Med school begins hunt for research money
Published Monday November 30th, 2009
Program: Officials say they want to create the first Atlantic chair in occupational medicine
SAINT JOHN - Dalhousie's new medical school wing that's opening in Saint John next year will likely evolve into something much more than just a training program for aspiring doctors.
Officials with Dalhousie University's faculty of medicine have confirmed they're investigating the possibility of creating a research chair in occupational medicine in the Port City.
"The fact that's it's not done in Eastern Canada, not done at Dalhousie, Saint John is a major industrial city in Atlantic Canada, and with all that's going on here, it seemed like a real good fit," said Dr. Preston Smith during a recent Telegraph-Journal editorial board meeting. "To have the research chair in Eastern Canada would be a great niche."
Smith, who's the faculty's senior associate dean, said the idea is still in the exploration stage, but a research steering committee has already met once to discuss it and other avenues that can be pursued at Saint John's new program, Dalhousie Medicine New Brunswick, slated to open in fall 2010 at Tucker Park, right beside the Regional Hospital.
Occupational medicine specialists advise individuals and organizations on how to ensure high standards of health and safety in the workplace. It's an especially important field in a place with heavy industry and lots of potentially dangerous construction activity.
Across Canada there are only two research chairs in occupational medicine, at the University of Toronto and the University of Alberta.
In the future, such a research chair in Saint John could prove to be lucrative: Dr. Tom Marrie, the med school's dean, said the amount of research money brought into an institution typically creates a three-to-seven fold amount of economic activity in the host community.
For example, Dalhousie University typically brings in $50 million a year in research funding. Marrie said conservative estimates show this creates $150 million in economic activity for Nova Scotia alone.
Dalhousie has already decided to hire four researchers, who will each have their own laboratory in Saint John. The old St. John College building at the University of New Brunswick-Saint John is being renovated for classroom space so the first crew of 30 medical students can study for two years, before starting apprenticeship work locally or in Fredericton, Moncton or Miramichi.
Those renovations, officials say, are on schedule and will be completed by about April, followed by the development of a proper computer program.
A new wing that will be built from scratch is slated to open by the fall of 2011, the bottom floor equipped with 5,000 square feet of lab space - a little over 1,000 square feet for each researcher - and the top floor designated for a learning resource centre that would include patient simulations and skills labs for the med school students.
"We can put four to five people there," said Marrie, referring to the researchers. "In due course, we'd like to double that number, but that's what we'd like to start with."
Beyond the research chair, officials are also hoping to create a Maritime clinical trials network, something that could attract even more research dollars.
The network would study the safety of new drugs or medical devices in Saint John, Halifax and possibly other Maritime locations before being approved for wider use.
Marrie said New Brunswick has suffered historically from a paucity of research dollars because it lacked infrastructure. By sharing resources between Saint John and Halifax, Dalhousie hopes to attract more funding from all levels of government.
"We have to do things smarter if you want to be competitive," with places such as Ontario or Quebec, said Marrie. "The Maritimes will have that kind of political connotation in Ottawa that would allow us to get more funding than if we ever applied for the funding alone."
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