The largest private Canadian health care donation ever made will help to fund the construction of the Ted Rogers Centre for Heart Research in Toronto, O.N. The $130-million donation, supplied by the Rogers family, will assist the development of the facility, which will specialize in individualized genomic medicine, tissue engineering and advanced cardiac care. An additional $139-million in funding will be supplied by SickKids, the University Health Network (UHN) and the University of Toronto (U of T).

“Today, one million Canadians are living with heart failure, and that number is projected to increase 25 per cent over the next 20 years,” says Dr. Barry Rubin, Chair and Program Medical Director of UHN’s Peter Munk Cardiac Centre. “This unprecedented gift will enable physicians and scientists working together in the Ted Rogers Centre for Heart Research to develop new therapies that will dramatically improve the lives of patients with heart disease. One of our primary goals is to reduce hospitalization for heart failure by 50 per cent in the next decade. Ted Rogers led the development of the telecommunications industry through a constant focus on innovation. We will use Mr. Rogers’ approach to change the face of heart disease in Canada and throughout the world.”

A first of its kind worldwide, the $269-million centre will have facilities in each of the three aforementioned health care establishments in an effort to help bring research, education and innovation together into one cohesive plan to battle heart diseases.

SickKids will use genomic science to better predict the possibility of heart disease before it occurs while UHN will use state-of-the-art home monitoring devices, telecommunications technologies and research data to offer advice on solutions and preventive medicines. U of T will be responsible for creating tools to implement said solutions. They will use stem cell technology as well as cellular and tissue engineering to create effective heart therapies.