Perspectives magazine is an annual glossy supporting the Mount Sinai Hospital Auxiliary, Mount Sinai Hospital and the Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute.
Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/468121
7 Executive Summary Research In concert with providing the best care, our faculty members continually strive to be at the leading edge of neonatal-perinatal medical research. We have significantly enhanced our research capabilities by providing training and mentorship to faculty, enabling research through protected research time, recruiting research expertise, and establishing MiCare to provide research support for the department. We have also increased the number of clinician-scientists in the department from 0 to 6 and recruited 4 PhD scientists and 13 other research support staff. The addition of these department members has allowed us to establish new research programs in developmental stem cell biology and physiology, cardiac imaging, international comparative outcomes research, quality improvement and health services research, breastfeeding and nutrition, and use of simulation for training. Our research programs are complemented by the major national and international networks and multi-centre trials that are coordinated and managed from Mount Sinai including the Canadian Neonatal Network (CNN), Canadian Neonatal Follow-Up Network (CNFUN), Canadian Pediatric Surgery Network (CAPSNet), Canadian Neonatal Transport Network (CNTN), International Network for Evaluating Outcomes in Neonates (iNeo), and WHO Perinatal Surveillance Project. The CNTN, iNeo, and WHO Perinatal Surveillance Project are our newest additions to this portfolio. As a result we have built our department into the most productive research NICU in Canada, with a significant increase in the number of peer-reviewed articles we publish per year, the amount of grant funding we receive, and the number of invited presentations our researchers give at national and international conferences and scientific meetings. In the past 5 years we have published 338 peer-reviewed articles; obtained 52 new research operating grants valued at $33,239,951, including 9 CIHR grants totalling $12,871,579; increased the number of peer-reviewed grant-funded principal investigators in the department from 5 to 10, with 5 having CIHR awards; and made 606 presentations at national and international scientific meetings. The quality of our work has also been recognized through 85 awards and honours that members of the department have received over the last 5 years. Education and Training All of our care provision and research work is supported by our training programs, which are creating the health- care professionals and researchers of tomorrow, and reach a wide spectrum of health-care professionals both nationally and internationally. Over the past 5 years we have provided training for 230 specialty residents and 90 subspecialty fellows, who consistently rate the education they receive as 'above expectations'. We have also provided elective training for 80 medical students, midwives, physician assistants, and others; as well as postgraduate research training for 8 researchers at the masters, doctoral, or postdoctoral level. We have also established a unique clinician-scientist training program that has successfully trained 2 clinician-scientists, with 2 more in training. Outside of the department, researchers and clinicians from around the world come to visit the department and observe the work we do. We also run two international training programs in neonatal medicine and nursing. Challenges Facing the Department Despite our achievements, challenges remain for the department, including: • Renegotiating the departmental alternate fee plan; • Ensuring sustainability of the paid Parent Partner Program; • Addressing the resource-constrained environment of the NICU; • Providing timely access to sub-specialty, radiology, echocardiography, and surgery support; • Ensuring sustainability of the research support enterprise; and • Addressing our lack of public identity. Future Vision Our achievements over the past 5 years have placed our department in a unique position to be a world leader in neonatal care, and poised to move forward with building a truly remarkable vision for a centre that embodies the best in clinical care, performs cutting edge research, and provides excellent education and training. To achieve this, we have developed a bold plan to set the gold standard for neonatal care, transform our research enterprise to lead the future wave of neonatal research, and train the leaders of the future.