Canadian Association of Gastroenterology Research Committee Report 2012

Abstract

The Canadian Association of Gastroenterology (CAG) and its Foundation, the Canadian Digestive Health Foundation (CDHF), in collaboration with the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) and the CAG-CDHF partners, aims to promote excellence in research. The overarching objective is that this research, in turn, will lead to new discoveries that will translate into improved health for Canadians. Moreover, this partnership will sustain and increase this capacity through high-quality education and research training of talented young scientists and clinicians in gastroenterology. The CAG strategic plan is to sustain its strong support of biomedical research while increasing support for research in CIHR pillars 3 and 4, including outcomes research, quality assurance and knowledge translation. The present report, on behalf of the research committee (Table 1), outlines another very successful year for this partnership program. TABLE 1 Members of the Canadian Association of Gastroenterology Research Committee 2012 Details relating to eligibility and application processes for all of the following awards are available on the CAG website (www.cag-acg.org/research). The review and assessment of every application complies with CIHR standards and guidelines, and any potential conflicts of interest are meticulously identified and avoided. Operating Grant and New Investigator Award One operating grant and one new investigator salary award (Table 2) were awarded this year. TABLE 2 Funded grants 2012 CAG-CIHR-Partnered Postdoctoral Operating Fellowship Program The fellowship program is the cornerstone in the CAG research activities and its sustained success makes it a model for other societies. A large number of applications were received again this year and with support from the CIHR, the CCFC and CAG’s industry partners (identified in Tables 2 to ​to5)5) 15 fellowships were funded (Table 3). Two fellows received CAG/CIHR awards in name only because their applications ranked at a level to be funded entirely by the CIHR. TABLE 3 Funded Postdoctoral Fellowships 2012 TABLE 5 Resident Research Awards 2012 CDHF-CIHR PhD Studentship Program Three PhD students (Table 6) were funded under this partnership program. TABLE 6 Canadian Digestive Health Foundation-Canadian Institutes of Health Research Studentship Program 2012 Summer Studentships It is critical that young investigators be supported at all levels of their training. Thus, in partnership with CCFC, 14 students received awards ($7,000 each) to work in laboratories of recent or established investigators whose interests cover many facets of gut function in health and in disease (Table 4). TABLE 4 Canadian Association of Gastroenterology and Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of Canada-funded Summer Studentships 2012 Resident Research Program Ten awards were made available with the generous partnership from Takeda Canada, Shire Canada, Warner Chilcott, and Aptalis Pharma (Table 5). Community Research Grant (CREG) The CREG is an award specifically designed to assist community-based gastroenterologists, who are members of the CAG, take advantage of an operating research funding grant in digestive sciences. The CAG and the CDHF awarded the 2012 Community Research Grant to Dr Adrian Bak (Kelowna, British Columbia) for his project titled ‘Potential of the water method of colonoscopy as a universal screening test’. Workshop Grants Two CAG Workshop Grants were provided: one for the Farncombe Symposium Workshop (September 22 to 25, 2011) and a second for the Kananaskis Inflammation Workshop (January 21, 2012). These workshops make a significant contribution to education in gastroenterology (GI) research, and help to showcase the cutting-edge GI research from Canada and beyond. CCFC-CAG Partnership The CCFC continues to be a key partner in the CAG research program and IBD research, a major focus of the research being conducted. The summaries (Tables 2, ​,33 and ​and4)4) show that CCFC supported three Fellowships, one New Investigator salary award and six summer studentships. Congratulations to all the successful awardees. We look forward to your contributions and your continued participation in the CAG research program. And again, many thanks to CIHR and CCFC and the CAG industry partners – the 14 summer studentships, 10 resident research awards, 15 fellowships, one salary award and one operating grant total a research dollar commitment in 2012 of $1,974,000.