Mar 2, 2018

Department of Medicine’s response to the Naylor Report leads to research investment in federal budget

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Dr. David Naylor, former University of Toronto President and Chair of Canada's Fundamental Science Review panel. Photo via Google

The 2018 federal budget’s boost for research is a reflection of efforts from the Department of Medicine and our colleagues at the University of Toronto to promote investment in fundamental research.

The Department of Medicine unanimously endorsed the landmark report from a panel led by former University of Toronto president David Naylor. The report titled “Investing in Canada’s Future: Strengthening the Foundations of Canadian Research,” more commonly known as the Naylor Report, outlined a strategy to strengthen Canada’s research community. Some of the key recommendations from the Naylor Report included increasing direct project funding; increasing stability of funding for the Canadian Foundation for Innovation; investing in personnel, including the Canada Research Chairs and graduate student funding; and greater reimbursement for facilities and operations.

In June 2017, the Department of Medicine gave its own three key recommendations to its research community to support the Naylor Report. These included reaching out and writing letters to members of parliament and the federal Ministers of Health and Finance to encourage them to “Support the Report”; advocating for research, with an emphasis on supporting early career researchers; and advocating for interdisciplinary team science that can be harnessed to bring discoveries forward to patients, particularly those who are marginalized, including our Indigenous population.

Here in the Department of Medicine, we thank each and every one of you who mobilized to support our research community and reached out to MPs. The Department of Medicine was one of the first groups to organize and recommend actions to faculty that ultimately influenced research investment in the 2018 federal budget.