When it comes to “regional” innovation, British Columbia is definitely at the leading edge. Originally, the LEEF Chairs program was focused entirely on supporting research at BC universities. Then the LEEF Board identified a significant gap. Why shouldn’t BC’s many colleges and other regional institutions qualify for comparable support? Thus, the Regional Innovation Chair program was created in 2003.

The BC government deserves credit for approving this bold initiative from the outset. With no model elsewhere to follow, we could only look to our University Research Chairs program for guidance. (more…)

When DJ Sandhu was interviewed for the new BC Regional Innovation Chair in Canada-India Business and Economic Development at the University College of the Fraser Valley’s Centre for Indo-Canadian Studies, he shook his head. “I told them that if they just wanted someone to conduct research and write detailed reports for the government, I wasn’t their man. I would only take it if I could be a ‘hands-on’ Chair. By that I meant that I wanted to be in a position to help business people on a one-to-one basis. They agreed, and here I am.”

Mr. Sandhu’s appointment was announced in June 2007. The provincially-funded Leading Edge Endowment Fund provided $1.25 million in support. A further $1.25 million has been contributed so far by hundreds of individuals, companies and organizations throughout the Fraser Valley and beyond. (more…)

Asked why he would leave the congenial research and cultural environment of California’s San Francisco Bay area and move to British Columbia, UBC Pediatrics Professor Tom Boyce gave three reasons. “First, I’ve had fruitful research collaborations with people at UBC from my base at the University of California at Berkeley for a number of years. So BC is not unfamiliar to me. Second, there’s the freedom and excitement of vigorously pursuing my research that the BC Leadership Chair provides. And third, my wife is making a career change. She’s been a nurse practitioner for 25 years, but wants to become a hospital chaplain. She can do this through Regent College, a non-denominational Christian college on the UBC campus.”

His “Sunny Hill Health Centre BC Leadership Chair in Early childhood Development” recognizes the Sunny Hill Health Centre for Children Foundation’s $2.25 million contribution to the Chair, which matches LEEF’s contribution from the BC government. (more…)

There’s a compelling tale common to the legends of many civilizations, past and present. A young person ventures out into the world, makes his or her mark, and then returns home years later a triumphant “hero.” In Robert Young, the legend is reality, thanks to a BC Leadership Chair at Simon Fraser University.

His journey began in BC where he grew up, earned a Bachelor’s degree at the University of Victoria and a Ph.D. in synthetic chemistry and biosynthesis at The University of British Columbia. Then he was off to London’s Imperial College on a post-doctoral fellowship, then to Australia, next a short stint back at UBC, and then to Paris. Up to that point his was a typical academic research career. That changed in 1977, however, when he accepted an appointment at pharmaceutical giant Merck Frosst’s research laboratories in Montreal. (more…)

Congratulations to Dr. Martin Gleave on his recent BC Innovation Council Award. Dr. Gleave is the Liber Ero BC Leadership Chair in Prostate Cancer Research and Director of the Prostate Centre at Vancouver General Hospital (VGH). He won the Council’s 2007 “Frontiers in Research” Award (more…)