Last month we reached out to you for your input on how the COVID-19 pandemic and research curtailment is impacting your research groups. Through our work with HealthCareCAN and federal ministers, we have been advocating for federal support for researchers experiencing budget shortfalls as a result of COVID-19, to help ensure the sustainability of our critical research infrastructure and enable us to keep our outstanding personnel.
Yesterday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced $450 million in funding to support researchers. We are heartened that our message has been heard. We hope that this program will provide a much needed lifeline to the research groups who have lost funding from industry and philanthropic partners, and allow us to better weather this crisis.
Your voices and contributions were critical to making our case at all levels of government. Thank you for your responsiveness and commitment to research.
Best regards,
Teresa S.M. Tsang, MD, FRCPC, FACC, FASE
Director of Echo Lab, VGH and UBC
Professor, Division of Cardiology
Associate Head Research, UBC Department of Medicine
Anna Meredith, PhD
Research Manager
Research Office, UBC Department of Medicine
Anita Palepu, MD, MPH, FRCPC, MACP
Professor and Eric W. Hamber Chair
Head, Department of Medicine
University of British Columbia
https://medicine.med.ubc.ca/
Head, Department of Medicine
Providence Health Care
http://medicine.providencehealthcare.org
Associate Editor, Annals of Internal Medicine