Message from the Stollery Children’s Hospital Foundation

Changing the future of children’s health through the power of research

At the Stollery Children’s Hospital Foundation, we talk often about how improving children’s health can change the world.

Whether it’s our donors and community supporters or our University and health care partners, change happens when one person or group determines an idea’s time has come. We recognize that important, progressive change takes time, sometimes decades, for our communities and their most vulnerable populations to benefit. We also know that transformative change—from bench to bedside—will benefit children and their families for generations.

As the primary funder of WCHRI, we’re extremely proud to support the many change agents who are responsible for ground-breaking advancements in research that benefit children’s mental and physical health. Since 2006, we’ve contributed $83 million for children’s health research in northern Alberta to fund sub-specialty training and more than 1,600 pediatric research projects. This includes $5 million over five years to establish the Stollery Science Lab which directly funds award-winning pediatric researchers at WCHRI.

Our board recognizes the power of research to transform children’s health in Western Canada. Innovative discoveries remind all of us, especially the thousands of Stollery families who benefit directly, that research is leading the way to better outcomes for kids and teens from backyards across Alberta and beyond.

We’re honoured to support WCHRI’s commitment to create a brighter future for children and their families. With continued donor investments in research, we can continue to give all kids the best chance to live a long and healthy life.

Mike House
President and CEO
Stollery Children’s Hospital Foundation

Message from the Royal Alexandra Hospital Foundation

This past year has been—among many other monikers—a year of change.

For many of us, our families, our homes, our jobs, and our businesses changed. Our lives changed. And our perspectives changed.

Fortunately, through the hardship and darkness, there also came light and triumph.

WCHRI’s commitment to advancing health through research never wavered. The brilliant minds at WCHRI marched on with their all-important work, making critical breakthroughs and advancements, and illuminated new understanding of diseases and conditions, along with potential new ways to combat them.

Notably, our foundation made additional funding commitments to ensure progress would continue for many years to come. We are proud to have renewed Dawn Kingston’s role as the Lois Hole Hospital for Women Cross-Provincial Chair in Women’s Mental Health Research. We salute Maria B. Ospina for earning the well-deserved Canada Research Chair in Life Course, Social Environments and Health. Just two of many achievements of which to be proud.

To further cement our collective progress, WCHRI now serves as the core research partner of the Alberta Women’s Health Foundation, a newly-launched pan-provincial healthcare charity aimed at erasing the historical inequities in women’s health and women’s health research. We are honoured to stand beside you in this endeavour and look ahead to amplifying the change we can bring about together.

While these individual achievements are humbling and impressive, we are glad to say the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

Bit by bit, WCHRI has been uncovering a future changed for the better, not only for us at the Royal Alexandra Hospital Foundation but also for society. With every discovery made and paper published, we can glimpse another piece of a beautiful mosaic, a brighter world where our loved ones can live longer, healthier, more inclusive lives.

On behalf of the Foundation, including our board of directors and our Chair Zaheer Lakhani, I wish to extend our heartfelt gratitude to the WCHRI team. Your inspiring commitment and aptitude for advancing women’s health is something to be applauded. And as always, we are thankful for the many donors who support us, making our shared vision for women’s health equity a reality.

Sharlene Rutherford
President and CEO
Royal Alexandra Hospital Foundation

Message from the University of Alberta

In the context of the University of Alberta, the province of Alberta and the global landscape, the Women and Children’s Health Research Institute is truly a gem.

When I joined the University of Alberta and began my term as president on July 1, 2020, I was delighted to learn more about WCHRI and see firsthand how more than 500 leading researchers from across 13 faculties are working as agents of change.

Born out of a unique and powerful partnership between the University of Alberta, Alberta Health Services, the Stollery Children’s Hospital Foundation and the Alberta Women’s Health Foundation, WCHRI is a remarkable example of research excellence.

For 15 years, WCHRI has been at the forefront of innovation and strengthening research in areas of health that have historically been understudied and underfunded. As one of the University’s flagship institutes, WCHRI has established itself as an international leader in women and children’s health research.

From cutting edge precision health initiatives to exploring Indigenous and immigrant health, WCHRI-supported researchers are transforming women and children’s health.

As we strive towards equity, diversity and inclusion, it is important that we continue breaking down barriers and filling in gaps of knowledge through solid research. These efforts will not only make a positive impact on the lives and futures of women and children, but also contribute to healthy families and communities.

Bill Flanagan
President and Vice-Chancellor
University of Alberta

Message from Alberta Health Services

Alberta Health Services is a proud partner of the Women and Children’s Health Research Institute. Over the past year, the COVID-19 pandemic has changed not only our healthcare system and how we interact with patients, but also the ways in which each of us relates to and navigates our world.

But what hasn’t changed during this time is the critical need for continued research. Now, more than ever, we see the importance of research—especially women and children’s health research.

It is this tireless work that continues to drive change through innovation and research, and helps us build a healthcare system that both delivers the highest quality of care for Albertans and improves medical outcomes.

Since our partnership began in 2006, we have seen WCHRI-led research outcomes translated into clinical practice and impact change at a systemic level. From strengthening personalized health care solutions with the recently launched Undiagnosed Disease Program to enhancing our understanding around increased depression and anxiety in pregnant and postpartum mothers during COVID-19, we are breaking down barriers through research and improving the lives of women and children, and their families.

The path to a healthy future for women, children and communities—not only in our province, but worldwide—hinges on the continued power of partnership and collaboration.

Verna Yiu
President and CEO
Alberta Health Services

Kathryn Todd
Vice President, Provincial Clinical Excellence
Alberta Health Services
Member, WCHRI Oversight Board

Message from the Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry

As Dean of the Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry and Chair of the Women and Children’s Health Research Institute Oversight Board, I’m proud to be part of this institute’s drive to innovate and advocate for the best in women and children’s health.

WCHRI is a shining reflection of the culture of intellectual curiosity and discovery upon which the Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry and the University of Alberta are built. WCHRI’s robust team of researchers, clinicians, learners and clinician-scientists gather from across multiple faculties, collaborating to share knowledge that will topple the barriers that have traditionally gotten in the way of equity in health. Grounded in teamwork, social accountability and a focus on excellence, and guided by a strong sense of integrity, these agents of change are instrumental in mapping a future of better health for women, children and all of society.

Congratulations on another year of monumental success, from all of us here in the Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry.

Brenda Hemmelgarn
Dean, Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry
Chair, WCHRI Oversight Board