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Research at Sunnybrook

Sunnybrook Research Institute

Sunnybrook Research Institute (SRI) is the research enterprise of Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre. The vision of SRI is to invent the future of health care. Our main aims are to understand and prevent disease, and develop treatments that enhance and extend life. The institute is home to 893 research staff and students, including 236 scientists who conduct over $100 million in research annually. Areas of focus mirror those of the hospital: Brain Sciences; Holland Musculoskeletal; Odette Cancer; Schulich Heart; St. John's Rehab; Trauma, Emergency & Critical Care; Veterans & Community; and Women & Babies. 

Scientists at SRI are grouped into three platforms, which are areas of common scientific expertise. These are: biological sciences, evaluative clinical sciences and physical sciences. Scientists at SRI have made many world-leading breakthroughs, including focused ultrasound surgery to treat tumours and lesions, which is paving the way for doctors to do scalpel-less surgery. 

In 2012, SRI launched the $160-million Centre for Research in Image-Guided Therapeutics. In this unique facility, scientists, clinicians and their teams are working together to develop new and better ways to detect, diagnose and treat some of the most complex health conditions, including cancer, heart disease, musculoskeletal disorders, immune deficiencies, stroke and dementia. Sunnybrook Research Institute encourages all students at Sunnybrook to explore opportunities in research, such as attending student seminars. We also offer formal research placements for students. 

Research approval at Sunnybrook

All research must be approved by The Research Ethics Board (REB). The Research Ethics Office, as part of the Clinical Studies Resource Centre, coordinates and supports the practices and activities of Sunnybrook's REB. The mandate of Sunnybrook's REB is to ensure all health research involving human participants or human materials that is conducted within or on behalf of Sunnybrook meet the current scientific, regulatory and ethical standards for the protection of human research subjects. To this end, the REB ensures that safeguards are in place to provide the greatest possible protection to patients and members of the community who act as research participants. 

You are encouraged to contact the research ethics office for guidance with completion of REB applications or for clarification regarding any information posted on the research ethics web pages.

  • Catherine Parry, Coordinator: for questions related to full board submissions/ reviews, internal serious adverse events, external safety reports and amendments. 416-480-6100 (ex. 4276) 
  • Tiffany Tassopoulos: for questions related to delegated submissions/reviews, renewals, closeout reports and suspensions/terminations. 416-480-6100 (ex. 88144) 

Ethics Centre

The Ethics Centre provides ethics support, education and consultation to Sunnybrook staff, students, physicians, patients and their family members. The goal of the Centre is to enhance patient care by helping to address ethical challenges faced from the hospital bedside to its boardroom. The centre can help with:

  • Ethics education
  • Clinical and organizational ethics consultation
  • Clinical ethics case debriefings
  • Policy development, revision and implementation

More information is available on Sunnynet.