The March issue of Health System News aims to promote a better understanding of Ontario's hospital-based research and innovation sector by highlighting some of the groundbreaking, innovative research underway across the province and reinforcing the hospital sector's strategic importance in advancing health, health care and the economy.
As the province of Ontario begins to plan for recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic following a winter surge in COVID-19 cases, the importance of health research in Ontario has never been greater. Scientists and clinician-researchers at Ontario research hospitals have led or contributed to a host of breakthroughs in the evolving pandemic response, such as isolating the virus and identifying variants through genetic research, as well as conducting vaccine research and clinical trials for drugs and treatment protocols. Now, renewed support for research and innovation is more important than ever before.
Research hospitals are the largest contributors to health research and innovation in the province. Over half of Canada's hospital-based research is conducted in Ontario and 19 of Canada's Top 40 research hospitals are in Ontario. The sector has been built up over decades with world-class scientists and international and commercial connections. Research hospitals are tightly connected to universities and medical schools, are a major training ground for science in the province and attract top researchers from other jurisdictions.
Hospital-based research occurs at the unique intersection of patients, clinicians, clinician-scientists and other researchers. In no other setting are researchers as connected to patients or as involved in the delivery of care as in hospitals. Ontario research hospitals have a strategically important role that cannot be fulfilled by any other research sector, bringing tremendous value to individuals and the health care system.
The tremendous range of hospital-based research and innovation generates a broad array of benefits. New knowledge is created, health improvements are made, health system costs are reduced, and new products and services are marketed. In 2020-21, research hospitals attracted $1.73 billion in investment, which supports approximately 22,000 highly skilled researchers and support staff along with research space, equipment and technology. Among the largest of economic benefits is the economic productivity stemming from a healthier population.
Through a renewed future vision for hospital-based research involving partnerships with both levels of government, sustainable and innovative funding, interconnected research networks and a thriving research community, Ontario and Canada will be on better footing for improving health and economic prosperity in the future.
In the year ahead, the OHA and its members are seeking to create a fully integrated health research and care delivery system across Ontario that drives sustainable and transformational science, clinical excellence, health equity and an agile, diverse workforce of scientists and innovators. The OHA will be calling on the federal and provincial governments to work in partnership with the OHA to realize its renewed future vision as both levels of government will be essential to ensuring the stable, modernized funding approaches necessary to develop specific initiatives, bring the sector to the next level of excellence, and remain competitive. A strong hospital-based research sector will continue to act as a magnet for the best scientific minds and for investments from the private sector, driving innovation to the benefit of all Ontarians.