Dr. Christopher J. Paige, PhD

Biography:
Vice-President, Research
University Health Network
Professor Departments of Immunology and Medical Biophysics
University of Toronto

Dr. Paige earned a Ph.D. in Immunology at the Sloan-Kettering Division of Cornell University Graduate School of Medical Sciences in 1979. He became a Member of the Basel Institute for Immunology in Switzerland where he worked from 1980-1987 before joining the Ontario Cancer Institute as a Senior Scientist in 1987. In 1990, Dr. Paige became the founding Director of the Arthritis and Autoimmunity Research Centre as well as Director of Research at The Wellesley Hospital. In 1998, Dr. Paige returned to the Ontario Cancer Institute to assume the role of Vice-President, Research and, subsequently, he assumed his current position of Vice-President, Research at the University Health Network which is comprised of the Toronto General, Toronto Western and Princess Margaret Hospitals. Dr. Paige is a Professor in the Departments of Medical Biophysics and Immunology at the University of Toronto. His continuing research interest is in the development of the immune system and in training the immune system to recognize cancer cells. He has served on the Research Advisory Boards of both the National Cancer Institute and the Arthritis Society of Canada. He is Chairman of BioDiscovery Toronto, a consortium of 12 Toronto based hospitals and universities engaged in the commercialization of research discoveries. He also serves on the Boards of the Terry Fox Research Institute, Ontario Institute for Cancer Research, and the Council of Ontario Research Directors. He is the co-Director of the Shanghai-Toronto Institute for Health Science (STI), a partnership between the Shanghai Institute of Health Sciences, Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry, and the University Health Network.

Abstract:
More than 75% of medical research in Canada occurs in Research Hospitals. Research Hospitals offer unique opportunities were patients, professionals, and research practitioners can work together to solve the medical mysteries of our time leading to improved health and wealth. Research Hospitals also afford platforms where industry and academic interest overlap with the interests of patients and families hoping for better, more effective treatments and governments looking for cost effective approaches leading to improved health of its citizens. The success of medical research is highly dependent on the effective integration of a number of key components including sustained, appropriately balanced funding; inter-government cooperation to create research supportive regulatory environments; and preservation of meaningful investment for the future, in a world of present cost-containment. Strategies to ensure the success of medical research leading to improved health of our populations will be discussed.