Canada’s top hospital is hoping to attract world’s top scientists

A treatment room in the emergency department at Peter Lougheed hospital is pictured in, Calgary, Alta., Tuesday, Aug. 22, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh

In what some observers are calling an “impressive” move, the University Health Network (UHN) in Toronto is launching a first-of-its-kind Canadian program to recruit 100 early career scientists, many from an emerging exodus of researchers from the U.S.

Called “Canada Leads 100 Challenge,” UHN and Princess Margaret Hospital’s foundations are funding the $30-million program to attract 100 young scientists. The goal is to allow them to seed their work in Canada, producing discoveries that lead to medications and therapies that can be commercialized and manufactured in Canada and sold around the world. Hospital officials say it could be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to build the country into a biotech superpower.

“As others pull back, Canada must step up. The opportunity is now,” Kevin Smith, president and CEO of UHN. Surveys show that of the 1,600 scientists surveyed by the journal Nature, 75 per cent they were considering leaving the U.S.

“The rest of the world is looking at the same opportunity. If we don’t embrace it and we don’t make the investment... then shame on us,” said Smith.

Candidates who are selected will be helped with coaching and mentorship along with assistance navigating the often-complex process of immigrating to Canada. Officials also hope the announcement kickstarts other hospitals and universities to consider programs of their own, with the federal government assisting with research funding and easing the immigration process.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford, who attended the announcement, praised the initiative but did not offer any additional funding.

“What this hospital is doing is interesting and refreshingly different. I don’t think many Canadian universities have gotten their act together” said Dr. Madhukar Pai, Canada Research Chair in Epidemiology and Global Health at McGill University in Montreal.

“They have gone ahead and invested money. They are raising money to attract scientists. That’s why I think it’s impressive,” said Pai.

“I agree with the strategy, it’s brilliant,” said Dr. Paola Marignani, a scientist at Dalhousie University. “It’s an opportunity for Canada to move into this leadership position with respect to discovery, innovation, commercialization, that we’re very good at it, but that we can be better,” she added.

U.S. funding cuts ‘demoralizing’

Early news of this new doorway caught the eye of Dr. Wesley Wilson, a Markham, Ont.-born cancer immunologist now at University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. He told CTV News he went south in 2020 to continue his work with CAR-T cell therapy, a highly specialized field which uses the immune system to target tumours. In 2022, he was named one of 40 top young cancer professionals in America.

However, recent cuts by U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration to research funding and academic institutions has led to gutting job losses with his university and hospital losing over US$380 million in funding.

The result, 400 jobs lost, and key research trials being cut short or not started at all.

“It’s demoralizing, especially when we’ve seen how these treatments can improve patient lives add years. We’ve seen some patients essentially cured, and others, we’ve given more birthdays with their children,” said Wilson.

Hoping to avoid the deteriorating climate for physicians in the U.S., UHN’s announcement caught Wilson’s eye, and he has registered to learn more about the positions, adding he would love to return to Canada with his newly honed skills.

Having worked at the Hospital for Sick Children from 2010 to 2012, he knows the reality of the Canadian health system but is also deeply aware of the lack of stability in the American system today.

“Canada’s system has its flaws. America has its flaws. I prefer to be in a system that is working to become better, to improve its flaws, to strengthen itself, than a system that has decided that we’re okay getting worse,” said Wilson.

Too little progress towards funding Canadian research

While scientists contacted by CTV News praised the program as innovative and an opportunity to boost science and technology and the money it can attract, there are concerns that these new recruits will come to a country that has been cutting back on research funding for several years resulting in dismal funding for Canadian scientists.

Data shows that in 2024, only 435 of the 2,631 scientists who applied for funding at the three federal agencies that support research were approved.

That is an 83 per cent failure rate.

“At some point after that two-year window of support, (these new recruits) will be writing the grants with the 80 to 85 per cent that are failing,” said Marignani who is also a Science and Business Strategist mentor at the Creative Destruction Lab promoting science and technology companies based in Canada.

She points to a report in 2017 by former University of Toronto president David Naylor, who urged the federal government to boost investment in basic research with an immediate injection of $1.3 billion to the three key research funding agencies - Canadian Institute for Health Research, the National Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada and the Social Science and Humanities and Research Council.

That level of funding never materialized.

“I would hope that the universities and the federal government see this as an opportunity and say, ‘We need to boost (research) funding, and it has to be significant, more than a doubling of what is currently available,‘” said Marignani, a call echoed by UHN’s Smith, calling for a $10-billion investment for CIHR alone.

But Canada’s opportunity also brings Dr. Pai profound sadness.

“Why are such phenomenal scientists desperately looking to flee their countries? This should not be happening in the richest country in the world in the year 2025. The fact that this is even happening is deeply disturbing and pathological. I do not have any words to explain to you how distressing this situation is.”