Transcript
August 27, 2008
Bloorview Transcript
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Colin Macarthur
I’d like to welcome Minister Wilkinson, guests from other Toronto Hospitals and Universities, our staff here at Bloorview, students and families. My name is Colin Macarthur; I am the Director of the Bloorview Research Institute, here at Bloorview Kids Rehab. We are delighted here at Bloorview to be able to host this important announcement from Research and Innovation Minister John Wilkinson.
For those of you who don’t know, the Bloorview Research Institute is the only hospital based research institute in Canada focused on childhood disability and the institute brings together clinicians, scientists, students, families and decision makers to conduct research the improves the quality of life of children with disabilities.
We have a long and rich history of innovation in childhood disability research here at Bloorview. We have developed cutting edge clinical treatments, created breakthrough assisted technologies that are sold in more than twenty countries around the world and generated knowledge about the social, physical and policy barriers that impede children with disabilities from participating fully in life.
To world-class research requires world class talent and world class investment. Scientist Tom Chau and his lab of graduate students is that talent and the research investment at the heart of the Ontario Innovation Agenda is the investment that allows young scientists like Tom to realize their dreams. The investment also research institutes to attract and retain the best and the brightest graduate students who are the future and for Bloorview the investment allows us to improve the quality of lives of children with disabilities not only in Ontario but around the world. I’d now like to welcome Minister John Wilkinson to the podium.
Minister John Wilkinson
Well good morning everybody. It’s obviously great to be back here at Bloorview.
I’d like to thank Sheila, who everyone knows is the President and CEO and Colin thanks so much for the introduction. For hosting us here this morning in an event that we have, that we are having here this morning to announce ERA awards here in the GTA.
I’d also like to acknowledge and welcome many of our visitors. We have Sheldon Levy, who is the President of Ryerson and I see Michael Julius from Sunnybrook and Mark Rochon, from Toronto Rehab and Christopher Paige, from the University Health Network. We are glad to see you all here from Toronto Rehab hospital as well. And everyone else that has taken the time to join us here this morning. I see many, many familiar faces.
First and foremost, I want to thank everyone for the work you do ... day in and day out ... to make this province one of the innovative in the world.
Ontario is committed to supporting research and innovation as a means of turning global challenges into our next generation of jobs – and most importantly, into better healthcare, a cleaner environment and a higher quality of life for all Ontario families.
Ontario’s $3 billion dollar Innovation Agenda is about making investments in our greatest asset – our people and their best ideas – to make this province healthier, greener and more sustainable and stronger.
Ontario is fortunate: in communities right across this province, we have a legacy of research leadership – people with the talent to tackle global challenges.
Now we don’t have to look any further than where we are here today at Bloorview to find extraordinary examples of inspirational and pioneering innovators.
Now, let me tell you about one from our past… and I just wanted to mention that I was chatting, just earlier this week, your local member of parliament Kathleen Wynne our Minister of Education and the MPP for Don Valley West, is so proud of Bloorview and she was in my riding and we had a chance to catch up and she is unable to be with us today. Her ministerial duties take her away but she wanted me to send her best regards.
But what I want to do is talk about is an inspiration leader Dr. Hugh MacMillan.
Confined to a wheelchair after contracting polio in the prime of his life, Dr. MacMillan transformed his challenges into opportunities for innovation and particularly hope.
As the Assistant Administrator for what was once called The Ontario Crippled Children’s Centre – the forerunner to the Bloorview that we have today – his goal and his passion in front of us. His goal and his passion was to help children to achieve their full potential – no matter what physical challenges they faced….
And to create a legacy of research and innovation that would push the boundaries of rehabilitative science.
I’d like to submit this morning that Dr. MacMillan’s professional dedication… unbelievable positive attitude… and approach to his life and his work… has had a profound influence on rehabilitative therapies for children, and a profound influence on a new generation of researchers here at Bloorview, across our province, and around the world.
And, that’s exactly why we are here today, to announce new funding to create similar opportunities between our top researchers and our next generation of top researchers… through Ontario’s Early Researcher Awards program.
This program supports extremely gifted, recently appointed Ontario researchers in building their research teams of graduate students, post-doctoral fellows and research associates.
That ensures that researchers have the hands they need to move their research forward….
And just as importantly, it gives their team members, many of whom I have met this morning in Tom’s team, the opportunity to hone their skills and conduct cutting-edge research … further developing our amazing pool of talent in this province.
That’s important because talent is the fundamental element of innovation.
And, now more than ever, Ontario does need to innovate.
Now everyone knows that Ontario is being challenged by some forces that are beyond our control, higher oil prices, a high dollar, a slowing US economy. But our economy remains resilient… Why? Because we have a formula that allows us to get through this together.
And we'll keep strengthening the things Ontario families depend on — like our schools, hospitals and environment — to keep building a great quality of life and improve our economic advantage.
The best way we can do this, is by investing in our greatest asset — our people, and their ability to turn ideas into reality… into products and services that are in demand around the world, that will give us better healthcare, better jobs, a cleaner environment… and a higher quality of life.
That’s why I’m pleased to announce Ontario is investing in 66 new Early Researcher Awards across the province, totalling some $9.24 million.
I am particularly pleased to announce that today we are investing over $3 million of that in 22 of these projects which are happening here in the GTA.
One of these extraordinary projects is being lead by Dr. Tom Chau, working right here in this lab at Bloorview Kids Rehab, where we are gathered this morning.
Dr. Chau is doing truly inspiring and groundbreaking work to help children who are trapped by severe physical barriers, to interact with the world around them. Is there anything more noble to do than to help take a child who is trapped by fate and changing their future and we want to commend you for that work and all of our researchers?
It means that bright, energetic children, who are acutely limited in their ability to move or speak, are being given the ability to express themselves… to communicate with their families… to compose music… and to begin to realize their full potential.
Dr. Chau’s work brings the prospect of a brighter future to these children and their families...
A brighter future for our communities and society as a whole.
Through the Ontario Early Researcher Awards, we will work together to help strengthen Ontario’s research and commercialization capabilities in areas as vital as health science and advanced medical devices -- including the work being done right here at Bloorview -- as well as clean technologies, digital media and communications technologies.
The goal of this program is to improve Ontario’s ability to attract and retain the very best and brightest research talent from around the world. And if you just take a look at the list of the 66 researchers who won awards in this round, the 22 right here in the GTA, you will see the world reflected.
It is truly our great competitive advantage in the world of research that we have this wonderful open society that embraces science. That we don’t allow our politicians and political science to interfere with science. That we don’t interfere with the market but we believe that as a government that we can act as a catalyst to bring our top researchers and the business community together to solve these global challenges. And that in our opinion is the formula for economic success.
I am particularly happy that our Early Researcher Award will not only help attract the team to our 66 recipients here across Ontario, and the 22 particular in the GTA. That means that there will be almost 1100 new members of their teams, their research teams of students, and grad students, and post-doctoral students that will be attracted to be a part of these teams. All of the institutions that sponsored these top researchers themselves are making contributions to that research which is a great testament to the faith that your own institutions, across the GTA, have in the work that you are doing.
Particularly in the program, we have asked the researchers that they have to have a component that reaches out to high school students. We need to inspire the next generation of scientists in this province. The idea that high school students will be part of each and every one of these awards. We think that there will be some 6700 high school students in Ontario that just because of this announcement today will have that kind of one on one experience with science at the cutting edge.
Now there isn’t a scientist that I have met, and I have met many over the last few years, at the Ministry of Research and Innovation, those who are on track for a Nobel Prize, those who have a Nobel Prize. They have always told me that there was that seminal moment in their life when they are inspired by another researcher and that’s what we are trying to do with this program.
And it total now our government has committed some 47.2 million dollars to support our brightest young researchers.
Now Thomas Edison once said “If we all did the things we are capable of doing, we would literally astound ourselves.”
Today’s investments will ensure that talented Ontarians, at research institutions across the GTA, can realize all that they are capable of.
I fully expect that we will continue to be astounded by what Dr. Chau and his research team will do and what they will share with us this morning.
In previous centuries, it was pretty easy. The economic formula was simple.
If you could come up with a local solution to a local problem, you would get a local market and you do quite well for your family.
But in the 21st century, as we are faced with the challenge of globalization, there’s a new formula and it’s equally simple. If we can just find a slice of a solution to a global problem, the global market, the global capital and the global research talent will come to our global jurisdiction and that will power the next generation of jobs right here in Toronto, in the GTA and right across Ontario.
I’d like to conclude with what by saying what Dr. MacMillan once said “Life is the development of what you have, with an acceptance of the things you cannot change.”
In these times of tremendous change, Ontario will not only survive ... but together we will thrive ... based on the minds and ideas and success of the people we are supporting here today.
Thank you.
Dr. Tom Chau
Thank you Minister Wilkinson for your extraordinary commitment to children and youth with disabilities and their families. I can assure you that this investment will go a long way to maximizing possibilities for the many children we hold so dear to our hearts here at Bloorview.
I also want to extend congratulations to all the other Early Research Award winners. I am very humbled to be counted among such a stellar group of Ontario scientists.
At Bloorview, the Early Researcher Award will fund research in the topic of Body Talk. For many children and youth with disabilities, communication and interaction is a daily challenge. Solutions are elusive. The Early Research Award, however, will position Ontario as a global leader in addressing this global problem.
For the first time, we are looking at all the subtle ways in which the human body itself can communicate, without gestures, without speech – hence the name body talk. Put yourself, for a moment, in the shoes of a child whose mind is alert but is unable to speak or move.
Now imagine being able to surf the internet with just your mind. Imagine painting a picture with vivid colours and daring textures using nothing more than your thoughts. Imagine spelling your name for the very first time, after being locked in a paralysed body for all your life. Imagine all the new social, educational and recreational and eventually employment opportunities that Body Talk would create for children and youth with disabilities.
The Ontario Innovation Agenda stands to invest in the power of imagination and these are the imaginings that our research aims to turn into reality. And yet, the Early Researcher Award will do much more. Minister Wilkinson already mentioned outreach and this award will allow us to initiate some new outreach activities to high school students, to catalyze in interest in the development in medical and assisted devices one of the priority areas in the provincial innovation agenda - extracting value from research excellence.
The Early Research Award will increase reciprocity between research and industry, allowing us to strengthen existing industry ties and to forge new partnerships. Bloorview already has a track record of churning out talented entrepreneurs, new intellectual property, new products, new business ventures. The Early Researcher Award will ensure that this engine will continue to crank at full throttle.
Training – the Early Researcher Award will enable us to continue to attract the most passionate graduate students and post doctorate fellows from around the world. These individuals will shape the Ontario of tomorrow and in particular the quality of life of children and youth with disabilities for generations to come.
Today I have the privilege of introducing one such talent hard-working individual Stefanie Blain. Stefanie is a PhD student in our lab and holds a Canada Graduate scholarship from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council. She is on the trajectory to become a leader in the next generation of scientists in Ontario. I present to you Stefanie Blain.
Stefanie Blain
Thanks Tom. My name is Stefanie Blain. I have working in the PRISM lab for the past three years on one of the many facets of the Body Talk research. I am interested in looking at an individual’s physiological signals using as Tom mentioned using the subtle changes in these signals to see whether we can unlock the world for individuals with severe disabilities. Working in the PRISM lab has given me the opportunity not only to work with incredibly talented researchers such as Tom Chau but with world class students that he and his research program are able to attract.
In this field, a lot of us spend a lot of time looking at the subtle nuances of an individuals body signals and one of the lessons that we learn is one of the lessons we are taught when we are young – everyone is very, very unique. Everyone is very different and in learning this our research is shaped so that we spend a lot of time working one on one with clients, one on one with families. It’s not unusual for our research program to focus around one particular family for the entirety of our four years.
One of these families that I have had the privilege of working with for the past three years of my research is that of Karen Castelane and Max Weinrib. I’ve known Max for the past two years, he’s been coming in and out of Bloorview working with me on my research project, and it’s been such a privilege getting to know him and work with him for the past few years.
Karen exemplifies one of the pillars that make this research possible. We cannot do this research with the support of the parents and the families involved. She’s been so flexible and so supportive of all the work that we do. I’ve been in her living room late at night, hooking her son up to sensors, and over in her classroom, pulling her son out of class, hooking him up to a computer so we can get this research on its way, learn to unlock the path to his physiological signals.
I’d like to take this opportunity now to introduce you to Karen to talk to you a bit about what this research means to her. Karen?
Karen Castelane
Well thank you Stefanie and certainly Dr. Chau and everyone at Bloorview for allowing us to make a personal presentation.
You may have seen my son Max and myself walk in a few moments earlier. Max is in this room, you may not see him in the corner. He is a fifteen year old boy that has spastic cerebral palsy and he may not look like a typical kid but I can assure you that he represents more than 100 thousands children and youth with cognition but extremely limited motor function due to many, many causes not just cerebral palsy.
The result is that Max is trapped. You’ve heard that word trapped. Trapped in a body that doesn’t reliably or consistently work. He’s not paralyzed. He can move his body but he can’t get his brain to move his muscles in any way that’s consistent or reliable enough to work his communication. He’s non-verbal and unfortunately, he hasn’t been able to use any of the existing communication non-verbal technologies that exist today. He’s tried a chin switch, lever switch, toggle switches, eye-gaze switches, different switchers for power chair. He gets it, he knows how they work and he’s trying very hard but he is not able on a consistent basis to affect any meaningful communication. So up until now, we’ve had really no communication except a few gestures, open mouth, arm raised for yes and no response for no.
The Body Talk research here at Bloorview is the first time and the closest we’ve come to unlocking the door to Max’s world. For the first time, we may learn what his true needs are, his feelings, his opinions, his observations. His learning, his whole world of academics and education, and as Tom mentions, social, recreational. It’s really the key to his independence.
What parent wouldn’t want to hear their child say “thank you”; “I’m having fun”; “please turn off that TV show, I don’t like Sponge Bob anymore”; or just “I love you”.
The impact of Body Talk is huge. I don’t even dare to quantify its true impact, but I know that to have no communication is to sit in frustration both for the child and the family and to suffer learned helplessness and loss potential.
I am really, I am extremely thankful and hopeful that Dr. Chau and Stefanie Blain through their team will find the key that will unlock Max’s voice and allow it to be heard. Thank you.
Sheila Jarvis.
Thank you very much Karen.
I’m Sheila Jarvis, President and CEO at Bloorview Kids Rehab and I truly welcome all our guests and visitors today, many of whom are in the hall, just outside Tom’s very small PRISM lab and soon to be expanded thankfully so perhaps next time you’re here there’ll be a little more space. But we do truly welcome you today.
I’d like to thank Minister Wilkinson and the Ontario government for this tremendous investment in research and training at Bloorview and at the many Toronto academic health science centres who are represented here today and the universities. We truly thank you Minister Wilkinson and the Ontario government.
And as Tom did earlier, I would like to congratulate all the Early Researcher Award Recipients. Your research talents have truly been recognized by the Ontario government this year and you now have significant resources to support your teaching and research and your efforts in research capacity building here in Ontario.
We are now going to conclude the official part of your ceremony this morning. We’d like to open the floor to the media to meet with Minister Wilkinson, Dr. Chau, Stefanie Blain, Karen and Max who is here in the lab as well. And as we know, they are active participants in some of the research that’s underway here at Bloorview.
So to all of us, thank you for coming today and please join us for some refreshments and have an opportunity to network with your colleagues on the terrace just adjoining the room outside the lab here.
So again, thank you so much for coming and thank you again for Minister Wilkinson.
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