Ottawa Hospital Research Institute

The Ottawa Hospital Research Institute (OHRI), formerly Ottawa Health Research Institute, is a non-profit academic health research institute located in the city of Ottawa. It was formed in 2001 following the merger of three Ottawa hospitals. The Ottawa Hospital Research Institute is the research arm of The Ottawa Hospital and affiliated with the University of Ottawa.As of April 2013, the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute houses approximately 560 scientists and clinical investigators, 475 students and research fellows, and 700 support staff. It has five research programs: Cancer Therapeutics; Chronic Disease; Clinical Epidemiology; Regenerative Medicine; and Neurosciences.Ronald G. Worton was the research institute’s founding CEO and Scientific Director in 2001.In 2007, Duncan Stewart, formerly Chief Cardiologist of St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto and Director of Cardiology of University of Toronto, took over as CEO and Scientific Director.

VISION AND STRATEGIC DIRECTIONS

The Ottawa Hospital Research Institute’s vision is:

• To give our patients and their loved ones new hope through research that is making tomorrow’s health care possible today.

This vision expresses our commitment to research that is focused on patients and inspired by patients. It draws on the compassion and dedication we feel each day, knowing that every question we answer and every problem we solve could eventually impact many people, including our loved ones. As basic scientists, physicians, nurses, trainees and other researchers, we are committed to translating our results into benefits for patients and society and making tomorrow’s health care possible today.
Our vision is closely aligned with The Ottawa Hospital’s vision, which is “To provide each patient with the world-class care, exceptional service and compassion we would want for our loved ones”. It also fits well with the University of Ottawa’s inspiring goal of being “Canada’s University” and a destination school for research.Our vision is supported by a small number of strategic research priorities which are designed to encourage collaboration across the Institute and facilitate the translation of research findings into practical applications.

FACILITIES

The OHRI is a multi-sited research facility based at the Civic, General, and Riverside Campuses of The Ottawa Hospital, with additional space at the University of Ottawa’s Faculty of Medicine. With 230,000 square feet of dedicated basic and clinical research space, the OHRI houses good manufacturing practice laboratories, advanced imaging equipment, flow cytometry facilities, a clinical pharmacokinetics laboratory and much more. As a member of the Shared Core Facilities Initiative, OHRI makes many of its facilities available to the broader academic health research community in Ottawa.

STRATEGIC RESEARCH PRIORITIES

Research at OHRI is focused on answering important health questions and translating new findings into benefits for patients and society. OHRI has had particular success in this “translational” aspect of health research, with several therapies developed in-house now showing promise in clinical trials, and many examples of OHRI-led studies transforming health care around the world.

To capitalize on this success and guide further translational research efforts, OHRI has developed the following two Strategic Research Priorities:

Regenerative and Biological Therapeutics

This priority is designed to foster “bench to bedside” research – turning basic discoveries in cellular and molecular biology into new regenerative and biological therapeutics to improve health. Examples of our success in this area include stem cell therapies for multiple sclerosis and cardiovascular disease and oncolytic virus therapies for cancer.

Practice-changing Research

This priority is designed to put knowledge to work – performing high quality clinical research that can inform health decisions and ensuring that results are optimally applied to improve health. OHRI has developed a Methods Centre to guide this kind of research, and we are known around the world for our expertise in knowledge translation, clinical decision rules andpatient decision aids.

These Strategic Research Priorities are designed to cut across our existing Research Programs and foster collaboration and the translation of research findings into practical applications. They are also aligned with external funding opportunities and with areas of strength at our partner institutions.

In addition to these Strategic Research Priorities, OHRI has developed the following Strategic Research Theme:

Vascular Health

Increasing evidence suggests that blood vessels may be at the root of some of the most common chronic diseases that affect the heart, brain, kidney, lung and eye. With an integrated approach to Vascular Health, OHRI researchers will be able to develop new therapies and better ways of managing some of the most pressing health challenges affecting Canadians.

TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER

The Ottawa Hospital Research Institute has made a commitment to innovation and maximizing the impact of its research on health care as well as the local, provincial and national economies.  The

Technology Transfer Office supports the interactions between the Research Institute, industry and other partners through services such as:

• Creating collaborative, partnered research opportunities
• Establishing  technology development partnerships with end-users, government and industry
• Identifying and  evaluating research discoveries from the Research Institute
• Coordinating intellectual property protection, where appropriate
• Developing, implementing and supporting strategies for the commercialization and dissemination of research outcomes
• Transferring technology to partners such as end-users, government and industry
• Facilitating and supporting entrepreneurship
• Negotiating research support agreements for the Research Institute’s investigators, including non-clinical research contracts, confidentiality and material transfer agreements.

The Technology Transfer Office is also a member of the Ottawa Technology Transfer Network (OTTN), which enables collaboration among the Research Institute, the University of Ottawa and other affiliated institutions such as the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO) and the University of Ottawa Heart Institute to facilitate and accelerate the development of innovation resulting from academic inquiry.

For potential partners and industry

Please contact us if you are interested in:
-Partnering with our scientists on research projects
-Assessing or licensing the Research Institute’s technology
-Supporting or investing in our research, discovery or technology

For researchers at the Research Institute and The Ottawa Hospital:

Please contact us if you are:
– Developing new, collaborative or sponsored research opportunities
– Looking into exchanging material with third parties
– Would like to discuss potential inventions and intellectual property resulting from your research
– Are pursuing proof of principle, technology development or partnered granting opportunities