Ottawa Hospital Research Institute (OHRI) is the research arm of The Ottawa Hospital and an affiliated institute of the University of Ottawa. Our research is focused on answering important health questions and translating new findings into benefits for patients and the community. Our goal is to make tomorrow’s health care possible today; bringing new hope to our patients, while advancing health research at a global level.
A Word about Our Facility
OHRI is a multi-sited research facility based at The Ottawa Hospital’s Civic, General and Riverside campuses, with additional space at the University of Ottawa’s Faculty of Medicine. With 215,000 square feet of dedicated basic and clinical research space, OHRI has a number of specialized facilities, including the Sprott Centre for Stem Cell Research, the Centre for Innovative Cancer Research, the Centre for Practice-Changing Research, a Clinical Investigation Unit for phase 1 and pharmacokinetic studies and three clinical grade Good Manufacturing Practice Laboratories.
Our Research
Our scientists, clinical investigators, trainees and staff are investigating virtually every major disease and condition. Our research spans the full spectrum of health science, from basic molecular biology and epidemiology, to clinical trials and the development of new therapies, to health services and knowledge translation research.
At OHRI we have made significant research contributions in treatments, such as promising therapies using cancer-fighting viruses, biotherapeutics for Duchenne muscular dystrophy and a treatment that uses gene-enhanced stem cells to help the heart repair itself after a heart attack. These three examples, developed from basic scientific discoveries by our scientists, are now in clinical trials or are very nearly at that stage. Each represents a potential breakthrough in how we treat these diseases. There are many other examples from the Clinical Epidemiology Program where researchers working in decision rule research have determined key practice changing results, such as the Ottawa Ankle rules.