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LEADING EDGE ENDOWMENT FUND TO ADVANCE RESEARCH IN B.C.
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VANCOUVER – The government has launched its $45-million Leading Edge Endowment Fund as part of its New Era commitment to establish 20 permanent B.C. leadership chairs across the province in medical, social, environmental and technological research.
The announcement was made today by Premier Gordon Campbell and Advanced Education Minister Shirley Bond when they awarded the first B.C. leadership chair to the University of British Columbia and the Rick Hansen Institute for a joint chair in spinal cord research.
"Today's announcement of the first B.C. leadership chair helps to fulfil government's New Era commitment to advancing research in B.C.," said Campbell. "We want to attract Canada's best and brightest to make B.C. a global leader in research and innovation. Strengthening our investment in B.C.'s growing research industry is vitally important to creating a stronger economy, and by working with the private sector we can make that happen."
"This commitment will help to maximize B.C.'s post-secondary institutions' ability to retain world-class researchers and gain support from business and industry," said Bond. "This will create new opportunities to not only revitalize our economy, but to provide innovation in health care, environmental stewardship, technology and other public services."
The Leading Edge Endowment Fund, based on a cost-sharing partnership with the private sector, will establish 20 permanent B.C. leadership chairs across the province in medical, social, environmental and technological research. Each chair will receive a total endowment of up to $4.5 million, which will be cost-shared between government and the private sector - each contributing up to $2.25 million. Institutions will be responsible for securing private-sector contributions. Provincial, public post-secondary institutions will be eligible to apply for B.C. leadership chairs.
Government will provide $2.25 million for the first chair: the B.C. Leadership Chair for Spinal Cord Research, which will be matched by the Rick Hansen Man in Motion Foundation.
The chair will support the director of the recently established international spinal cord research centre, known as ICORD (International Collaboration on Repair Discoveries). It will be held by Dr. John Steeves, who is the principal investigator for ICORD and has been director of the CORD research group at UBC since 1995.
Steeves will continue to conduct spinal cord research as he leads the evolution and implementation of ICORD's research strategies locally, regionally, nationally and internationally.
"My thanks go to the provincial government for helping us address the challenge of maintaining and attracting the best and brightest spinal cord injury researchers in the world, which is critical to finding a cure," said Rick Hansen, president and CEO of the Rick Hansen Institute. "Dr. Steeves is one of the world's best researchers, and he is vital to leading the evolution and implementation of the research centre's strategies."
An independent society has been established to administer the Leading Edge Endowment Fund. Eligible institutions will solicit donations from the private sector to match the provincial funds and submit proposals to the society for review and approval.
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Contact:
Mike Morton Office of the Premier, 250 213-8218
Susan Clancy, Communications, Ministry of Advanced Education, 250 356-8706
- As one of its New Era commitments, government identified establishing a Leading Edge Endowment Fund to support 20 permanent B.C. leadership chairs, based on a cost-sharing partnership with the private sector.
- Further to this commitment, government has allocated $45 million to establish these chairs at public post-secondary institutions across the province in such fields as medical, social, environmental and technological research. At least three chairs will be established in each of these fields. One of the social research chairs is to be established in early childhood education, to help all children in this province have a successful start in life.
New Society to Administer Fund
The Leading Edge Endowment Fund will be administered by an independent society. The members of the society are:
- Jack Blaney, commissioner of the International Joint Commission, chair of the Fraser Basin
Council and former president of Simon Fraser University
- Hassan Khoshrowshahi, chair of Inwest Investments Inc. and former owner of Future Shop
- Martha Salcudean, professor emeritus and former department head of mechanical engineering
at the University of B.C.
- Hector MacKay Dunn, a lawyer with Farris, Vaughan, Wills & Murphy
- Paul Hastings, CEO of QLT Inc.
- Michael Phelps, former CEO and president of West Coast Energy
- Judith Isaac-Renton, director of B.C. Centre for Disease Control laboratory services, professor
of medical microbiology in the department of pathology and laboratory medicine at UBC
- Chaviva Hosek, president and chief executive officer of the Canadian Institute for Advanced
Research
- Gordon Campbell, premier
- Shirley Bond, minister of advanced education
- Rick Thorpe, minister of competition, science and enterprise
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Jack Blaney is a commissioner of the International Joint Commission, chair of the Fraser Basin Council, and co-creator and a founding director of Action Canada. He is a director of the Vancouver Board of Trade, an adviser to the Vancouver Children's Arts Umbrella, and a member of the academic advisory board of the Institute of Canadian Bankers. Blaney also is a senior fellow of the Morris J. Wosk Centre for Dialogue, and president emeritus of Simon Fraser University.
Paul Hastings is president and CEO of QLT Inc. and has extensive global experience in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries. As president, CEO and a director of Axys Pharmaceuticals, he was most recently responsible for all aspects of the organization including leading the strategic acquisition of Axys by Celera Corp.
Since starting his career in 1984 with Hoffman La Roche, Hastings has held various positions of responsibility with notable biotech and pharmaceutical companies. He was vice-president of marketing and sales and European general manager of Synergen Inc.; vice-president of global marketing for Genzyme Corp.; president of Genzyme Therapeutics Europe; president of Genzyme Therapeutics Worldwide; and president of Chiron BioPharmaceuticals.
Hastings holds a bachelor of science from the University of Rhode Island.
Chaviva Hosek, who received her PhD from Harvard University in 1973, was named president and chief executive officer of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research in January 2001. Previously the director of policy and research for Prime Minister Jean Chretien, her career also includes a term as minister of housing for the Province of Ontario and a 13-year period as professor of English literature at the University of Toronto. A longtime champion of Canadian education and human rights, Ho×ek has served as president and executive member of the National Action Committee on the Status of Women and has held senior governance positions at the University of Toronto and the University of British Columbia.
Judy Isaac-Renton is director of laboratory services at the B.C. Centre for Disease Control, where she is also the microbiologist in charge of environmental services, and a professor of medical microbiology at the University of B.C. She has an MD and a diploma in public health from the University of Toronto. After developing an interest in communicable diseases, she obtained her fellowship in the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada in medical microbiology at UBC.
She has worked as a medical microbiologist at the Children's and Women's Hospital, the Vancouver Hospital and Health Sciences Centre and the B.C. Centre for Disease Control. After being head of the division of medical microbiology and infection control, she also took on an acting medical director position for the department of pathology and laboratory medicine at the Vancouver Hospital and Health Sciences Centre.
Hassan Khosrowshahi is the chairman of Inwest Investments Ltd.
Through its wholly owned subsidiary Wesbild Holdings, Inwest has made real estate investments in community shopping centres and land development. Included is Westwood Plateau, one of the largest land development projects in Canada, comprising 4,500 residential units and two golf courses in Coquitlam. Inwest also started Future Shop, a retailer of consumer electronic products and computers. Future Shop went public in 1993, with Inwest retaining a controlling interest. Future Shop is the largest consumer electronic retailer in Canada with sales exceeding $2 billion. Inwest sold Future Shop to Best Buy Inc. in November 2001.
Khosrowshahi was born in 1940 and is married and has two children.
Hector MacKay-Dunn is a senior partner at Farris, Vaughan, Wills & Murphy law firm in Vancouver, with over 24 years' practice experience in the corporate, technology and biotechnology fields. MacKay-Dunn has acted as counsel on many of the important technology and biotech transactions in British Columbia in the past 15 years, with an active client list that includes leading technology companies in B.C. and Canada.
MacKay-Dunn is a director of Genome British Columbia, established to enable B.C. to become a world leader in advanced genomics research by bringing together universities, research hospitals and centres, government and industry. He is a past president of the United Way of the Lower Mainland and the Vancouver Red Cross.
A frequent lecturer, MacKay-Dunn has presented at industry and professional conferences, most recently Corporate Finance and Business Issues for New Technology Companies, at the B.C. Continuing Legal Education Conference in October 2001; Financial and Non-Financial Disclosure, at the Canadian Investor Relations Institute's national seminar, The Fundamentals of Investor Relations, in January 2002; and Going Public Successfully, at the Insight Financing High-Tech Companies Conference in November 2000.
Michael Phelps is chairman of Duke Energy Gas Transmission Canada's advisory board.
From 1988 to 2002, he served as president and chief executive officer, and subsequently as chairman and chief executive officer, of Westcoast Energy Inc. in Vancouver. In 2001, Phelps was appointed as an officer to the Order of Canada. He currently sits on the board of directors of the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, Canadian Pacific Railway, Duke Energy and Canfor Corp. He also serves on the board of the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada and is a member of the advisory council of the University of British Columbia, faculty of commerce and business administration.
Phelps has bachelor of arts, bachelor of laws, master of laws and doctorate of laws degrees.
Martha Salcudean is a professor emeritus and Weyerhaeuser chair at the University of British Columbia. She served as head of the department of mechanical engineering and associate vice-president of research. She is a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, Canadian Academy of Engineering. She is a recipient of the Izaak Walton Killam Memorial Prize in Engineering and a member of the Order of British Columbia. She has been awarded honorary doctorates by the University of Ottawa and UBC.
Government members of the society are:
Premier Gordon Campbell
Advanced Education Minister Shirley Bond
Minister of Competition, Science and Enterprise Rick Thorpe
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