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The Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation
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GIPPEC has a productive first year
The Global Institute of Psychosocial, Palliative & End-of-Life Care (GIPPEC)
is a partnership formed in 2014 between University Health Network, Princess
Margaret Cancer Centre and the University of Toronto. The Director of GIPPEC is
Dr. Gary Rodin, Head of Supportive Care at Princess Margaret Cancer Centre.
The past year and a half has been very productive for GIPPEC’s executive team as
they have:
• Built up the academic faculty to foster collaborative international
research teams, including accomplished leaders in end-of-life care
from Africa, Italy, Germany, Great Britain and China
• Organized a seminar series and a large conference that brought
together thought leaders and investigators contributing to public
policy regarding the care of patients with life-threatening or
terminal disease
• Launched an online educational platform that supports graduate
training and enhances research skills
The work and ambitions of GIPPEC were highlighted and supported this year at
an event organized by Prime Quadrant, a firm providing financial investment
services for affluent Canadians.
Invest in Research
provides cancer researchers with
‘seed funding’
In 2007, Tom Ehrlich asked an important question of his physician,
Dr. Mary Gospodarowicz: What can I do to help that will have
impact? She said there was a real need for seed funding to support
new cancer research projects. In response, Tom (currently the
Chair of the Board of Directors for The Princess Margaret Cancer
Foundation) started the Invest in Research program.
This program brings together people interested in making directed
investments to help conquer cancer. With boardroom-style
accountability, the group annually considers a number of proposals
and awards one or two researchers with grants of $100,000 each, to
move their ideas forward. Each member of Invest in Research has
a vote and helps to choose the projects that are funded. The grant
recipients later report back to the group on their progress.
To date, Invest in Research has raised more than $2 million for projects that improve our understanding of cancer
at the molecular level and advance new drug, radiation and surgical therapies. Recipients of these grants have
leveraged their seed-funding into more than $30 million of additional philanthropic, government or corporate
funding for their projects.
“I look for meaning inmy investments and Invest in Research really struck an emotional chord. Somuch so, that I have
become the new Chair of the program,”says Michael Wilson, a financial advisor with CIBCWood Gundy.“As a member of
Invest in Research, I like the direct impact I can have and appreciate the opportunity to hear from the researchers in person.”
For more information about Invest in Research, please contact Malka Greene
(Malka.Greene@thepmcf.caor 416-946-4668).
Tom Ehrlich and Michael Wilson
