TORONTO: The University of Toronto has received the single largest gift in Canadian history – $250 million that will support discovery, collaboration, innovation, equity and student well-being across the University’s Faculty of Medicine and its affiliated hospital network, advancing its leadership as a global centre of excellence in human health and health care.
The transformational gift from the Temerty Foundation, established by James and Louise Temerty, will support advances in machine learning in medicine; and the creation of a new state-of-the-art Faculty of Medicine building.
The gift also includes a $10-million allocation to the Dean’s COVID-19 Priority Fund, which was advanced and pre-announced in April of this year. This component of the gift continues to support frontline clinical faculty members and trainees, as well as researchers at U of T and partner hospitals seeking to improve testing, accelerate vaccine research and create better treatments/prevention strategies.
The University’s Faculty of Medicine will be named the Temerty Faculty of Medicine. The Faculty is regarded as Canada’s finest and among the world’s best, ranked sixth in clinical medicine and health sciences by the highly respected Times Higher Education World University Rankings.
“James and Louise Temerty’s gift marks the start of a new era,” said U of T President Meric Gertler. “It lifts Canadian philanthropy to an unprecedented level of vision and generosity. And it propels U of T’s globally renowned Faculty of Medicine and hospital partners to a position of even greater scientific and clinical leadership in tackling today’s—and tomorrow’s—greatest challenges in =health care.
“The Temerty family’s generosity is truly a gift of hope—hope for what we can achieve together, long after the present crisis has passed …across Canada and around the world,” Gertler continued.
“On behalf of the entire University of Toronto, I would like to offer our deepest gratitude to the Temerty Foundation—to James and Louise Temerty, and to Leah Temerty-Lord and Mike Lord—for their leadership.”
Founded in 1997 by James and Louise Temerty, the Temerty Foundation has provided significant philanthropic support to health care, education and culture in Toronto and beyond.
In the health-care space, their contributions have established the Temerty Centre for Therapeutic Brain Intervention at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, the Louise Temerty Breast Cancer Centre at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, and the world’s first international tele-simulation centre in medical education at University Health Network.
These institutions are part of the Toronto Academic Health Science Network (TAHSN) The Temerty Foundation’s gift to U of T leverages its previous giving and expands its impact across the network.
“We were motivated to help the University of Toronto do what it does best—elevate quality health care and ultimately help as many Canadians as possible,” said James Temerty.
“Our hope is that this gift will further Toronto’s and Canada’s global leadership in providing the highest quality health care and help to address the most pressing health challenges. We are honoured to be doing our part by partnering with the University.”
With investments allocated over a multiyear period, the gift will have a tremendous impact on health science, health-care innovation, and health education by:
• Establishing a new Centre for AI Research and Education in Medicine, which
will capitalize on U of T’s internationally recognized strengths in artificial intelligence, machine learning and deep learning technologies.
• Launching a dedicated TAHSN Fund to support collaborations across the Toronto Academic Health Science Network -with the potential for impact on clinical research and patient well-being in a wide range of areas, from neurodegenerative disease to cancer to suicide prevention.
• Accelerating research with the potential for breakthroughs in fundamental, translational, clinical and rehabilitation science, along with enhancing the Temerty Faculty’s innovation and entrepreneurship activities, to catalyze new ideas, and amplify Toronto’s growing reputation as a global hotspot for health innovation.
• Training and retraining the leading doctors of the futures.
• Establishing an Elder-in-Residence and a Circle of Elders, to support Elders working with the Temerty Faculty and ensuring Indigenous health education and leadership is supported in perpetuity.
• Creating a Dean’s Strategic Initiatives and Innovation Fund.