People living with autoimmune liver diseases – a group of rare diseases that progressively damage the liver – have few treatment options to slow disease progression and reduce challenging symptoms that can have a devastating impact on quality of life.
In 2016, Lily and Terry Horner established the Lily and Terry Horner Chair in Autoimmune Liver Disease Research. This Chair provides much-needed support for research that will deepen our understanding of these diseases and uncover transformative new treatments. Inspired by Lily’s long battle with primary biliary cholangitis (PBC), a type of autoimmune liver disease, in 2023 they reaffirmed their commitment with an additional gift of $1 million to extend the Chair term for five more years.
Through this Chair, UHN recruited Dr. Gideon Hirschfield, a globally-leading autoimmune liver disease expert. He joined the Toronto Centre for Liver Disease as the Director of the Autoimmune Liver Disease Program in 2018. Catalyzed by the Horners’ generous gift, the Program has grown to become the largest in North America, and is an internationally leading centre for patient care, research and education.
The research enabled by this Chair is redefining our understanding of autoimmune liver diseases and leading to potential new treatments. Recently, a clinical trial led by Dr. Hirschfield offered new hope to patients living with PBC, a disease that destroys the small bile ducts, leading to inflammation, fibrosis and potentially liver failure. A trial led by Dr. Hirschfield found that a new drug treatment called seladelpar was effective at both slowing disease progression and reducing the extremely challenging symptoms PBC can cause.
“Lily and Terry’s gift has been essential to driving forward research in autoimmune liver diseases including PBC,” says Dr. Hirschfield. “It is thanks to their generosity that we can find new ways to slow the progression of these diseases and give patients better quality of life.”
Sadly, Lily passed away in January of this year. Her legacy, and her optimism, incredible resilience and dedication to helping others are carried forward through the Chair, supporting groundbreaking research that will change the lives of everyone living with autoimmune liver disease.
Did you know?
Nearly 40% of patients do not fully respond to existing drug treatments for PBC. Dr. Hirschfield’s breakthrough treatment discovery enabled by the Lily and Terry Horner Chair in Autoimmune Liver Disease Research will give many of these patients a more effective treatment and improved quality of life.
No one ever changed the world on their own but when the bright minds at UHN work together with donors we can redefine the world of health care together.
