The future of health research is hanging in the balance

Abstract

"The special report by Clark and colleagues in this issue of CMAJ concludes that Canada’s Members of Parliament, who set government funding priorities and vote annually to determine the budget of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) for funding health research, have little knowledge of health research and funding.1 Although the authors point out a number of limitations to their study, there is little doubt that this is an important start to what should become a call to arms. We must regard this survey of Members of Parliament as a challenge to all of us involved in health research to do a far better job of informing politicians and policy-makers about the work we do and inviting them to participate in our successes. We may give ourselves high marks when it comes to teaching the next generation of health care professionals and researchers, but we are failing when it comes to educating key decision-makers."