If the COVID-19 pandemic has taught us one lesson...

September 2020

“If the COVID-19 pandemic has taught us one lesson, it is that the value of health research cannot be overstated enough.”

September is normally the traditional start of the academic New Year as summer vacations wind down and students return to campuses and hospitals. I hope many of you found time for vacation, and that the return to work/research/study is going as smoothly as possible.

Research and learning will be challenging after this summer as we continue to grapple with the COVID-19 pandemic. We will keep trying to find the best ways to enable research, while at the same time ensuring researchers, trainees, and their extended family and friends are not further impacted by COVID-19. I would like to thank the Canadian research community and the staff at CIHR for mobilizing new resources to help cope with and solve the health and societal problems that this pandemic has brought to bear.

That said, we are starting to move back toward normalcy at Canadian research funding agencies, including CIHR. The Spring 2020 Project Grant competition was adjudicated, using a virtual “face-to-face” format, and the Fall 2020 Project Grant competition is underway. Once again, the response from CIHR staff and the Canadian research community was overwhelmingly positive and helpful.

If the COVID-19 pandemic has taught us one lesson, it is that the value of health research cannot be overstated enough. I look forward to working with the CIHR Institute of Genetics community to continue to advance research into improving the health and welfare of Canadians, and our friends and families around the world. 

Date modified:

2020-10-22