Pace picks up for hospital research activity

Toronto, ON – Research activity at Canada’s leading health research organizations rose by a combined 5.0% in fiscal 2014 compared with a 1.1% increase in fiscal 2013, according to Research Infosource, which today released its Canada’s Top 40 Research Hospitals List.

Hospitals, hospital networks and health authorities reported that their total research activity increased to $2.38 billion from $2.27 billion in Fiscal 2013. In total, 27 institutions reported activity gains against 13 where activity declined. The number of hospital researchers increased by 4.5% to 8,572 from 8,205 the prior year.

The leading health research organization was Toronto’s University Health Network, with $303.1 million of research activity, followed by Hamilton Health Sciences ($212.0 million), The Hospital for Sick Children ($199.9 million), McGill University Health Centre ($190.3 million) and B.C.’s Provincial Health Services Authority ($142.4 million). In total, 8 organizations reported over $100 million of research activity, compared with 9 the previous year. New to the Top 40 list this year is Ottawa’s Hôpital Montfort.

“Overall, this was a solid year financially for hospital research organizations,” said Ron Freedman, CEO of Research Infosource. “In fact, 11 of the 40 saw double-digit increases in research activity and two-thirds saw some level of growth.”

Research activity growth was strongest at Women’s College Hospital (28.2%), Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital (27.7%), St. Boniface Hospital (20.9%), Hôpital Maissoneuve-Rosemont (19.6%) and Hamilton Health Sciences (16.4%).

Leading the way in research intensity – research income per researcher – was Institut de Cardiologie de Montréal ($705,500 per researcher), closely followed by Mount Sinai Hospital, Joseph and Wolf Lebovic Health Complex ($663,900), Baycrest ($581,200), University Health Network ($550,100) and Centre for Addiction and Mental Health ($540,300).

In fiscal 2014 Ontario was home to 59.0% of all research activity, compared with 26.4% in Quebec and 11.2% in British Columbia.