CAMS Innovation Fund for Medical Sciences (CIFMS)
Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences (CAMS) officially launched of the CAMS Innovation Fund for Medical Sciences (CIFMS) in 2016 with supports by the Finance Ministry and the National Health and Family Planning Commission. Prepared and refined over four years, this program aims to further enhance CAMS’s capacity for innovation development and enable it to engage in sustainable research.
The objectives of CIFMS include serving the strategic population and health needs of China, piloting cutting edge development of China’s medical sciences and technology, developing innovative mechanisms for the organisation of medical research, coordinating the deployment of science and technology resources, and building a tiered medical research network with an international outlook based on current research needs.
The programme’s goal is to boost medical research at CAMS to a world class level. CIFMS will focus on research areas that have long-term, strategic, and global interests, while also responding to strategic needs of the country and carrying out projects in medical sciences and technology that are of national interest. Its resources will be put toward those technologies important to the health and common benefit of the Chinese people that may be inaccessible through other means. Utilizing CAMS’s current resources in basic and clinical research, drug R&D, and experience in multiple disciplines, CIFMS aims to develop a medical research system with parallel tracks supporting research and academic development.
CIFMS funding will cover research in areas of major national concern including childhood health and disease, geriatrics, biosafety, blood safety, and radiological safety. Support will also be provided for essential supporting platforms such as drug resource libraries, biobanks, biomedical databases, and experimental animal models.