Our Research Partners
Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI)
The Canadian Foundation for Innovation is the only national organization that provides funding for research infrastructure. The Heart Institute’s National Cardiac PET Centre and Ruddy Canadian Cardiovascular Genetics Centre both benefit from large grants from the CFI. PET gives Institute professionals a better “read” of a patient’s heart before they begin treatment, while the genetics centre allows researchers to continue their quest to personalize treatment based on a patient’s genes.
Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR)
The Canadian Institutes of Health Research is the federal agency responsible for funding health research in Canada. Regular funding to the Heart Institute and its partners has led to important discoveries. In 2008, Institute researchers announced that they had identified genes that increase the risk for heart disease. The result of this research will help identify individuals who are genetically at risk for coronary artery disease, Canada’s number one killer, and help develop personalized plans to treat the disease.
Heart and Stroke Foundation of Ontario (HSFO)
The Heart and Stroke Foundation’s mission is to reduce the risk for premature death and disability from heart disease and stroke by raising funds for research and health promotion. In 2008, it awarded more than $2 million to various projects at the Heart Institute. Among those completed, one study revealed that nearly 1.5 million Ontarians are living with hypertension and that in 0.5 million of them it is uncontrolled. Surveys such as these allow Institute researchers to adapt treatments and prevention strategies to everyday realities.
Nordion is one of the world’s largest producers of medical isotopes. The company established a $2.2 million Molecular Imaging Centre of Excellence at the Heart Institute in 2008. Now equipped with an R&D radiochemistry laboratory, Institute researchers aim to improve cardiac research by using molecular imaging technology to explore the physiology and cellular activity of the body.
Ottawa Health Research Institute (OHRI)
The Ottawa Health Research Institute is the research arm of The Ottawa Hospital and a major part of the University of Ottawa's faculties of Medicine and Health Sciences. In 2008, it was awarded $32 million to lead a collaborative program with The Ottawa Hospital, CHEO, the Heart Institute, and the University of Ottawa. The funding will support new facilities to investigate the molecular basis of health and disease, manufacture new therapies, and conduct early stage clinical trials in patients. Institute scientists will be able to test new therapies, including engineered stem cells to repair the heart and regenerate blood vessels.
International Research Collaborations
The Heart Institute participates in a variety of international collaborative efforts. These include standards setting bodies, such as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s MicroArray Quality Control Project, and consortia of leading research institutions that pool data for large-scale genomics studies. The Heart Institute also frequently partners with specific organizations and institutions in other countries on specific research studies, the development of new treatments and techniques, and multi-centre clinical trials.
