What if your doctor could really see you? Not just the physical you, but also the genetic you.
AI-powered genome sequencing data holds the key to a future with more precise, preventative and cost-effective health care—and to Canada’s competitive edge in health innovation.
The landmark Canadian Precision Health Initiative (CPHI), announced in March 2025, will help make this future a reality by building Canada’s largest-ever collection of genomic data—more than 100,000 genomes. The initiative will:
- Enhance health care options for all Canadians.
Enabling more precise, personalized, predictive, preventative and cost-effective healthcare options (“precision health”) for Canadians. - Drive economic growth.
Empowering Canadian scientists and companies to accelerate development of world-leading, next-generation health solutions and clean economic growth. - Strengthen health security and data sovereignty.
Increasing access to Canadian genomic data needed to combat major public health threats, including pandemics.
Photo Credit: André D. Coutu, CHEO
Rising to the challenge
Genome sequencing is revolutionizing health care by providing the genetic blueprints—and comparative data—needed to more accurately and effectively diagnose and treat health issues. But to realize the full potential of this revolution, we need vast amounts of high-quality genomic data that can be shared and securely used by researchers and clinicians across our federated country.
The most ambitious health genomics initiative in Canadian history, the Canadian Precision Health Initiative (CPHI), will deliver the datasets needed to accelerate precision health solutions that reflect Canada’s diverse population.
Illumina is providing support for all CPHI sequencing projects, enabling the initiative’s large-scale output, and aligning it with other national population genomics initiatives. The Canadian Institutes of Health Research – Institute of Cancer Research is co-funding sequencing for cancer prevention. And additional long-read sequencing is supported by Oxford Nanopore Technologies and PacBio.
To maximize impact, the CPHI will:
Build a Canadian alliance for genomics in health to align efforts across Canada’s complex, federated health and research ecosystems.
Mobilize and advance the utility of genomic health data, working with academia and industry to ensure they have the right data assets and AI-powered tools to deliver life-saving solutions.
Implement data governance and policies ensuring the ethical and responsible use of genomic data.
Partners
Sequencing Centres
Funding opportunities
CPHI Pillar 1: Generating population-level genomic data
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Foundational research and innovation
Genome Canada has already invested more than $715 million and leveraged more than $1 billion of co-funding in health genomics projects. Key investments include:
- All For One funds projects across Canada that advance precision health for patients and build data- sharing capacity for practitioners.
- The Large-Scale Applied Research Project supports teams working to improve health outcomes and delivery through improved diagnostics and drug efficacy for children.
- The Genomics Applications Partnership Program has funded 57 precision health projects, from improving pathogen surveillance to improving cancer treatments and diagnoses.
