Canadian institutes for health research

On June 7, 2000, the Canadian Institutes for Health Research (CIHR) was officially created to replace the Medical Research Council of Canada as the primary funding source for health research in Canada. The objective of CIHR is to excel in the creation of new scientific knowledge and its translation into more effective health services and products and a strengthened health care system. The Institutes will encourage interdisciplinary health research and forge a health research agenda across disciplines, sectors, and regions. Each Institute will include fundamental bio-medical research, clinical research, and research on health systems and health services, societal and cultural dimensions of health and environmental influences on health. Each mandate profiles the research areas around which the Institute can focus, develop and evolve. (www.cihr.org/index.shtml)