In 1987, the Cancer Research Society allowed me to complete my training by granting me a scholarship. When I had just finished a bachelor’s degree and started my training in medicine, I was able to obtain a master’s degree in science at the same time by developing a study model on a relatively rare type of cancer.
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My research was conducted in a research center funded by the Fonds de recherche en santé du Québec (FRSQ, now known as FRQS). The supervision of the Dr Guy Pelletier, who was an unforgettable mentor, and emulation by peers allowed me to develop my scientific mind, to propose hypotheses and interventions to validate or invalidate them. Ultimately, this contributed to my choice of future practice in hematology and oncology, as well as my involvement in various research projects during 23 years of practice. I dare to hope that my contribution, thanks to the obtaining of a degree in research, has also allowed the development of knowledge related to the improvement of the diagnosis and treatment of various types of cancer, in Quebec and elsewhere.
With the budget tabled by Eric Girard, I have seen a door of the type of opportunity that I took advantage of more than 30 years ago close in part.
The FRQS budget was cut by $26 million, or 25%. When we analyze the Quebec government’s overall research budget without restricting ourselves to the health sciences, the drain is $80 million, or nearly a 35% reduction. Certainly, government officials will reply that $240 million was added through the Ministry of Economy and Innovation, with the titled goal of stimulating economic growth. But this is not reassuring. Let me establish why. Coming from the field of health sciences, I will limit myself to the analysis of this field.
The role of independent researchers, associated with research centers and universities, is to propose lines of research, some of which are often neglected by the private sector, which aims for profit. Moreover, these physicians and Ph.D.s are responsible for training the researchers of tomorrow. Students under their guidance must learn the scientific method, to critique and appreciate research, to create and produce data, and then report it to the scientific community. This must take place in neutral places, relatively independent and protected from the external interventions of granting agencies or industries which have precise and lucrative objectives, even of scientific secrecy.
Beyond the training of future researchers, many of those who work in Quebec research centers obtain their remuneration through FRQS programs. These programs, in which candidates are evaluated on the relevance of research proposals and their productivity, help maintain a wealth of people in Quebec who develop our knowledge, support the development of Quebec care and train researchers. The latter will not only be able to join the people who trained them, but also opt for industrial fields that do research and development (R & D). Without investment in independent research, there will therefore be a vacuum of human resources with advanced scientific training for the private sector.
It is short-sighted to reduce the footprint of the FRQS by drastically reducing its budget, thus reducing our collective capacity for innovation in the medium and long term.
Let us further specify that these independent researchers are the same ones we have seen more often in times of pandemic, explaining the infection, developing tests to make the diagnosis, proposing interventions to government authorities. This would not have been possible for them if they had been integrated into private teams financed by industries with strategies aiming at a development based on profitability.
Make no mistake, industry sponsored research has its place, but it should not be directly involved in the training of researchers, qualitatively and quantitatively. Quebec society has long favored an education independent of the immediate needs of industry, offering a general curriculum that allows for future career adaptability. I believe this is the way to go. If government announcements have the effect of forcing research training in private industrial sites or with conditions of confidentiality and exclusivity, Quebec will come out the loser. Moreover, given the government’s reluctance to invest in risky areas of research (and therefore have a high potential for failure), the contribution of industry for this type of development remains essential in Quebec.
Following the example of the United States, Canada and Quebec in particular should largely promote the independence and autonomy of university graduation at the graduate level by accentuating efforts to strengthen materially and in human resources research centers rather than to weaken them by reducing their main source of sustainable funding.
The budget moves away from this essential element for the growth of a society that wants to offer itself a share in knowledge that will improve the quality of life.
All this may seem very abstract, I know. But research must be carried out for the benefit of the State, and any research subsidy given to industry must be done in a model of sharing the risks and potential benefits, including the dissemination of the data generated.
Alexis Carrel, winner of the Nobel Prize for his medical research, said: “After all, civilization has as its goal, not the progress of science and machines, but that of man. I fundamentally believe that the future of a nation that wants to identify, define and perpetuate itself lies in its ability to analyze itself, to understand itself and to understand the other. As an overhaul of the health system is announced, it seemed useful to me to recall that research is one of the bases of the evolution of care and that it is also essential to follow the proposed changes in order to decide on their benefit in the weather. I hope that more Quebecers will take advantage of the same opportunity that allowed me to define my future through research.