Another incredible year of important milestones and accomplishments has passed and we are thrilled to celebrate and acknowledge these important events with our partners, research teams and support staff at the Annual General Meeting!
The evening started with a wine and hors d’oeuvre reception for guests to connect with new and familiar faces. Smiles in conversation could be seen across the room, setting the tone for the meeting ahead. Once the meeting began, the room was quiet so that Board Chair, Dave Evans, and CEO and Scientific Director, Dr. Terry Klassen, could be heard.
Here are some highlights from the evening, which can also be found in the 2018 Annual Report:
Elevating the Brand
CHRIM is doing some exciting things when it comes to advancing children’s health as outcomes of the work being done at the Institute. Because of this, we want more people to be aware of the studies and impacts being made to children’s health and have made some big strides to get noticed!
2018 was a great year for our researchers with 36 publications, projects and achievements hitting the news locally, nationally and even globally in some cases. Additionally, many mainstream medical and health topics featured last year touched on the work being done by CHRIM researchers which led to 25 media appearances as experts in their fields.
In addition to more press, we launched a refreshed website which features a new brand video highlighting the importance of research and the standard of excellence here at CHRIM. Haven’t seen it? Watch it now!
Helping Kids
We were fortunate to welcome 14 new researchers who joined the institute as new members in 2018!
These new members come from areas in emergency medicine, endocrinology, asthma and allergy and rehabilitation – addressing the needs of children living in Manitoba.
Support Research
Oftentimes the jobs being done behind the scenes can go unnoticed, however, have tremendous impact to the work being done to support researchers and their teams. With each year that passes, it’s amazing to see the advances of where we are today compared to where we started.
2018 was no shortage of advances in this area as we improved various operational procedures that were previously manual and time consuming for research teams. Improvements have helped streamline tasks and increase our efficiencies, which included changing the process of Clinical Research Unit uptake forms and the membership renewal process.
We also welcomed new administrative support in the area of finance with our new Director of Finance, Scott Gray and our new Finance Coordinator, Jeff Wilson, which has helped streamline various processes including new grants coming in, expenses and other administrative functions not previously housed within the CHRIM office.
Increase Funding
Increasing CHRIM’s funding further helps researchers advance in their discoveries and overall impact to children’s heath in Manitoba and across the world. The funding is used in many ways including new equipment, new grants, infrastructure and office space, and Research Services offered by the Institute to the Investigators and their teams.
In 2018, CHRIM managed a total of $19,496,666 active research dollars. This increase represents a growth of $963,864, or 5.2% over 2018!
Highlights & Honours
It is quite an accomplishment to see so many of the world-class researchers from CHRIM be recognized for their various works and achievements. A full list can be found in the Annual Report, but here are a few examples of the many accomplishments from 2018:
- Dr. Cheryl Rockman-Greenberg was inducted into the Canadian Medical Hall of Fame. Dr. Rockman-Greenberg has been called a medical hero for developing diagnostic tests, screening programs, and treatments for disorders once poorly understood.
- Dr. Jean-Eric Ghia was appointed honorary consul of France in Manitoba. In this role, Dr. Ghia works to strengthen research and university exchanges between France and Manitoba, and to advance the recognition of French citizens’ diplomas in nursing and teaching.
- First ever Dream Trainee Lectureship, hosted by graduate and undergraduate students within the DREAM theme at CHRIM. The Lectureship aims to connect diabetes researchers from around the world with the DREAM diabetes research team and the University of Manitoba community.