Founded in 1953, the Canadian Diabetes Association is a member-based, independently governed charitable organization. It is one of the largest health charities in Canada, and lends support to the more than 11 million Canadians currently living with diabetes or prediabetes.
It is the Association’s mission to lead the fight against diabetes, by helping those affected by diabetes to live healthy lives, preventing the onset and consequences of diabetes, and working to find a cure. As such, the Canadian Diabetes Association is proud to be a leading supporter of diabetes research in Canada and has supported excellent diabetes research in Canada since 1971. In 1975, the Association established the Charles H. Best Research Fund; since then, all research grants, awards, and partnerships have been administered through this fund. Over our history, we have supported more than $130 million in research grants, awards, and partnerships to scientists who have dedicated their careers to the fight against diabetes.
Canadians can be proud of our long history of successes in diabetes research. Banting and Best’s discovery of insulin in Toronto in 1922 was groundbreaking. Since then, Canadian researchers have made huge strides and key advances in understanding how and why diabetes happens, how to make the lives of people with diabetes better, and how diabetes may be treated or prevented. Although the research we fund is diverse in its scope, covering a broad range of specialties/topics, the key aspects of every study: to improve the quality of life of people living with diabetes and to find a cure. Click here to donate to the Canadian Diabetes Association
In 2016, the Canadian Diabetes Association is investing $5 million in our research program. The following is a brief description of research conducted in the Maritime provinces through the funding commitment by the Canadian Diabetes Association.