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Backgrounder:
The Leading Edge Endowment Fund – B.C. Leadership Chairs
The government launched the Leading Edge Endowment Fund
in April 2002, in fulfilment of its commitment to establish
20 permanent B.C. Leadership Research Chairs across the province
in the fields of medical, social, environmental and technological
research.
The fund was established with an initial provincial commitment
of $45 million. The 20 Leadership Research Chairs will each
receive a total endowment of $4.5 million, which is cost-shared
between the government and the private sector – each
contributes $2.25 million.
The fund was expanded to $56.25 million in February 2003
to allow for the creation of nine regional innovation chairs
to create opportunities in communities through B.C.’s
colleges, university-colleges and institutes. The regional
innovation chairs will receive $2.5 million apiece, with
the government and the private sector each contributing $1.25
million.
The first Leadership Chair awarded by the Leading Edge Endowment
Fund was the John and Penny Ryan B.C. Leadership Chair in
spinal cord research at UBC through the Rick Hansen Institute.
Dr. John Steeves has been appointed as the B.C. Leadership
Chair in spinal cord research.
Leadership Chair proposals are thoroughly reviewed by an
international review committee comprised of people with a
background in world-class research, chaired by Bernard Shapiro,
the former Principal and Vice-Chancellor of McGill University
who also serves as the Federal Ethics Commissioner.
The program is administered by an independent society. The
directors of the society are:
- Martha Salcudean, chair of the Leading Edge Endowment
Fund’s
Board of Directors, Professor Emerita, Weyerhauser
Chair, and former Associate Vice-President of Research
and head
of UBC’s Mechanical Engineering Department.
- Gordon
Campbell, Premier
- Honourable Murray Coell, Minister of Advanced Education
- Jack Blaney, Chair of the B.C. Citizens’ Assembly,
Commissioner, International Joint Commission,
Chair of the Fraser Basin Council and President Emeritus,
SFU
- Darren Entwistle, President and CEO
of TELUS Corporation
- Paul Hastings, CEO, QLT Inc.
- Chaviva Hošek, President and CEO, The Canadian
Institute for Advanced Research
- Judith Isaac-Renton, director of laboratory services
for the B.C. Centre for Disease Control, and
Professor of Medical Microbiology in UBC’s Department
of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine.
- Hassan Khosrowshahi, Chairman, Inwest Investments
Ltd.
- R. Hector MacKay-Dunn, Q.C., Senior Partner, Farris.
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Media contact:
Erin Airton
Tel: 604-739-7500
Max Cairns
Leading Edge Endowment Fund
Tel: 604-438-3220
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