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Alberta will shed some of its top medical scientists and slash opportunities for young people training to be researchers because of a $22-million cut to provincial health research funding.

The chop in provincial funding comes at a time the province is supposedly committed to investing in innovation and diversifying the economy, say flummoxed university leaders.

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“I’m not just trying to cry wolf because we’ve lost a little bit of money,” University of Alberta vice-president, research Lorne Babiuk said.

Eliminating a quarter of the annual provincial health research funding for Alberta Innovates will also see the province lose out on matching grants and investments from the federal government, industry and non-profit organizations, amplifying the repercussions, Babiuk said.

Such a drastic reduction in provincial dollars available to fund research done by high school and university summer students, graduate students, post-doctoral fellows, new professors, and to attract and keep global experts in Alberta is unprecedented in Babiuk’s nine years in his post, he said.