CFI Announces Support to Award-Winning Research

Ottawa, November 29, 2002 – Dr. David Strangway, President and CEO of the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI), today announced a first-time investment of over $1.9 million under the CFI’s new Career Awards Program. This infrastructure investment by the CFI will be provided to five Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) Steacie Fellows and two Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Distinguished Investigator Award recipients.

"The Awards recognize the past achievements of these outstanding individuals and their potential for exceptional future contributions,” said Dr. Strangway. “The CFI is proud of this new partnership with NSERC and CIHR.”

Through a partnership with federal granting councils, the CFI Career Awards recognize and support outstanding researchers by providing institutions with the infrastructure that is essential to carry out their research. The CFI Board of Directors recently approved up to $1 million in funding to each granting council. This funding will support infrastructure components for their Career Award recipients on an annual basis.

"The CFI Career Awards enables our country’s top researchers to undertake leading- edge research that will help ensure that Canada is one of the most innovative countries in the world," said Industry Minister Allan Rock.

“This investment will allow our talented researchers to pursue further breakthroughs in their field," said Dr. Rey Pagtakhan, Minister of Veterans Affairs and Secretary of State (Science, Research and Development).

Under the CFI’s new Career Awards Program, the CFI Board of Directors approved an investment of $1.9 million in infrastructure that includes:

• Samy Suissa (McGill University), The Risks and Benefits of Drugs Prescribed for the Treatment of Chronic Diseases, ($500,000 CFI contribution). CIHR Distinguished Investigator Award
• Janet Rossant (Mount Sinai Hospital), Genetic Control of Mouse Development, ($480,505 CFI contribution). CIHR Distinguished Investigator Award.
• Wolfgang Jaeger (University of Alberta), A Helium Nanodroplet Isolation Spectrometer for the Study of Novel Chemical Species ($223,752 CFI contribution). NSERC Steacie Fellow.
• Elizabeth Cannon (University of Calgary), Infrastructure for Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) Algorithm and Application Development ($270,000 CFI contribution). NSERC Steacie Fellow.
• Alejandro Marangoni (University of Guelph), Powder X-ray Diffraction Unit, Small Deformation Rheometer and Consolidation of Microanalysis Capabilities ($75,000 CFI contribution). NSERC Steacie Fellow.
• Jerry Mitrovica (University of Toronto), A Parallel Computer Cluster for State-of-the-Art Numerical Modelling of an Ice Age Earth ($167,392 CFI contribution). NSERC Steacie Fellow.
• Louis Bernatchez (Université Laval), Laboratoire d'analyse génomique à haut débit en écologie moléculaire animale ($224,544 CFI contribution). NSERC Steacie Fellow.

A list of Steacie Fellowship recipients and backgrounders on the E.W.R. Steacie Memorial Fellowships can be found at: www.nserc.ca. A list of CIHR Distinguished Investigator Award recipients and backgrounders can be found at www.cihr-irsc.gc.ca.

The CFI is an independent, not-for-profit corporation established by the Government of Canada in 1997 to strengthen the capacity for innovation in Canadian universities and research institutions

For further information:

Suzanne Quinn
Canada Foundation for Innovation
(613) 996-3160
www.innnovation.ca

Selena Beattie
Office of Allan Rock
Minister of Industry
(613) 995-9001

Janet Weichel McKenzie
Canadian Institutes of Health Research
(613) 941-4563 (office)
(613-447-4794 (cell)
www.cihr.ca

Daphne Guerrero
Office of Dr. Rey Pagtakhan,
Minister of Veterans Affairs and Secretary of State (Science, Research and Development)
(613) 995-1333

Arnet Sheppard
NSERC NEWSBUREAU
Cell: (613) 297-8925