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Skin disease affects everyone at some
time during their life. Approximately
1% of the population will have a moderately
or severely disfiguring skin disease.
Inflammatory skin disorders in particular
impose substantial burdens on Canadians
because of their prevalence, chronicity,
and complications.
Leg ulcers, psoriasis
(chronic scaly skin patches), atopic
dermatitis (chronic itchy and scaly skin),
acne (pimples with permanent scarring
and disfigurement), vitiligo (loss of
skin color), and alopecia areata (immune
mediated loss of hair) have all been
demonstrated to have a profound impact
on patients’ quality of life. Every
year, hospital care expenditures for
skin diseases cost Canadian taxpayers
over 700 million dollars. In addition,
cutaneous diseases are responsible for
nearly half of the occupational diseases
that result in insurance claims.
While skin disease is common in Canada
and the financial and social burden of
skin disease is significant, skin disease
research receives less than 0.3% of all
Canadian Institutes of Health Research
(CIHR) funding. The need for a coordinated
development of skin disease research
in Canada is urgent if we are to meet
the current and future needs of Canadians
with skin diseases. As a direct response
to the call for increased research training
by key skin health stakeholders at the
2004 CIHR Skin Health Research Priorities
Workshop, the CIHR Skin Research Training
Centre (SRTC) was launched.
Four themes for Skin Health Research
Participants at the CIHR Skin Health
Research Priorities Workshop were asked
to define four research priority areas
to address in Canada. There was consensus
from workshop participants that the themes
to address should be:
- Skin Inflammation and Infection
- Skin Repair and Regeneration
- Skin, Genes, and the Environment
- Skin Cancer
There was agreement that strategic and
operational planning for skin health
research in Canada needed to reflect
all of these four themes in order to
properly address the overall skin health
needs of Canadians. Population Health
was viewed as a theme that should be
incorporated as an element within each
of the four core themes.
The primary remit of the SRTC is to
address these key themes by training
research scientists and clinical research
fellows in each of these areas. By increasing
the number of highly trained scientists
and clinicians in skin health research,
the SRTC will provide the key component
for the expansion of skin health research
for Canada.
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