Canadian Pediatric Palliative Care Research Activities

As you know, we have been following the new CIHR (2003) Palliative and End-of-Life Care research program since it was introduced in the Spring of 2003. We had heard that over 50 applications were submitted to CIHR in this new research theme and we were especially excited to hear that a small group of these applications were focused on pediatric palliative care research. In fact, 5 Pilot Project Grants and 1 New Emerging Team Grant (NET) with a pediatric emphasis were submitted (you can review the list of these grant applications on this website).

Here is an update on the status of these grant applications as of December 2003.

22 teams submitted Letters of Intent (LOI's) for a NET grant of which 18 were invited to submit a full application. Congratulations to: Hal Siden, Betty Davies, Filomena Nalewajek et al for being selected as one of the NET grants to go forward to the next stage. Their application called "Transitions in Pediatric Palliative Care" is a collaborative proposal with Canuk Place Children's Hospice, Children's & Women's Health Centre of British Columbia, the University of British Columbia, the University of California at San Francisco and York University. This team received a $5,000.00 development grant to prepare for the full application competition in February 2004.

Decisions regarding the Pilot Project Grants have been postponed by CIHR from December 2003 until the peer review process in February 2004. The new start date for successful grants is now March 2004. We will be crossing our fingers for the 5 pediatric applications...

For more information, check out CIHR's website at the CIHR Website.

Merry Christmas, Seasons Greetings and a wonderful New Year to you all,