Communiqués de
presse

Speaking notes

Michael H. Wilson

Institute of Neurosciences, Mental Health and Addiction
Annual Meeting

November 22nd, 2003

I want to thank the Institute of Neurosciences, Mental Health and Addiction and its Scientific Director, Dr. Rémi Quirion, for inviting me to speak to you tonight. I am delighted to be in the company of such an impressive cross-section of stakeholders who share the goals of raising public awareness of neurological and psychiatric diseases and disorders and their devastating impacts on individuals, their families and society, and increasing the research investments necessary to find new and better treatments and cures.

As Chairman of the NeuroScience Canada Partnership and Foundation, and Senior Chairman of the Global Business and Economic Roundtable on Addiction and Mental Health, I have had the opportunity to work with a number of the organizations represented here, and to become acquainted with the work of many others. I have also had the privilege of interacting directly with the research community, and the dedication and excellence of our Canadian scientists and clinicians has been and continues to be a great source of inspiration. All of your contributions are having a huge impact and the challenge ahead is to continue to expand these efforts.

Gatherings like this weekend’s are one important way of building links among the scientific research community, voluntary organizations and government. I also want to congratulate Dr. Quirion and his Advisory Board for their vision for the Institute —bringing neurological, psychiatric and addictive disorders together under one umbrella; that of neuroscience.

Dr. Quirion has been an erudite spokesperson breaking down the barriers among science disciplines—a vision shared by many prominent scientists, such as Professor Eric Kandel, one of three neuroscientist-psychiatrists awarded the 2000 Nobel Prize in Medicine. In his Director’s message, posted on the Institute’s web site, Dr. Quirion refers to Dr. Kandel’s words: “The time is ripe to break down barriers between disciplines and to use new knowledge, new technologies and our very best scientists to solve the mysteries of the human brain and mind.”

The neurosciences, and the brain disorders covered by this field, are still not well understood by the average person. Moreover, even though brain disorders are one of Canada’s “big three” in terms of mortality, along with cancer and heart disease, and the leader in terms of disability, there has not been an effective non-governmental voice for all the neurosciences. As a result, brain disorders have received less attention and public and private support than other areas. This is inconceivable when we consider that half of all Canadians have had a brain disorder impact their family and these disorders now affect roughly four million Canadians of all ages. And this figure does not take into account the additional millions of Canadians who suffer from all forms of mental illness, but do not seek out care, often because of social stigma and discrimination. While much progress has been made in reducing the stigma associated with mental illness and addiction, there is still work to be done to better educate the public and to ensure that anyone afflicted by a psychiatric or addictive disorder is supported in every aspect of their personal and working lives.
This is what guides the work of the Global Business and Economic Roundtable on Addiction and Mental Health and is the impetus behind the Canadian Alliance on Mental Illness and Mental Health. This alliance of twelve national mental health organizations has a mandate of getting mental illness care and prevention, and mental health promotion placed on the national agenda. The objective is to ensure that those with mental illness and their families receive the appropriate access to care and support. Furthermore, good practices in the promotion of mental health contribute to healthy families, productive workplaces and strong communities.

It also makes economic sense. Health Canada has evaluated the economic burden of mental illnesses at more than $14 billion. The economic burden of all neurological and psychiatric disorders is estimated at $22.7 billion. But this is a conservative figure and does not take into account, for instance, the large numbers of individuals who are not diagnosed and/or do not go through the healthcare system. It also does not fully account for lost productivity. More realistic estimates have the burden of disease at $35 billion and higher. This is a major drain on our economy. A comprehensive strategy for brain disorders, involving the voluntary sector and all levels of government, will be good for our society and good for our economy.

Foremost is significantly increasing research investment so that new and better treatments and cures may be found. The public may believe that research in general, and neuroscience research in particular is well funded in Canada; but this is not correct. Although funds have been provided to build research capacity, in the form of CRC [Canada Research Council] Chairs and CFI [Canadian Foundation for Innovation] funding, only $10.6 million will be provided by the CIHR in new operating grants for basic neuroscience research in the next year. The CIHR target budget is 1 per cent of the total healthcare budget, or $1 billion. However, the actual budget the CIHR received for the 2002/2003 fiscal year was only $580 million. And so there is a significant shortfall in funding to meet research needs.
While there has been investment in infrastructure, there is a disproportionately low amount of funding available to run labs and hire postdoctoral scientists. Canadian researchers are recognized as world class. They have expertise in neurodegenerative disease, neuroimaging, tissue engineering and biomaterials, regeneration, protection and functional recovery, genetics. And they have been able to achieve the maximum results with limited funding But that’s really a way of excusing the fact that we underinvest in our researchers.

How do we remedy this imbalance? There are two areas in which we can all make a difference. First, we must work to raise the priority given to brain disorders in Canada’s healthcare system. This includes raising the profile of the neurosciences. Second, we must look at ways to combine our efforts in order to achieve scale and scope and be able to fund our world-class researchers at competitive levels.
Much has been done to raise the profile of specific neurological disorders, such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, chronic pain, brain tumours, and of mental illness and addiction, including depression, bipolar schizophrenia, eating disorders, autism. But in the broader context of the impact of neurological and psychiatric disorders and illnesses, and because of the interrelationship among the neurosciences, these efforts are quite fragmented and need to be reinforced. This must be done by raising the profile of the neurosciences overall.

Let me talk a bit about NeuroScience Canada Partnership. Our vision is to be the umbrella voice for all the neurosciences—for the totality of the more than 1,000 neurological and psychiatric disorders that affect the brain and nervous system. NeuroScience Canada’s goal is to work collaboratively with government and with other voluntary health organizations to enhance and complement their work and to fill the need for a strong non-governmental voice for the neurosciences. The fact that cancer and heart disease and stroke do have umbrella voices has enabled them to raise public awareness of these diseases and attract substantial private and government support. We need to do the same for the neurosciences.
The other important part of our vision is to foster the development and financing of collaborative, multi-disciplinary research and development across the broad range of neurosciences. This reinforces two important messages. One, that a common challenge is to gain a better understanding of brain functioning and repair, and two, that an integrated approach to research can lead to treatments and cures for a range of disorders.

At NeuroScience Canada Partnership, we asked ourselves how we could accelerate research to repair a brain that is not functioning properly, whether because of lost or damaged brain cells, improper connections between brain cells, or an imbalance of chemicals or molecules. While considering this question, we were approached by a group of prominent scientists from across Canada who told us that “With its history of supporting innovative and collaborative neuroscience research that cuts across diseases and disorders, NeuroScience Canada Partnership should take the lead in developing a Canadian brain repair initiative.”

So we spent the next several months building a world-class Science Advisory Council, initially led by Drs. Richard Riopelle and Anthony G. Phillips and now led by Dr. David Kaplan, last year’s recipient of the Barbara Turnbull Award for Spinal Cord Research, and the Canada Research Chair in Cancer and Neuroscience. The purpose was to draw on the talents and knowledge of this group to develop the best possible brain repair program—one that is driven by the research community and shaped by NeuroScience Canada’s experiences as a participant and leader of cross-sector research programs, including several with the Institute. The Brain Repair Program is strategically aligned with the Canadian Institutes of Health Research’s Strategic Initiative in Regenerative Medicine and NeuroScience Canada will continue to work in collaboration with Dr. Quirion to ensure that these programs are complementary.
NeuroScience Canada’s Brain Repair Program has several distinctive features.

? First and foremost, it is a national program that aims to support the best researchers doing the best research in Canada, and to provide the optimal conditions for collaboration across the country and across institutions. The emphasis is on excellence and innovation and research that addresses common mechanisms across neurological and psychiatric diseases and disorders.

? Second, the program encourages multi-disciplinary approaches to brain repair: traditional neurosciences along with biomedical disciplines such as genetics, molecular biology, physiology and pharmacology, as well as physics, chemistry, imaging and nanotechnology.

? Third, the program encourages teams that link basic research with clinical research including the disciplines of neurology, neurosurgery, psychiatry and rehabilitation medicine—so that there is a clear and direct interface between research and patient care, the translation of basic research into new and better treatments and cures.

? And fourth, the program aims to develop and retain world-class researchers in the neurosciences by encouraging the formation of teams that include young scientists and provide them with a training milieu to ensure there are opportunities to develop their skills and knowledge in Canada.

NeuroScience Canada had earlier launched a $10-million fundraising campaign, and the Board and leadership of the organization fully supported allocating $8 million of this total to our Brain Repair Program, to fund five teams of researchers. The program will initially fund two collaborative, multi-disciplinary brain repair research teams, at $1.5 million each over three years. Subsequent teams will be added as donor and partner funding is secured. Applications are currently being sough, and the full Request for Applications can be found on NeuroScience Canada’s web site, at www.neurosci_neurosciencecanada.ca, as well as the CIHR web site and INMHA section.

And so it is with great pleasure that I announce the official launch of the Brain Repair Program tonight. This launch is made possible thanks to the support of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Institutes of Neurosciences, Mental Health and Addiction, and Aging, and NeuroScience Canada’s Brain Repair Fund donors, including an anonymous donor who provided a $1.2-million challenge gift. The Brain Repair Program has been strongly endorsed by voluntary health organizations including the Alzheimer Society of Canada, the Parkinson Society of Canada, Canadian Psychiatric Research Foundation, and by the Canadian Stroke Network, the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, the Montreal Neurological Institute, provincial agencies such as the FRSQ. In the weeks and months ahead, you will be hearing more about the Brain Repair Program, and I urge you to add your support to an initiative that holds so much promise for accelerating research into brain repair. Dr. Quirion has been a champion of the Brain Repair Program since its inception, and he continues to be a most-valued advocate for cross-cutting, collaborative brain repair research.

The Brain Repair Program is part of what NeuroScience Canada Partnership hopes will be a united effort to raise the public profile of the neurosciences and increase the funding available to support our world-class Canadian neuroscience research. We want to give our researchers every opportunity to make breakthroughs, so that we can alleviate the human, economic and societal costs of neuroscience disorders.
We need to raise the bar and challenge ourselves to make this happen. I look forward to being part of this historic undertaking.

Thank you.