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After debuting on the list of Top 40 Research Hospitals in Canada in 2010, Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre (the Hospital) continues to rank among the leading health research institutions in the country.

Eight years ago, the Hospital appeared on the list for the first time, entering at #40. This year, Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre occupies the 40th position.

Our Hospital’s ranking as one of Canada’s Top 40 Research Hospitals is attributed to the ongoing success of our research arm, the Thunder Bay Regional Health Research Institute, and to internal and external partnerships.

The mandate of the Thunder Bay Regional Health Research Institute is to facilitate health research – particularly in the area of technology and related innovations – strategic to regional health care needs. Current research areas include but are not limited to cancer, cardiac disease, stroke, orthopaedics, Indigenous health, lung disease and smart health technology.

“To continue being recognized as one of Canada’s Top 40 Research Hospitals is not only a great accomplishment for our Hospital and Health Research Institute, but also a source of pride for our community and the stakeholders and donors who support us”, said Jean Bartkowiak, President & CEO of the Hospital and CEO of the Health Research Institute. “Our research aims to improve access to timely, safe, quality patient care in Northwestern Ontario and to make our region healthier, wealthier and smarter.”

A robust health research program is vital to advancing our academic mission and even more importantly, to improve the health of the population. It provides patients with the opportunity to participate in research activity that helps design the care of the future and to access equipment at the frontier of health technology development.

“Our Health Research Institute is an integral part of our academic health sciences centre that allows the cross-pollination of scientific questions and ideas to address regional population health challenges significant enough to sustain a strong research program,” said Bartkowiak. “Working together with academics, scientists, clinicians, funding agencies and partners helps us develop a truly Northwestern Ontario research program that is patient-centred.”

The health of people in Northwestern Ontario, is compromised due to geographical remoteness, social determinants such as poverty, and insufficient alignment with local cultures. For example, the rate of amputations of Indigenous people in Northwestern Ontario is about three times higher than that of the general population, likely due to delayed diagnosis and difficulty in accessing close to home treatment of chronic diseases such as diabetes.

Health research in the north is needed to address these challenges, such as how to make health services as accessible as possible for Indigenous people in northern Canada. The Hospital and the Health Research Institute are prioritizing accessibility, partly by leveraging smart (and digitally interactive) health technology such as mobile apps.

“Smart health technology research can assist in overcoming several of Northwestern Ontario’s geographical barriers and cultural differences that impact access to care and outcomes,” said Anne-Marie Heron, Acting Executive Vice President, Research and Development at the Hospital. “It can help us streamline and improve access to care so that we are able to provide the right care to the right person at the right time, no matter where they live in the region.”

The Health Research Institute’s current strategic plan reinforces its focus on patient-centred research. The 2020 Strategic Plan highlights three major directions:

Healthier: Enhance research to improve the health outcomes of the people of Northwestern Ontario and beyond; Wealthier: Enhance philanthropic and other support and generate revenue through science and partnerships; and Smarter: Enhance the academic environment.

These directions will address the Health Research Institute’s vision of ‘bringing discovery to life’.

To learn more about the Thunder Bay Regional Health Research Institute and its 2020 Strategic Plan, visit www.tbrhri.ca. To learn more about Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre, visit www.tbrhsc.net

The Top 40 list is a compilation by Research Infosource to emphasize the very important role that hospitals play in Canadian medical research. Canada’s Top 40 Research Hospitals List 2017 is available on the Research Infosource website: http://bit.ly/Top40ResearchHospitals2018

Dr. Amarjit Chahal joined the Health Research Institute in September 2016 as the Manager of Business Development.

In his role, Dr. Chahal is responsible for identifying and pursuing business development opportunities that are in alignment with the Health Research Institute’s strategic plan. This includes patenting and the commercialization of inventions.

Dr. Chahal’s background highlights a wealth of experience.

After obtaining a doctoral degree in an Inter-Departmental Program in Genetics from the University of Guelph and completing post-doctoral fellowship training in genetic disorders at the Children’s Hospital in Charleston, South Carolina, Dr. Chahal became the assistant laboratory director at the National Legal Laboratories in East Lansing, Michigan which provided DNA testing services across the United States.

Dr. Chahal eventually returned to Canada to work with Vita-Tech Canada Inc. as the director of the DNA Diagnostics Division, and later as a laboratory director and part-owner of Molecular World Inc. in Thunder Bay. He then transferred with Molecular World Inc. to Laval, Quebec where his company became a part of the Laboratory Corporation of America (listed on the S&P 500) after a couple of acquisitions by Warnex Inc. and Dyancare medical laboratories, respectively.

Besides being involved in the technical side of criminal and civil DNA cases performed by these private companies, Dr. Chahal was also responsible for the business development and commercialization. It is the latter experience that brought him back to Thunder Bay, a place he considers to be his hometown, to join the Health Research Institute.

In his role at the Health Research Institute, Dr. Chahal works closely with several prominent partners and stakeholders.

Working with MaRS Innovation, an organization that specializes in early-stage seed investing for companies and technology emerging from its 15 members (including the Health Research Institute) Dr. Chahal is helping with the patenting and commercialization of the Health Research Institute’s innovations.

Dr. Chahal is a member of the Innovation Broker Task Force of the Council of Academic Hospitals of Ontario (CAHO), where he reviews multiple proposals from industry for potential validation studies at the Health Research Institute. Most of these proposals include the validation studies of digital health technologies.

“Innovative digital health technologies have great potential to help patients and families across Northwestern Ontario overcome our region’s unique barriers to health care,” said Dr. Chahal.

Dr. Chahal is also identifying the source of funding for proposed validation studies and connecting industry with appropriate clinical champions at the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre (the Hospital). For example, a non-profit organization in Toronto, along with the Hospital and industry partners across Canada, has applied for a federal Strategic Innovation Fund. Proposals coming from the Innovation Broker program are helping the Health Research Institute to connect with industry for potential partnerships. He has also helped revise the business plans for the Cyclotron and Clinical Trials operations of the Health Research Institute based on current market analyses.

While the Health Research Institute already has a reputation for cutting-edge research in medical imaging and the creation of spin-off companies, Dr. Chahal wants people to know more about the clinical trials side.

“It is important for people to know that we run regulated clinical trials for drug and medical devices, “ said Dr. Chahal. “The Clinical Trials team at the Health Research Institute and our Hospital works closely with physician investigators, industry and academic partners on clinical research studies. The team also helps facilitate locally developed investigator initiated projects. The availability of clinical trials locally provides an opportunity to patients and non-patient volunteers participate in clinical research. This allows patients to receive treatment that may not otherwise be available.”

Jean Bartkowiak, President and CEO of the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre and CEO of the Thunder Bay Regional Health Research Institute, represented both organizations at this year’s Northern and Rural Health Research in Canada reception in Ottawa on October 30th. Mr. Bartkowiak was there to address colleagues in health research, while bringing attention to the patient-centred research at our Hospital and Health Research Institute.

The Thunder Bay Regional Health Research Institute is distinct. Until very recently, health research facilities of this calibre would be housed in a major metropolitan centre. Our Health Research Institute allows health research to grow in and address the specific needs of a remote and rural environment. Indeed, our scientists found that Thunder Bay’s size and status as a regional hub have tremendous advantages, particularly access to collaborators.

We are able to focus our research to address the health care challenges unique to our region.

For example, smart health technology research can assist in overcoming several of Northwestern Ontario’s geographical barriers and cultural differences that impact access to care and outcomes. It can help us streamline and improve access to care so that we are able to provide the right care to the right person at the right time, no matter where they live in the region.

Northwestern Ontario is home to about 250,000 people scattered over an area the size of France. This includes 69 First Nation communities, more than 30 of which are very remote, with no road access.

Access to health care services can be difficult; so difficult that some people go without.

Today’s patients’ experience, although not as dramatic, is still very challenging. Maureen Lux, in her well researched book, ‘Separate Beds’, described our Indigenous forefathers’ experience with the health system, stating: “Shipped from their homes like spoiled cargo, patients often found themselves isolated by culture and language, unable to understand their situation, their treatments, or their prognosis”.

Today, we can consider Angela Moonias, a fictional person who represents many real individuals. Angela lives in Marten Falls First Nation, a community of about 330 people, located 500 kilometers northeast of Thunder Bay.

Angela is 67 years old, and looks after her husband, whose leg was amputated as a result of diabetes. In Northwestern Ontario, indigenous people are three times more likely to have a limb amputated.  She also cares for four of her young grandchildren, because their parents are struggling with addictions. Addiction rates in First Nations communities in northwestern Ontario are higher than anywhere else in Ontario; some communities have 80% addiction rates.

Angela has a pacemaker, the result of cardiovascular disease; yet another chronic disease with higher rates in our region. Every six months, Angela has to have a routine check on her pacemaker. For her, this means completing several forms to secure travel approvals from Non Insured Health Benefits department.

It also means she has to make extensive and sometimes complex travel and accommodation arrangements and ensure other community members care for her husband and grandchildren while she is away.

Angela will travel on a small plane for five hours, stopping in another community along the way, changing planes in Sioux Lookout, and finally arriving in Thunder Bay two hours later. That is, if the weather is ideal and the planes leave. If it isn’t, she will miss her appointment with her specialist and have to start all over again at a later date.

In Thunder Bay, Angela faces language and cultural barriers as well as related social stigma. She is scared because she does not understand the complicated health care system, doesn’t know who will pick her up at the airport, and is overwhelmed by the size of and activity at our Hospital. She can’t help but think of her experience in residential school, and the abuses she suffered at the hands of people who were supposed to care for her.

She is worried that someone will forget to get her grandkids their breakfast. She wishes she could be at home. 

Our Health Research Institute is working for Angela, and those with stories like hers. With a focus on meeting the needs of the people of northwestern Ontario, and on smart health technology, we will make a different, better future for Angela.

We can see a day, not too far away, when Angela can go about her day, caring for her family, in her own community, while her pacemaker broadcasts data to our Hospital.

We see a positive future when Angela and her husband may use a phone app to better manage their diet for diabetes and cardiovascular problems, thus preventing further complications such as another amputation.

We see a day when Angela’s grandchildren will have access to digital health solutions including effective diagnostics, meaningful education, and enhanced distance health.

We see a day when this is possible because her community is finally equipped with the high-speed internet that we all take for granted every day.

We see technology as a holistic component of health care for rural and remote communities and their residents.

We see improved access to and outcomes of health care.

We see efficiencies and synergies.

We see better ways to support this research.

We see an opportunity to secure funding, to partner with other institutions, to engage clinicians, and to cooperate with Indigenous community leaders to conduct impactful research.

We see Angela and her family, and we are inspired.