can take some comfort from the NIH model.In the United States, the Division of Lung Diseases of the NHLBI has served the academic respiratory community well, and respiratory health research has had many opportunities to move forward within this divisionalized structure.Given the likelihood of a similar grouping in our CIHR, our community will have to adapt and negotiate for the best arrangement to protect the interests of lung health research and allow its agenda to move forward.
There is an advertisement on many airline magazines that says "You only get what you negotiate."Thetime has come, the walrus said, to begin the negotiations.L a communauté canadienne de pneumologie aura le coeur à la fête du 6 au 10 mai 2000.Ce sera le 100 e anniversaire de l'Association pulmonaire du Canada et nous aurons l'honneur d'accueillir, en l'occasion, des hôtes à la conférence internationale de l'American Lung Association et de l'American Thoracic Society et au congrès annuel de la Société canadienne de thoracologie.

Figure 1 )
Figure 1) Chief George King, last of the traditional chiefs of the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation, was the author's greatgreat-grandfather.He was born on Toronto Island in 1813 and died at New Credit, Ontario in 1871

Figure 1 )
Figure 1) Le chef George King, le dernier des chefs traditionnels de la tribu des Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation, est l'arrièrearrière-grand-père de l'auteur.Il est né sur la Toronto Island en 1813 et est mort à New Credit, en Ontario, en 1871