The latest recruitment announcement by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR)—featuring four researchers from the United States, as well as others from Germany, Switzerland, and Belgium—is one more sign that Canada has begun to reverse its brain drain, say Canadian officials, capitalizing on the increasing attractiveness of the country to scientists and the perception that the United States presents too many roadblocks for certain kinds of research.
The overall numbers in the latest announcements likely won't worry American academe, according to CIHR president Alan Bernstein. But he said that they may reflect concerns that “perhaps for some people, the United States [is] becoming less attractive or not accessible, [while] Canada has become over the last 5 years a very, very attractive place for scientists.”
Seven years ago, the federal health research kitty was about CDN $250 million (USD $179.5 million). Today, according to Bernstein, the total available for health ...