With commitments to UHN over the past year alone totalling an incredible $19.3 million, the Krembil Foundation has again demonstrated its unparalleled dedication to heath care worldwide, UHNITED in a relationship with UHN and its programs that continues to expand the boundaries of research.
Understanding the human brain
Through years of philanthropy, the Krembil Foundation has partnered with UHN researchers in the research team’s quest to understand the human brain – supporting discoveries and therapies that have built UHN’s neuroscience program into a world-leading clinical and research centre. Today, Krembil Brain Institute (KBI) and Krembil Research Institute proudly bear the Krembil name, with KBI amongst the largest neuroscience programs in North America.
Thanks to a $13.4 million gift establishing the Krembil Brain Institute Sustainability and Growth Fund, essential organizational and research commitments are being supported, ensuring top tier scientific talent is retained, and providing ways for KBI to become increasingly self-sufficient.
“This milestone investment is a catalyst for change that will enable self-sufficiency and boost future success of KBI,” summarizes Dr. Jaideep Bains, Director of the Krembil Research Institute. “The Krembil Foundation’s gift ensures stability and sets the stage for leadership to expand and enhance capacity in research and patient care, and accelerate the exploration of neurodegenerative brain disorders.”
Expanding possibilities for psoriatic disease
Along with the establishment of the new KBI fund, the Krembil Foundation will grant $5.4 million over the next five years to support research targeting psoriatic arthritis (PsA) and related disorders, with an additional $525,000 designated towards the recruitment of a new clinician investigator.
In recognition of the Krembil’s long-standing generosity – including this recent giving – the Psoriatic Disease Program at UHN was named the Gladman Krembil Psoriatic Arthritis Program.
The Krembil Foundation’s support is bolstering further opportunities in PsA at UHN, helping Program Directors Dr. Dafna Gladman and Dr. Vinod Chandran best collaborate with their team, and expand our understanding of this debilitating disease.
“Once again, the Krembil Foundation has demonstrated an unflagging dedication in helping us find answers,” says Dr. Gladman. “Their latest gift will be imperative in helping us cultivate an environment that fosters collaboration to address the priorities in psoriatic disease including early diagnosis, disease expression, treatment, and identifying novel disease pathways and drug targets.”
Global collaboration
Targeting a holistic approach alongside a multitude of collaborators, support from the Krembil Foundation will help the Gladman Krembil Psoriatic Arthritis Program leverage resources at the Schroeder Arthritis Institute and Krembil Research Institute. It will also enable researchers to utilize high quality data from colleagues worldwide and from program patients across Canada – work that is invaluable to the program attaining an international leadership role in PsA research.
“We now plan to extend our translational research program using modern technologies to understand psoriatic disease,” explains Dr. Chandran. “We will analyze data using advanced statistical and machine learning methods, and integrate our own data with that from global repositories, accelerating our work in understanding and bettering patient care – all of which is being made possible by the Krembil Foundation.
