NSERC CREATE for Protecting the Health of Canadians: Integrated Training Program in Infectious Disease, Food Safety and Public Policy

每年约30%的人类死亡是由传染病造成的。每年至少出现三种新的传染病，其中80%在跨越物种屏障进入人类之前起源于动物。例如，我们最近爆发的SARS疫情使我们损失了15亿至20亿美元，而食源性疾病估计每年给加拿大经济造成近150亿美元的损失。其中许多疾病出现在其他国家，但由于全球流动性的增加，它们很容易跨越国界。为了保护我们的医疗、社会和经济利益，并克服工业、政府机构和学术界高素质人才的紧迫短缺，我们建议建立一个新的传染病、食品安全和公共政策综合培训计划。由于需要国际社会参与打击此类全球威胁的斗争，我们的学员还将向德国和印度的主要伙伴机构学习。我们将在我们的方案中使用加拿大最好的传染病研究基础设施，包括国家外国动物疾病中心和国际疫苗中心/疫苗和传染病组织。为了训练我们的学生将他们的实验科学转化为传染病传播的实用公共卫生方法，我们正在与政府监管专业人员合作，如加拿大食品检验局、加拿大公共卫生署和加拿大农业和农业食品部，并与诺华公司、甘吉公司和枫叶食品公司等工业伙伴合作。这个尖端的项目将训练其毕业生思考必须组织的活动范围，以有效地对抗新出现的病原体和确保食品安全，从台式发现和创新到有效治疗方法的发展，再到公共卫生政策。该培训计划的毕业生将在政府和私营部门担任领导角色，以保护我们的国家利益和加拿大人的健康。

About 30% of annual human mortality is due to infectious diseases. At least three new infectious diseases emerge annually, 80% of which originate in animals before crossing the species barrier into humans. For example, our recent SARS outbreak cost us $1.5-2 billion, while food-borne diseases are estimated to cost nearly $15 billion to the Canadian economy each year. Many of these diseases emerge in other countries, but cross borders easily because of our increased global mobility. To guard our medical, social and economic interests and to overcome the pressing shortage of highly qualified personnel in industry, government agencies and academia, we are proposing to establish a new Integrated Training Program in Infectious Disease, Food Safety and Public Policy. Because of the need for international engagement in fights struggles against such global threats, our trainees will learn also from leading partner institutions in Germany and India. We will employ Canada's best research infrastructure in infectious diseases within our program, including the National Center for Foreign Animal Disease and the International Vaccine Centre/Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization. In order to train our students to translate their bench science into practical public health approaches to the spread of infectious disease, we are partnering with government regulatory professionals, such as the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, Public Health Agency of Canada, and Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, and with industrial partners such as Novartis, Cangene and Maple Leaf Foods. This cutting-edge program will train its graduates to think across the spectrum of activities that must be marshaled to effectively combat emerging pathogens and ensure safe food, from bench-top discovery and innovation to development of effective therapeutic approaches to public health policy. The graduates of this training program will assume leadership roles in government and private sectors to protect our national interests and the health of Canadians.