Support for research in Ontario’s budget

Toronto, ON – Ontario’s budget, which was released this week, includes support for research. Some of the specific items included in the budget include:

$23.5 million over five years to help establish the Aging and Brain Health Innovation (ABHI) Centre at Baycrest Health Sciences. The ABHI Centre will support the development of new technologies, products and resources to enable people to age in the setting of their choice by maintaining their cognitive, emotional and physical well-being and independence as long as possible.

$25 million over five years to support the recently established Ontario Institute for Regenerative Medicine (OIRM), which offers a strategic opportunity to accelerate the translation of discoveries into new treatments and therapies for a wide variety of diseases and conditions, including cancer, diabetes, blindness, and heart and lung diseases.

$2 million to support the Brain Imaging Centre at The Royal’s Institute of Mental Health Research in Ottawa, which will be used to acquire a unique PET–MRI brain-imaging system that will advance the understanding of a variety of mental health disorders. It will also enable mentoring and training to build Ontario’s and Canada’s next generation of researchers and clinicians.

The budget also mentions that in February, a $6.4 million in funding over four years was announced for the Health Services Research Program of the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research (OICR). The funding will support new research on increasing screening rates for colon cancer, decreasing toxicity for patients undergoing chemotherapy, and improving pain management for cancer patients.

In addition, it states the province will continue to support the work of the Ontario Brain Institute (OBI).