The UHN recruitment campaign is promising scientists research funding commitments of two years, as well as opportunities to be coached and mentored by leading entrepreneurs, president Kevin Smith said. Toronto General Hospital is shown on April 5, 2018.Doug Ives/The Canadian Press
Toronto’s University Health Network is launching a campaign to recruit 100 “world-leading early career scientists,” targeting candidates doing research with commercialization potential at a time when some are looking to leave the United States.
The hospital network, which is the country’s largest, was set to announce Monday that it will be investing $15-million in recruiting 50 scientists immediately as a part of its “Canada Leads 100 Challenge,” with plans to secure matching investments to hire another 50 down the road.
The announcement will land in the midst of an escalating trade war with the U.S., during which the Trump administration has also been aggressively slashing funding for universities and research institutions.
Many U.S.-based scientists are now looking abroad for professional refuge. In a recent survey of more than 1,600 scientists, conducted by the journal Nature, 75 per cent of respondents said they were considering leaving the U.S. Most cited Europe and Canada as their top choices for relocation.
This creates an “exceptional moment and opportunity” to attract some of the world’s best and brightest scientific minds who may no longer feel supported south of the border, said Kevin Smith, UHN’s president and chief executive officer.
“It’s an opportunistic moment that we would hate to miss,” Dr. Smith said. “Nine months ago, we might have even had vacancies … but they were still like, you know what, I think I’m better served in the U.S.
“That has absolutely turned around.”
The United States has long been the world’s science superpower, spending more than any other country on research and development and drawing top talent from around the globe. But under President Donald Trump – and his Department of Government Efficiency, led by Elon Musk – universities, funding agencies and scientific institutions have come under attack.
Entire departments and agencies have been gutted, research funding has been cancelled and tens of thousands of federal employees have been laid off or are at risk of losing their jobs. Crackdowns on immigration, academic freedoms and diversity and equity initiatives have sent a chill across American campuses, and some professors from Ivy League schools such as Yale have already decamped for Canadian universities.
The UHN recruitment campaign is promising scientists research funding commitments of two years, as well as opportunities to be coached and mentored by leading entrepreneurs, Dr. Smith said. The hospital is also engaging a “global mobility expert” to help new recruits with their transitions to Canada.
Dr. Smith expressed confidence that UHN’s recruitment drive will be “oversubscribed.” Even prior to Monday’s launch, he said, he had already heard from roughly two dozen U.S.-based scientists interested in job opportunities at UHN.
Dr. Smith believes the bigger challenge going forward will be to build broader infrastructure that not only empowers scientists to do the same work they once pursued in the U.S., but connects them with a local science-based economy where their intellectual property can be commercialized and locally manufactured. He hopes UHN’s recruitment campaign will serve as a call to action to other top hospitals, as well as every level of government.
“We have to move pretty quickly because this is not unique to Canada. The rest of the world is looking at the same opportunity to recruit top talent,” he said. “This moment will pass. If we don’t embrace it, if we don’t make the investment, if we don’t get the roadblocks out of the way, then shame on us.”
