TMU among partners at new national health research and innovation hub led by University of Toronto

March 02, 2023

Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) is embarking on an exciting new health research and innovation partnership focused on preventing and responding to future pandemics.

TMU is among the network of partners across academia, healthcare, industry and government working together at the Canadian Hub for Health Intelligence and Innovation in Infectious Diseases (HI³), a powerful research and innovation network that will be led by the University of Toronto and formed from lessons learned during the COVID-19 pandemic. With $2 million in funding from the Canada Biomedical Research Fund, the hub will address Canada’s and Ontario’s pandemic readiness and strengthen domestic biomanufacturing through a collaborative, multidisciplinary and multi-sector approach.

Research projects at HI³ will focus on three themes. The first is precision interventions such as life-saving vaccines and therapeutics. The second is process innovations such as leveraging AI in biomanufacturing to create more streamlined and nimble processes that are quick to implement. The third is health intelligence, which draws data from multiple sources to assess the effectiveness of interventions and guide the equitable delivery of pandemic countermeasures.

“Congratulations to the University of Toronto for spearheading this exciting new endeavor. TMU is proud to be a partner as we usher in a new era of health research and innovation,” said Steven N. Liss, TMU’s vice-president, research and innovation. “TMU’s research excellence in sectors such as biomedical engineering, biomolecular sciences, wastewater surveillance, community health and artificial intelligence will help improve our health outcomes and safeguard the well-being of people across Ontario and Canada.”

The eight major university partners at HI³ are TMU, University of Toronto, University of Guelph, Queen’s University, University of Waterloo, Western University, University of Windsor and York University. The six major research hospital partners are Toronto Academic Health Science Network – Baycrest, The Hospital for Sick Children, Sinai Health, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, Unity Health Toronto and University Health Network.