A handful of London's top researchers played host to Canada's health minister Thursday.
Minister of Health Jane Philpott toured the labs of some of the 24 researchers at Western University's Robarts Research Institute who received a combined $28-million grant from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) in the spring. Among the labs Philpott toured was that of Dr. Robert Bartha, who is using drugs that acidify brain tumours to shrink their size and control the growth of the most aggressive and fatal brain cancer.
"It's always fun to talk about the research that we do. We love to explain it to anyone who comes but when someone like the Minister of Health comes to the lab it is really a great opportunity to showcase the work that we are doing and the work the larger research community is doing," said Dr. Bartha. "This particular minister really understood the work that we are doing and certainly has an appreciation for what we are trying to achieve."
CIHR invested $681,000 in Bartha's research, which began seven years ago.
"I think Dr. Bartha's research has tremendous potential," said Philpott. "We all probably know people in our lives who unfortunately have succumbed to these aggressive brain cancers and to be able to focus on actual possibilities on how this work that he is doing on mouse models will eventually be translated to human potential is absolutely fantastic. I'm really proud to be able to see part of it."
Philpott also met with researchers working to improve access to kidney transplants, develop new techniques to allow for early diagnosis of multiple sclerosis, and treat nerve damage.
"Truly the work that is being done by this team of scientists that we are honouring today is the kind of work that is going to allow our health system to be sustainable, to find ways to continue to deliver better care, to do it in a way where we get value for money, and address the ever changing needs of our population," said Philpott.
After completing her tour, the federal health minister, who did not take questions from the media, spent the rest of the morning at a roundtable discussing the opioid crisis in London. She was joined by Mayor Matt Brown and London West MP Kate Young.
