NEW INVESTIGATOR RESEARCH GRANTEE
While research funds in Canada are being directed to the COVID-19 response, it’s more important than ever to invest in the early-career researchers whose work will change the future of child health.
DEAF KIDS HEAR BETTER THANKS TO CAREER-LAUNCHING GRANT
Few medical marvels beat the joy of witnessing a Deaf infant hear a parent’s voice for the first time.
Dr. Karen Gordon, SickKids audiologist and senior scientist, has had the privilege of this special moment. The research program she leads today investigates cochlear implants and other ways to improve life for children with profound hearing loss. And a New Investigator Research Grant helped pave the way.
Founded in 2001, the New Investigator Research Grant program was designed to kickstart the careers of emerging child health researchers. It’s done so for Dr. Gordon and 165 other talented researchers, allowing them to research, publish, and successfully compete for bigger grants.
PHOTO: Dr. Karen Gordon, 2006 New Investigator Research Grantee, now the Research Director of Archie’s Cochlear Implant Lab at SickKids.
Health research funding is tough to win. On average, just 15% of scientists who apply to the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) succeed. In the Fall 2019 competition, 78% of grants went to more senior investigators.
As a newly minted PhD graduate in 2006, Dr. Gordon understood the value of her New Investigator Research Grant and the mentorship built into it. “It encourages not only a personal confidence,” she says, “but also a feeling that you have a community supporting you.”
“The momentum provided by the new investigator award was key for me.”
- Dr. Gordon
What she couldn’t predict was the success it would stimulate: more early-career research funding and then her first CIHR grant in 2008. “That’s the momentum you’re trying to provide with new investigator awards, which was key for me.”
That early investment in Dr. Gordon’s career grew into the world-leading research program she directs today: Archie’s Cochlear Implant Lab at SickKids.
Besides being inspired by her patients and families, Dr. Gordon thrives on mentoring young researchers. Postdoctoral fellows, Master’s students, and undergraduates flock to her lab to learn and forge their own research path.
True to form, the first cohort of New Investigator Research Grantees, Dr. Gordon included, are now Canada’s child health research leaders. In British Columbia Dr. Stuart Turvey (2005 grantee) is a national director of the CHILD Cohort Study, Canada’s largest population-based birth cohort study, working to reduce the risk of chronic diseases like asthma. Dr. Jacques Michaud (2004 grantee) leads 210 scientists across six programs at the CHU Sainte-Justine Research Centre in Quebec. Dr. Carolyn Emery (2003 grantee) is the director of the University of Calgary’s postdoctoral program.
Like Dr. Gordon, every grantee makes a difference, repaying that early investment many times over with high-impact discoveries, research leadership, and mentorship to foster Canada’s up-and-coming child health scientists.
The New Investigator Research Grant program is a national granting program for early-career health researchers. Since 2001, it has invested in 166 scientists at over 45 health institutions across Canada. A partnership of SickKids Foundation and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, this premier granting program is developing Canada’s next generation of child health research leaders
Find out more about the program here.
