#Budget2024 💰 makes the largest investment in 20+ years for grad students & postdocs! It will support financial needs, boost mental well-being, allow focus on research, & promote diversity by easing barriers for underrepresented groups. 🎉💪🏽 #SOSBudget2024

Always modest, Sarah helped to lead this charge for a long time. Thank you soon-to-be-Dr-Laframboise, you #SupportOurScience

Thx to Rishi Bansal for flagging this slide deck on the economic impacts of NIH funding. tinyurl.com/2s4xdmh5 . US $ growth reflects bipartisan support for sustaining health research. CIHR has fallen far behind while ISED steers massive tranches of health research $. 🆘

From Jaime Watt, a clarion call for action on productivity. Are there points I'd argue or add to the agenda? Sure. But we urgently need *reasoned* action-focused debate on boosting productivity. Instead, we have rhetoric/policies that distract & delay or pander & polarize.

Important commentary in The Globe and Mail business section - just out - thank you Marc Johnson for ongoing advocacy on behalf of next-gen scientists & scholars.
theglobeandmail.com/business/comme…

Calls for a public health workforce strategy go back to the 1990s if not earlier. No coordinated plan developed or implemented - and now, unsurprisingly, we have a major HR challenge on our hands after an unprecedented pandemic.

We need a strong public health workforce. Not only because this is not the 1st & won't be last pandemic of my life, but also for other significant public health crises we're facing: opioids crisis, climate change, lack of prevention & healthcare crisis.
x.com/twpiggott/stat…

One of the most enthralling interviews I've ever done.
Geoffrey Hinton, the Godfather of A.I., w/his views on use in healthcare, how LLMs understand & exhibit empathy, and concerns about safety going forward. w/ transcript + relevant external links
Ground Truths link in profile

A very sad and deeply respectful farewell to Art van Walraven MD 7T8, beautifully captured in a Globe obit here: tinyurl.com/388he3w7 Heartfelt condolences to Debbie, Kira, and all of Art's family members, friends, and colleagues.

Argh.

Transition time at North York General. First day as CEO for Dr Everton Gooden. Excellent leader, outstanding clinician, ego-free team-builder. Best wishes to Dr G for a great run!
nygh.on.ca/newsroom/dr-ev…

Officially off-duty as COVID-19 nark (Oz usage) w/ CITF governance end Jan 1/23. Brief relapse: Have a bad feeling about the rising # of cases, current variants, low vaccine uptake & lag times. Hope we are not sleep-walking into trouble but that's how it feels...

A timely message from the U15's Chad Gaffield, distinguished historian, past president of SSHRC, past president of RSC.

The Fall Economic Update didn't address pressing concerns of research trainees & early career researchers.

Definitely a disappointment but granular research-specific issues seldom feature in FEUs.

Rx: Relentlessness. Keep connecting & advocating focused on Budget 2024.

Opinion: Canada needs doctors — so why is the country forcing Canadian physicians into exile? by Celine Pichette theglobeandmail.com/opinion/articl… via Globe Opinion

Riveting profile of Geoffrey Hinton in the New Yorker. No TLDR summary possible -- just read it, please. newyorker.com/magazine/2023/…

Many thanks Dennis Kendel for the info below. Dennis, hoping for fast service & a great outcome for your wife. Brutal delays for patients/families & HC personnel alike. Another area where, despite amazing people & potential, short-sighted policymaking is holding Canada back.

Lack of research, post-graduate funding threatens Canada’s innovation infrastructure - The Globe and Mail theglobeandmail.com/canada/article…