This week's Vitals: Meet our new Canada Research Chairs

From machine intelligence to molecular medicine, FoMD's new and renewed CRC chairs set to improve the health of all Canadians.

Shelby Soke - 6 December 2016

The Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry has five new Canadian Research Chairs (CRC) and three renewed chairs.

The CRC program was designed to attract and retain some of the world's most accomplished and promising minds. CRC funding will allow our researchers to pursue their groundbreaking research and improve the health of Canadians.

The federal government funding announced Dec. 2 will see $11.9-million go to University of Alberta researchers. The U of A is now home to 51 tier 1 chairs and 33 tier 2 chairs worth $13.5 million annually.

New chairs:

Todd Alexander from the Department of Pediatrics is the CRC in Renal Epithelial Transport Physiology. Alexander's research will lead to the development of new diagnostic and therapeutic tools for disorders of ion homeostasis.

Christian Beaulieu, a professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering, is the CRC in Magnetic Resonance Imaging of Brain Micro-structure. Beaulieu will use advances in MRI technology to improve understanding of healthy brain development as well as diagnosis and treatment of brain disorders such as stroke and epilepsy.

The Department of Pediatrics' and Cardiovascular Research Centre's Jason Dyck is the CRC in Molecular Medicine. Dyck will be focusing on the smallest building blocks of life, molecules, to develop novel treatments for diseases.

Basil Hubbard from the Department of Pharmacology is the CRC in Molecular Therapeutics. Hubbard's research will lead to the development of new diagnostics and therapeutics for the treatment of cancer and other age-related diseases.

The Department of Medicine's Patrick Pilarski is the CRC in Machine Intelligence for Rehabilitation. His research will lead to the development of new technologies and new approaches to restore human abilities lost through injury or illness.

Renewed Chairs:

Sean Bagshaw from the Department of Critical Care Medicine is the CRC in Critical Care Nephrology. His research will lead to an improvement in care and clinical outcomes for critically-ill patients with kidney failure.

The Department of Medicine's Ken Butcher is the CRC in Cerebrovascular Disease. Butcher will be using new imaging technology to generate a picture of blood flow in stroke patients to guide treatment decisions.

Joel Dacks, an associate professor in the Department of Cell Biology is the CRC in Evolutionary Cell Biology. His research will lead to new treatment targets against parasitic diseases and a better understanding of the evolutionary processes that shape human cells.

Congratulations to all of the CRCs!