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Michael Smith Health Research BC (often shortened to Health Research BC) is British Columbia’s provincial health-research funding organization, funded by the Government of British Columbia. It was founded in 2001 as the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research (MSFHR) and rebranded to its current name, Michael Smith Health Research BC, on October 14, 2021 — the same organization and mandate under a new public-facing name, not a merger or a successor entity replacing a defunct one. Both names honour Dr. Michael Smith, a British Columbia-based scientist who won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work on site-directed mutagenesis, and who had a long-standing personal commitment to supporting emerging health researchers throughout their careers.
Not to be confused with: Health Research BC is a provincial funder, distinct from the federal Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR). BC-based health researchers routinely hold both a federal CIHR grant and a Health Research BC award for the same broad research program — the two are separately administered and are not alternatives to one another, the same relationship that exists between Quebec’s FRQS and CIHR (see CASRAI’s Fonds de recherche du Québec (FRQ) guide for that comparison).
What Health Research BC funds
Health Research BC organizes its work around three strategic pillars: building and retaining health-research talent in BC, catalyzing solutions to health-research-system problems, and mobilizing action on health-research priorities. In practice, this translates into named funding programs covering career-stage talent development (a Scholar Program for established investigators and a Research Trainee Program for graduate students and postdoctoral trainees), plus targeted competitions such as a Northern Research to Results (NR2) Competition offering up to $100,000 for projects addressing Northern BC healthcare priorities. Since 2001, the organization has invested $280 million in Scholars and Research Trainees and supported roughly 3,000 researchers; since 2014 specifically, it reports 450 partnerships and $80 million co-invested with partner organizations.
Worked example
A postdoctoral researcher at a BC university applies to Health Research BC’s Research Trainee Program for salary support during their fellowship, while their supervisor separately holds an operating grant from CIHR for the broader research program the trainee is contributing to. The trainee award and the operating grant are applied for, reviewed, and administered independently, even though both ultimately fund work in the same lab — the same division of labour that exists between provincial and federal funding elsewhere in Canada.
Counter-example
A researcher at an Alberta institution cannot apply to Health Research BC’s Scholar Program on the strength of studying a BC-relevant health topic alone; Health Research BC programs require a genuine BC institutional affiliation, not simply research relevance to British Columbia. A researcher who relocates to a BC-based institution becomes eligible going forward, but affiliation with an out-of-province institution does not qualify on its own.
Frequently asked questions
Is Michael Smith Health Research BC the same organization as the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research (MSFHR)?
Yes. Michael Smith Health Research BC is the current name of the organization founded in 2001 as the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research; it rebranded to its current name on October 14, 2021. It is not a merger of two organizations or a new entity replacing a defunct one.
Who was Michael Smith?
Dr. Michael Smith was a British Columbia-based scientist and Nobel Prize in Chemistry laureate, recognized for his work on site-directed mutagenesis, with a long-standing personal commitment to supporting emerging health researchers throughout their careers. Both the organization’s original and current names honour him.
How does Health Research BC differ from CIHR?
Health Research BC is a provincial funder supporting health research specifically in British Columbia, funded by the BC government. CIHR is Canada’s federal health-research funding agency, one of the three Tri-Agency councils. BC-based researchers commonly hold funding from both simultaneously for related work, applied for and administered separately.
What kinds of awards does Health Research BC offer?
Career-stage talent-development programs including a Scholar Program for established investigators and a Research Trainee Program for graduate students and postdoctoral trainees, plus targeted competitions such as the Northern Research to Results (NR2) Competition for Northern BC healthcare priorities.
References
- Michael Smith Health Research BC, official website (healthresearchbc.ca) — founding year, impact figures, and named programs
- UBC Department of Medicine, “MSFHR is now Michael Smith Health Research BC” (medicine.med.ubc.ca), October 14, 2021 — rebrand date and context
- Google Knowledge Graph, “Michael Smith Health Research BC” — organizational description and named-after attribution
