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Section I: Overview

Minister's Message

I am very pleased to present the 2007-2008 Departmental Performance Report (DPR) for the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR).

Last year, the Government of Canada released Mobilizing Science and Technology to Canada's Advantage, a new multi-year strategy designed to build a prosperous economy and promote a better quality of life in Canada through science and technology.

As part of this strategy, we reinforced our commitment to health research. A strong research community not only generates important knowledge, it also leads to improvements in the health of Canadians, strengthens our health-care system, creates new jobs and stimulates economic growth.

CIHR plays a vital role in building and maintaining Canada's thriving health research community. It continues to support world-class Canadian research and has forged strategic partnerships that have maximized the impact of research efforts.

CIHR provides numerous benefits to Canadians. Through its rigorous peer review process, CIHR ensures that the best projects and the brightest researchers are funded. Through its partnerships with industry, CIHR facilitates the acceleration of researchers' findings into commercial applications. Through its innovative knowledge translation programs, CIHR is bringing researchers, clinicians and policy-makers together to translate the results of this research into new health interventions for patients and community health services providers.

The work of Canadian health researchers is already having an impact on the health of people around the globe. Time magazine published its top 10 medical breakthroughs of 2007 and an international research study led by Dr. Stephen Moses, a CIHR-funded researcher, won the coveted first place. Dr. Moses led two clinical trials of male circumcision that proved successful in reducing HIV incidence in young men. CIHR provided over $2.5M in funding to this study.

Canada is just beginning to see the benefits of CIHR's contribution to health research. Its positive impact on the lives of Canadians will be felt for generations to come.

The Honourable Leona Aglukkaq
Minister of Health
Government of Canada

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President's Message

This past year, researchers supported by CIHR continued to demonstrate why Canada has a global reputation for scientific excellence. Ensuring research excellence is at the core of CIHR's mandate.

In 2007-2008, CIHR-funded researchers uncovered the genetic roots of autism, creating the possibility of genetic testing to screen for the condition and ensuring early intervention when it is most effective. CIHR-supported researchers developed skin-derived stem cells that have shown great promise for regenerative medicine. CIHR researchers identified risks associated with using antipsychotic medications to treat dementia among the elderly.

This past year, CIHR continued to move ahead with ambitious new programs that address the need for meaningful knowledge translation. One such program is the Partnerships for Health Services Improvement initiative, an exciting new approach that brings researchers and decision-makers together during the research process to improve health systems. Programs such as this will help CIHR provide adaptable health-care solutions that will fit the needs of different jurisdictions across Canada.

Over the past year, CIHR also moved ahead with plans to update Blueprint, CIHR's Strategic Plan. CIHR's Governing Council approved three broad strategies for achieving our mandate: capturing the excellence in the Canadian health research community; addressing research priorities to improve the health of Canadians, support effective health services and products and strengthen our health-care system; and translating knowledge into benefits for health and the economy. Our partners will be critically important in implementing these strategies.

CIHR is at the service of Canada and Canadians. Through the strong and consistent support of the Government of Canada, and its commitment to developing science and technology, CIHR has been able to make significant investments in health research. Collaborations with the private sector, with other federal and provincial funding agencies, with international partners and with health charities have and will continue to intensify the impact of these investments.

CIHR will continue to strive towards building a stronger, more productive health research community in Canada to help improve the health and lives of all Canadians.

Dr. Alain Beaudet, MD, P.h.D.
President, Canadian Institutes of Health Research

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Management Representation Statement

I submit for tabling in Parliament, the 2007-2008 Departmental Performance Report for the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.

This document has been prepared based on the reporting principles contained in the Guide for the Preparation of Part III of the 2007-2008 Estimates: Reports on Plans and Priorities and Departmental Performance Reports:

• It adheres to the specific reporting requirements outlined in the Treasury Board Secretariat guidance;
• It is based on the department's approved Strategic Outcome(s) and Program Activity Architecture that were approved by the Treasury Board;
• It presents consistent, comprehensive, balanced and reliable information;
• It provides a basis of accountability for the results achieved with the resources and authorities entrusted to it; and
• It reports finances based on approved numbers from the Estimates and the Public Accounts of Canada.

Name: Dr. Alain Beaudet, MD, P.h.D.

Title: President, Canadian Institutes of Health Research

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Summary Information

CIHR's Mandate

The mandate of CIHR is to excel, according to internationally accepted standards of scientific excellence, in the creation of new knowledge and its translation into improved health for Canadians, more effective health services and products and a strengthened Canadian health- care system (Bill C-13, April 13, 2000).

To accomplish its mandate, CIHR provides a range of programs and activities that are designed to support outstanding research, both investigator-driven and strategic or targeted, to build health research capacity and to promote knowledge translation. CIHR funds nearly 12,000 health researchers and trainees in universities, teaching hospitals and other health organizations and research centres across the country who conduct research in the following areas: biomedical; clinical; health systems and services; and the health of populations, societal and cultural dimensions of health and environmental influences on health. It funds health research that meets the highest international standards of excellence and ethics. Together, these activities will position Canada as a world leader in the creation and use of health knowledge for the betterment of Canadians and people across the globe.

Financial Resources ($M)

2007-2008
Planned Spending $869.5	Total Authorities $993.7	Actual Spending $974.1

Human Resources

2007-2008
Planned 406	Actual 361	Difference 45

CIHR's Program Activity Architecture (PAA)
CIHR's Departmental Report Program Activity Architecture (PAA) as approved by Treasury Board is shown in Figure 1 below. The PAA consists of three Strategic Outcomes and the key program activities that support CIHR's Strategic Outcomes. The performance information presented in Section II is organized according to this PAA structure. Please note that CIHR's PAA was revised in 2007-2008 according to TBS guidelines in order to better reflect how CIHR funds research to meet its mandate. As these changes took effect on April 1, 2008 they are not reflected in this document.

Figure 1: CIHR's Program Activity Architecture (PAA)

Summary of CIHR's Performance for 2007-2008

In its 2007-2008 Report on Plans and Priorities (RPP), CIHR committed to the priorities and related investments described in the tables below. These tables provide a summary of how CIHR performed relative to expected results and priorities. Finally, they provide a comparison of planned and actual spending in each Strategic Outcome. It should be noted that the linkages between health research inputs, outputs and impacts are difficult to trace when knowledge develops incrementally over an extended period of time and through multiple channels. Attribution of credit for research impacts can also be complex, as impacts often result from a number of research projects carried out or funded either collaboratively or independently in the same and/or different countries. As such, this report provides only limited performance information relating to the outcomes and impacts of CIHR funded research. CIHR is committed to measuring and reporting on the outcomes of its funded activities. For example, in 2007-2008 CIHR began the development of a Research Reporting System to systematically collect information on the results and impacts of funded research.

As outlined in Tables 1 & 2 and described in more detail in Section II of this report, CIHR has made significant progress in the priority areas and has successfully met the expected results and planned spending for all but one of its program activities. This performance status was primarily determined based on an assessment of planned and actual spending levels, activities, and outputs rather than an in depth assessment of efficiency and effectiveness.

Efficiency is measured at the organizational rather than the program activity level as most programs share common business processes and systems. CIHR considers itself efficient as its administrative costs have been consistently below its target of 6% of its annual budget (4.8% in 2007-2008) and so well below the norms in the federal government. This achievement is a reflection of CIHR's extensive use of automation to electronically collect and process applications and the more than 2,000 researchers who contribute, on average, three weeks of their time each year without remuneration to serve on more than 130 peer review committees.

CIHR assesses the effectiveness of its programs largely through evaluation. Over the past eight years it has conducted some 21 evaluations and collaborated on an additional six Tri-agency evaluations. In addition, as required by its legislation, CIHR underwent in 2006 a comprehensive assessment by an international review panel composed of 27 eminent scientists and other professionals led by Dr. John Bell, the Regius Professor of Medicine at Oxford University. For the most part, these studies have concluded that the programs are contributing as expected to program objectives and have recommended a variety of program adjustments to improve performance. The International Review Panel, for example, concluded that, "The accomplishments of the CIHR to date are many and virtually every aspect of the mandates has been significantly developed…Many of [its] activities provide novel and potentially very interesting and productive approaches towards making health research both more effective and more relevant…It is likely that this model will provide important new research outputs relevant to human health". While we acknowledge that we do not have evaluation results to support an in-depth assessment of all of our programs, CIHR recently finalized its five year evaluation plan which will ensure that all of its programs will be evaluated by 2012-2013. Evaluation findings will be presented in future reports.

In one case CIHR has not met expected results. This is for Program Activity 2.4 'Inform research, clinical practice and public policy on ethical legal and social issues related to health and health research'. For this program activity actual spending was significantly less than planned. This was a reflection of the lack of capacity for ethics research in Canada. While programming in this area has over time helped to build this capability, the community of interested and capable researchers remains too small to fully utilize the available funding. Note that the underutilized funds were transferred during the year to other priority areas.

In one case CIHR has exceeded expected results. This is for Program Activity 3.2 'Support national efforts to capture the economic value for Canada of health research advances made at Canadian institutions'. For this program activity the actual spending, activity and outputs were significantly higher than planned. Budget 2007 announced $163M of funding for the new Centres for Excellence for Commercialization and Research (CECR) program. This innovative program invests in the establishment of research and commercialization centres capable of achieving global leadership in Canada. Funding was allocated to the three granting councils based on the results of the inaugural competition with the result that CIHR received $73.5M of additional funding in the period.

Table 1:  Departmental Priorities

Name	Type	Performance Status
Strategic Priority No. 1: Research Advance health knowledge, through excellent and ethical research, across disciplines, sectors, and geography.	Ongoing	Successfully met*
Strategic Priority No. 2: Researchers Develop and sustain Canada's health researchers in vibrant, innovative and stable research environments.	Ongoing	Successfully met*
Strategic Priority No. 3: Knowledge Translation Catalyze health innovation in order to strengthen health and the health-care system and contribute to the growth of Canada's economy.	Ongoing	Successfully met*

*As these are ongoing priorities, "successfully met" is intended to indicate that significant progress has been made in the priority areas. This assessment is based on the best available evidence that expected results for 2007-2008 are being achieved in the majority of the program activities that contribute to the priority area. The performance status for each of the program activities is outlined in Table 2.

Table 2: Program Activities by Strategic Outcome

Program Activity	Expected Results	Performance Status	2007-2008		Contributes to the following priority
			Planned Spending ($M)	Actual Spending ($M)
Strategic Outcome 1.0: Outstanding Research - Best health research supported to create health knowledge responding to opportunities and priorities
1.1. Fund health research	Effective and efficient funding programs that enable ethical health research, responding to opportunities and priorities	Successfully met	$493.5M	$539.5M	Strategic Priority No. 1
Strategic Outcome 2.0: Outstanding Researchers in Innovative Environments - Strong health research community able to undertake outstanding research
2.1. Fund health researchers and trainees	Effective and efficient funding programs that ensure a supply of highly qualified health researchers and trainees are available to conduct outstanding research.	Successfully met	$203.6M	$202.3M	Strategic Priority No. 2
2.2. Fund research resources, collaboration and other grants to strengthen the health research community	Effective and efficient partnerships and funding programs that lead to a dynamic research environment and enable outstanding research.	Successfully met	$70.0M	$68.0M	Strategic Priority No. 2
2.3. Develop and support a strong health research community through national and international alliances and priority setting	National and international health research agendas are formulated and implemented.	Successfully met	$28.1M	$24.0M	Strategic Priority No. 2
2.4. Inform research, clinical practice and public policy on ethical, legal and social issues (ELSI) related to health and health research	Uptake and application of ethics knowledge as an integral part of decision-making in health practice, research and policy.	Not met	$6.3M	$2.2M	Strategic Priority No. 2
Strategic Outcome 3.0: Transforming Health Research into Action - Health research adopted into practice, programs and policies for a productive health system; and stimulation of economic development through discovery and innovation
3.1. Support activities on knowledge translation, exchange, use and strategies to strengthen the health system	Effective dissemination, exchange, synthesis and application of research results take place to create new knowledge, strengthen Canadian capacity and networks, and together with our partners, enable effective research and knowledge translation of health research.	Successfully met	$40.7M	$39.8M	Strategic Priority No. 3
3.2. Support national efforts to capture the economic value for Canada of health research advances made at Canadian institutions	Mobilizing research to improve health services, products, a strengthened healthcare system and the economy.	Exceeded expectations	$27.3M	$98.3M	Strategic Priority No. 3

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1.1 CIHR's Operating Environment

Approach to Health Research

CIHR's vision is to position Canada as a world leader in the creation and use of new knowledge through health research that benefits the health of Canadians and the global community.

CIHR's 13 Institutes

CIHR is made up of 13 Institutes, each of which addresses a health research theme that is of importance to Canadians and helps set health research priorities for CIHR. As enshrined in its legislation in 2000, these are virtual and temporary institutes, attached to a university or teaching hospital, rather than a permanent brick and mortar office. This organizational structure is unique in the world and provides the Institutes with the flexibility needed to be responsive and effective and facilitates a direct connection to the research community.

Each of CIHR's 13 Institutes is headed by a Scientific Director who is a recognized expert in his or her field and within the research community. Each Institute receives guidance from its Institute Advisory Board made up of health stakeholders, including other research funders, researchers and research users and representatives of the private and non-profit sectors.

CIHR uses a problem-based, multidisciplinary and collaborative approach to health research. Through its Institutes, CIHR is creating new opportunities for Canadian health researchers to produce results that matter to Canadians and the rest of the world.

A Key Role in the Health Portfolio
The Health Portfolio is the focal point for the Government of Canada's health-related activity. It is comprised of six entities with distinct but complementary mandates, including CIHR. As Canada's health research funding agency, CIHR makes an essential contribution to the Minister of Health's overall responsibilities by funding the research and knowledge translation needed to inform the evolution of Canadian health policy and regulation. This is achieved through an extensive and growing set of linkages with branches throughout Health Canada and the Public Health Agency of Canada, which provide Portfolio decision-makers with access to high quality and timely health research knowledge.

The Health Portfolio consists of approximately 11,700 employees and an annual budget of over $4.5B.

Federal Funding Agency Collaboration
CIHR works closely with other federal funding agencies - the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC), the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) and the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) to create inter-agency mechanisms that foster a more comprehensive approach to the overall management of research support. Specific inter-agency initiatives are also underway to support the implementation of the Federal Science and Technology Strategy. The agencies have established senior-level mechanisms for ongoing planning and exchange, the harmonization of policies and practices, and the collaborative delivery of programs. A detailed inter-agency report and action plan was presented to the Ministers of Health and Industry in January 2008.

CIHR's Core Business
CIHR activities include the funding, coordination and promotion of health research through open competitions, strategic initiatives, and knowledge translation. CIHR funds two kinds of research: open and strategic (also known as targeted). In open research, scientists are left to choose what they propose to research, as they are in the best position to know what lines of discovery are most likely to yield advances. Open research is the foundation for scientific advancement because it lets the best new ideas come to the forefront.

In strategic research, CIHR selects areas of priority in response to the concerns of citizens, experts, governments and other stakeholders, and calls upon the research community to propose projects in those areas. CIHR also uses strategic research when it wishes to improve the strength of the research community in an area where expertise is lacking; for example, in the case of emerging new technologies, or to seize an opportunity to position Canada for world leadership.

In order to deliver on CIHR's mandate it is evident that the health research enterprise in Canada must be strong. Canada needs a continuing supply of highly qualified personnel to carry out research in Canada's universities, hospitals and other research institutions. CIHR has training and salary programs to support the development of the very best researchers during the different stages of their careers.

Knowledge Translation
A key part of CIHR's mandate, knowledge translation (KT) is a dynamic and iterative process that includes synthesis, dissemination, exchange and ethically sound application of knowledge to improve the health of Canadians, provide more effective health services and products and strengthen the health care system. This is accomplished through the funding of knowledge translation research and activities; facilitation and management of partnerships that can accelerate knowledge translation; and the development of measurement, analysis and evaluation policies, frameworks and tools to assess the outcomes and impacts of CIHR-funded research.

Commercialization
Commercialization is an integral part of CIHR's KT mandate. To help achieve this mandate, CIHR has developed programs designed to facilitate the movement of health research discoveries from the academic setting to the marketplace.

CIHR's Partnerships - Leveraging our Impact
In addition to funding research, developing scientists and enabling the use of research results, CIHR creates synergies in health research by bringing people and institutions together into networks and collaborative efforts so they can be more effective than on their own.

CIHR also collaborates with others to increase the impact of its activities. Partners provide access to different audiences, thereby ensuring more opportunities to communicate the benefits of research to Canadians. CIHR works jointly with hundreds of organizations, including the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and both large and small voluntary health organizations, such as the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada and private sector organizations including pharmaceutical manufacturers.

In the eight years that CIHR has been in existence, it has established more than 830 partnership agreements with over 400 organizations. Over this same period, these partnerships have leveraged more than $716.2M in additional funding for CIHR-led health research projects¹. But partners' contributions are not measured solely in financial terms. They play a key role in helping to set research priorities and in developing programs and initiatives that help meet those priorities.

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1. Partner contributions are likely understated as the figures do not include "in-kind" partner contributions and some partner funds that are not administered by CIHR.

International Collaborations²
Since its inception in 2000, CIHR has developed strong collaborative relations with sister organizations in various countries in Africa, Asia-Pacific, Europe and the Americas. To date, CIHR has established over 150 partnerships and joint collaborations, each bringing together teams of leading Canadian and international researchers to work on health research issues of mutual importance and benefit. Through its Grants and Awards programs, CIHR has funded over 2,300 research projects with international linkages, all aimed at tackling health issues of critical importance to Canada and the world at large.

World Class Research Through CIHR's Peer Review Process
CIHR's peer review system ensures that CIHR's funding process is fair and open, that taxpayers' money is spent wisely, and that the best and brightest researchers are funded. Applications for support from CIHR undergo a rigorous peer review process by committees of experts in their field. These experts examine proposals with respect to their significance in advancing knowledge and promoting the health of Canadians. In 2007-2008 there were nearly 130 CIHR peer review committees. The peer review process involved over 2,000 expert reviewers each year from Canada and abroad who volunteered an average of 15 days of their time per year.

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2. International linkages include any funded grants where at least one of the research team members declared that they belong to a primary institution and/or research institution of the project which is outside Canada and includes any awards held by awardees whose primary institution and/or research institution of the project was declared as being outside Canada. It also includes all funded grants/awards on a predefined list of international initiatives.

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1.2 External and Internal Factors Influencing CIHR's Performance in 2007-2008

Several external and internal factors influenced CIHR's overall performance in 2007-2008 such as:

1. S&T Strategy 'Mobilizing Science and Technology to Canada's Advantage'
In May 2007, the Government's Science and Technology Strategy "Mobilizing Science and Technology to Canada's Advantage" was released, seeking to ensure that public policy and expenditures are strategic, efficient and accountable, deliver results, and make a difference in the lives of Canadians. The Tri-agencies - CIHR, the Social Science and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) - in conjunction with the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) have worked together over the past year to respond to the policy objectives of the S&T Strategy. The Tri-agencies focused on two priorities in 2007-2008:

a) Rapid and effective design and delivery of programs that reflect the S&T Strategy objectives. For example, the Tri-agencies collaborated to create a new Private Sector Advisory Board and launch the new Centres of Excellence for Research and Commercialization (CECR) program in June 2007 with the first competition completed by February 2008.

b) The creation of inter-agency mechanisms that foster a more comprehensive approach to the overall management of research support. The Tri-agencies and CFI completed a baseline analysis of the evolution of federal investments to university-based research and initiated consultations with external stakeholders on this topic.

CIHR contributes directly to each of the three advantages of the strategy as follows:

Knowledge Advantage
CIHR is investing in health research in areas of Canadian strength and is building multidisciplinary research teams to tackle complex health problems. Together, CIHR and NSERC have doubled investments in their joint program 'Collaborative Health Research Projects' (CHRP) which aims to bring researchers in the fields of natural sciences and engineering together with the health sciences for greater health and economic benefits.

Entrepreneurial Advantage
CIHR is increasing its emphasis on the translation of new knowledge into practical applications and concrete benefits for Canadians through its knowledge translation and commercialization programs. In September 2007, CIHR launched its new Policy on Access to Research Outputs. The policy which took effect January 1, 2008 encourages CIHR-funded researchers to ensure that their original research articles are freely available online within six months of publication.

People Advantage
CIHR's training, scholarship and Research Chairs programs contribute to attracting and retaining the highly skilled people that Canada needs to thrive in the global economy. CIHR's Canada-China Norman Bethune Health Research Scholarships will bring Chinese scholars to study at the PhD level in Canadian institutions.

2. Recommendations from CIHR's 5 Year Review
In June 2006, the International Review Panel (IRP) responsible for CIHR's first 5 year performance review delivered its final report which applauded CIHR's accomplishments to date and identified key areas for improvement. Many of these improvements were made in 2007-2008. CIHR will continue to address the remaining ones in 2008-2009 and beyond as part of its second strategic planning and priority-setting exercise, known as Blueprint II.

3. Renewal of CIHR's Strategic Plan: Blueprint II
In January 2004, CIHR launched its first four-year strategic plan: Investing in Canada's Future: CIHR's Blueprint for Health Research and Innovation. In 2007-2008 CIHR began the process of renewing and revising its strategic plan to create Blueprint II which will build on lessons learned from CIHR's first 7 years and the recommendations provided by the IRP. The direction for Blueprint II is set by CIHR's Governing Council, which will approve the overall plan and monitor alignment of CIHR activities and progress. In developing the plan, CIHR will harmonize its strategic directions and research and knowledge translation priorities with overall Government policy, such as government health priorities, the S&T Strategy and the Speech from the Throne. The strategic planning process will include national consultations with CIHR's partners and health research stakeholders. A five year investment strategy will be developed to support its implementation.

4. Change in Leadership
After seven years as CIHR's inaugural President, Dr. Alan Bernstein stepped down in November 2007. Dr. Bernstein's exceptional leadership to CIHR and the health research community during his tenure strongly influenced CIHR's success to date. Dr. Pierre Chartrand, the Vice-President of CIHR's Research Portfolio, was appointed as Acting President of CIHR while the search for a new president was conducted. In March 2008, Dr. Alain Beaudet, a Montreal physician, neuroscience researcher and President and Chief Executive Officer of the Fonds de la recherche en santé du Québec (FRSQ) since 2004, was named as CIHR's new President effective July 1, 2008.

5. CIHR's Key Risks
Since its inception, CIHR has experienced significant growth. Sustained government investment in health research over the past decade has enabled Canada to capitalize on advances in biology and medicine, has supported important Canadian health discoveries in recent years and secured Canada's place on the global stage. As CIHR strives towards fully meeting its mandate, it has been evolving from a granting council to a mature health research and knowledge translation organization. This has occurred with the guidance of the results of the International Review Panel Report. There are a number of risks associated with this transformation. These risks need to be mitigated so that CIHR can be successful and effective and can ensure that it is able to demonstrate the impact of investments in health research.

In this section the more significant strategic risks for CIHR have been highlighted. Where possible the impact and likelihood of the risks as well as mitigation strategies that have been put into place are described. A number of more specific, operational risks that affect CIHR's programming are also described and linked to CIHR's strategic outcomes in other sections of the document.

Risk # 1: Optimal allocation of research funds: There is a risk that CIHR funds are not optimally allocated to support the achievement of its strategic outcomes.

Impact: This could result in eligible research opportunities that are well aligned to government priorities going unfunded, large strategic initiatives being underfunded and thus not having a significant impact, and could affect the long-term sustainability of the health research capacity in Canada.

Mitigation: A number of advisory and governing committees have been put in place to ensure the optimal allocation of research funding. For example, the CIHR Research and Knowledge Translation Committee (RKTC) which includes the President, the Scientific Directors and a number of other key executives is responsible, as delegated by Governing Council, for all research-related decision-making including funding decisions . This is supported by a Strategic Investment Proposal process which requires that all new investment proposals demonstrate alignment, impact and sustainability.

Risk # 2: Effectiveness of CIHR programming: There is a risk that CIHR programs are not designed to effectively develop and translate health research knowledge and to increase health research capacity in Canada.

Impact: Health research is the source of new knowledge about human health including how to maintain optimal health; how to prevent, diagnose, and treat disease; and how to manage the health care system. Ineffective programming could limit the development of new knowledge and advances in health research and limit the ability to attract, develop and sustain a strong research community. This would ultimately affect CIHR's ability to improve the health of Canadians, introduce more effective health services and products and strengthen the Canadian health care system.

Mitigation: To mitigate this risk, CIHR has significantly increased its evaluation capacity and developed a long term evaluation plan so that all CIHR programming is evaluated at least once in a five year period. CIHR is also in the process of developing a program design control framework that will ensure that best practices, lessons learned and evaluation results are considered in the design of new programs.

Risk # 3: Sustainability of the funding model for operations: There is a risk that CIHR's current funding model for operations limits the organization's ability to continue to increase its internal capability, enhance its processes and systems and strengthen internal controls to improve effectiveness, respond to central agency requirements and increase its overall accountability and transparency.

Impact: This could result in: an inability to attract and retain resources with the right level of skills and experience; poor financial controls; and an inability to develop the processes, information and tools to support effective management and decision making.

Mitigation: To mitigate this risk CIHR has implemented an integrated operational planning process which requires managers to plan activities and identify resource requirements or issues on an annual basis and a process to review progress against these plans on a quarterly basis. CIHR is also in the process of developing a five year operational "roadmap" which will provide a vision for the on-going evolution of CIHR's operations together with an assessment of the funds required to support operations in the future and funding strategies to realize the vision.

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1.3 CIHR's Commitment to Accountability

The following includes some of the activities undertaken by CIHR in 2007-2008 which demonstrates its commitment to being accountable to Canadians and to ensure that its programs and investments have the maximum positive impact possible on Canadian society and on research internationally.

Measuring and Reporting on the Impacts of Research
Measuring and reporting on performance is critical both in terms of meeting CIHR's commitment to be accountable to Canadians and to ensure that our programs and investments have the maximum possible positive impact in Canada and internationally. CIHR understands the importance of measuring performance at multiple levels - organizational performance, program performance and the performance and results of the health research itself. However, measuring the impacts of health research investments is a challenge; countries around the world are grappling with this issue.

CIHR has created, published and presented, both nationally and internationally, a framework for assessing the impact of the research it funds and is working with other granting councils on a shared framework for reporting on impact. CIHR's framework outlines five categories of research impact (Advancing Knowledge, Building Capacity, Informing Decision-Making, Health Impacts and Economic Impacts). CIHR will be better able to report more comprehensively on two of the categories of the more short-term impacts such as advancing knowledge and creating research capacity with the advent of CIHR's new research reporting system to be launched in 2009. As well, several special studies are underway to capture and report on longer term categories of impact; namely: the use of health research to inform decisions, as well as health and economic impacts.

Strengthened Evaluation and Analysis Capacity
CIHR has invested significantly in strengthening its evaluation and analysis capacity, including analytical expertise on measuring the impacts of health research. As well, in 2007-2008 CIHR's Evaluation group worked towards developing a 5-year Evaluation Plan as a key step towards fulfilling Treasury Board's requirements for corporate evaluation under the proposed new Federal Evaluation Policy. In developing this 5-year plan, CIHR is being proactive in preparing to meet the accountability and reporting requirements of the Federal Government once the new Evaluation Policy is approved in the fall of 2008.

Research Reporting System
In 2007-2008 CIHR began the development of a Research Reporting System (RRS) to address the need for improved performance reporting. The RRS will facilitate the systematic collection, synthesis and reporting of health research results and their impacts. It will provide data that is critical to CIHR for performance monitoring, analysis and evaluation. In 2008-2009 CIHR will begin to implement its End-of-Grant Reporting policy which will require that researchers document the outputs and impacts of their research.

Policy on Access to Research Outputs
In September 2007, CIHR unveiled its new policy 'Access to Research Outputs'. Under this Policy, which will apply to all CIHR grants awarded after January 1, 2008, grant recipients must make every effort to ensure that their peer-reviewed research articles are freely available as soon as possible after publication. Open access enables authors to reach a much broader audience, which has the potential to increase the impact of their research. From a knowledge translation perspective, this policy will support CIHR's strategic priority to expedite awareness of and facilitate the use of research findings by policy makers, health-care administrators, clinicians, and the public, by greatly increasing ease of access to research. This policy builds on other important initiatives to promote the openness and transparency of CIHR-funded research such as the registration of clinical and randomized controlled trials.

Community Reviewers Program
CIHR is committed to enhancing public engagement in health research in Canada. One of the mechanisms to accomplish this goal is through inviting Community Reviewers to sit on CIHR's peer review panels. These reviewers are members of the public who are not currently involved in academia or research, but who have a demonstrated interest in health and science. This program provides a mechanism for public accountability, increases transparency of CIHR's peer review process, and communicates the merits of investment in health research to the public and stakeholders. With support from key stakeholders including the Chairs of CIHR's peer review panels, the number of community reviewers increased from 7 in 2006-2007 to 15 in 2007-2008. These community reviewers participated in 20 peer review meetings within the Open Operating Grants Program and reviewed more than 600 lay abstracts.

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1.4 Alignment to Government of Canada Strategic Outcomes

Health research is directly linked to the Government of Canada's commitments to improving the health of Canadians and building an innovative and knowledge-based economy. The following table illustrates how CIHR's Strategic Outcomes and key program activities align to and support the Government of Canada Strategic Outcomes:

Table 3: Alignment to Government of Canada Strategic Outcomes

CIHR Strategic Outcome	CIHR Program Activity	Alignment to Government of Canada Strategic Outcomes	Explanation of Alignment
1. Outstanding Research	1.1 Fund health research	Economic: An innovative and knowledge-based economy	Through investments in both innovative research, as well as career and salary support for top Canadian researchers, CIHR is building a 21st Century research plan that will help realize Canada's knowledge advantage.
2. Outstanding Researchers in Innovative Environments	2.1 Fund health researchers and trainees	Economic: An innovative and knowledge-based economy	CIHR is an integral partner in implementing the People Advantage in the Government's S&T Strategy and recognizes that talented, skilled, creative people are the most critical element of a successful national economy.
	2.2 Fund research resources, collaboration and other grants to strengthen the health research community	Social: Healthy Canadians with access to quality health care	CIHR is mandated to excel in the creation of new knowledge and its translation into benefits for Canadians; this is accomplished in part through nurturing partnerships with the business, academic, and public sectors.
	2.3 Develop and support a strong health research community through national and international alliances and priority setting	Social: Healthy Canadians with access to quality health care	CIHR's 13 Institutes are bringing together research funders, researchers and knowledge users (including policy-makers and practitioners) to set strategic priorities for research, reflecting Government science priorities to improve the health of Canadians and our health care system.
	2.4 Inform research, clinical practice and public policy on ethical, social and legal issues (ELSI) related to health and health research	Social: Healthy Canadians with access to quality health care	CIHR is nurturing a research environment that is founded on world-class excellence across the full spectrum of health research - from basic science to health services and policy.
3. Transforming Health Research into Action	3.1 Support activities on knowledge translation, exchange, use and strategies to strengthen the health system	Social: Healthy Canadians with access to quality health care	CIHR is emphasizing knowledge translation to advance the use of research to support health and strengthen Canada's health- care system, thereby reflecting the S&T Strategy's principle to apply the benefits of research to all Canadians.
	3.2 Support national efforts to capture the economic value for Canada of health research advances made at Canadian institutions	Economic: An innovative and knowledge-based economy	Implementation of commercialization activities will ensure that CIHR's work is aligned with Canada's Entrepreneurial Advantage, which encourages the translation of research into practical applications that will improve health, the health care system and strengthen the economy.

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1.5 How CIHR Benefits Canadians

Canadians understand that health research has provided the remarkable advances in health sciences that have taken place in the last few decades. Health research supported by the former Medical Research Council (MRC) and then by CIHR has yielded many health benefits for Canadians such as improved diagnostic methods, drugs, treatment methods, surgical techniques and an improved health care system. CIHR's activities are directly relevant to the needs of Canadians, which include:

• The need to reduce the effects of disease and illness which can include reduced life expectancy, lower quality of life and lost productivity. Research finds treatments to mitigate these impacts.
• The need to respond quickly and effectively to health crises such as outbreaks of infectious diseases. Researchers can be rapidly mobilized to address these, as seen during the SARS crisis.
• The need to improve the cost-effectiveness of our health system. Research can help identify innovative and cost-effective ways of providing health services.
• The requirement of government for evidence to guide its policy and regulatory decisions. For example, research can provide the evidence required to establish wait time targets or whether a particular drug is unsafe or ineffective.
• The need to carry out research in an ethical way, particularly when it involves human subjects - for example, CIHR has developed a first set of ethical guidelines for federally-funded research in Canada involving Aboriginal people.
• The need for leadership on complex challenges such as the growing burden of obesity and mental health in the workplace. CIHR has launched a number of major initiatives to address them, in collaboration with the public, voluntary and private sectors, both domestically and internationally.

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