$2 Million Searle Chair in Cardiovascular Research
Established at The TorontoHospital
(Toronto, February 12, 1997)... The Toronto Hospital, a University of
Toronto teaching hospital, today announced an important new commitment to
cardiovascular research in Canada.
The Department of Medicine of the University of Toronto is designating
$2 million for the establishment of the Searle
Chair in Cardiovascular Research.
The Searle Chair will fund in perpetuity the position of the head, Division
of Cardiology at The Toronto Hospital, Canada's leading cardiac centre.
The Searle Chair in Cardiovascular research recognizes pharmaceutical
manufacturer Searle Canada's long-standing support of research at the University
of Toronto. In the past five years, Searle Canada has contributed nearly
$4 million to the university for the pursuit of medical research and education
in areas such as cardiology, rheumatology, clinical epidemiology and family
medicine.
"The Searle Chair recognizes Searle Canada's commitment to research
in all areas of medicine at the hospital," stated Dr. Alan Hudson,
president and chief executive officer, The Toronto Hospital. "The Department
of Medicine chose the Division of Cardiology at The Toronto Hospital to
ensure the succession of excellence, stability and world-class research
in this high-priority program."
The cardiac sciences program is one of the four priority programs at
The Toronto Hospital, a world-renowned cardiac centre. Some of the important
cardiac research achievements of The Toronto Hospital over the years include
the development of:
- The blood thinner heparin
"Cooling" for open heart surgery
- Methods to curb lethal cardiac rhythms
- The first diagnostic test for viral heart disease
The flexible SPV heart valve
The genetic code for myosin, one of the heart's key structural and functional
proteins
-
- Searle Canada's contributions to the University of Toronto and The
Toronto Hospital are a key reason for the establishment of the Searle Chair.
-
- "Partnerships with corporate sponsors such as Searle Canada are
essential to help us compete with first-class health centres around the
world," continued Dr. Hudson.
- "Establishing the new Searle Chair assures The Toronto Hospital
of always attracting the best and brightest leaders to maintain the highest
standard of cardiac research and care".
-
- Dr. Michael J. Sole, director, Peter Munk Cardiac Centre and the Centre
for Cardiovascular Research, The Toronto Hospital and professor of medicine
and physiology at the University of Toronto, will occupy the Searle Chair
for the first term as the head of the Division of Cardiology.
-
- "If you look at the fight against heart disease over the past
years, mortality rates have dropped at a dazzling rate," stated Dr.
Sole. "We are proud to be part of that effort. However, it is critical
to maintain, or even increase, our research efforts in the continuing fight
against what is still, by far, the number one cause of death in Canada.
Research is key to the advances that have made the miracles of today possible,
and that will make a big difference to the level of care available to all
of us tomorrow."
-
- "Searle Canada considers it a privilege to have contributed to
the development and assessment of new therapies and other important research
at the Department of Medicine," stated Dr. David Caspari, director
of medical and scientific affairs, Searl Canada. "We are pleased and
honored by the decision of the University of Toronto to establish the Searle
Chair in Cardiovascular Research at The Toronto Hospital."
-
- "The finacial stresses and strains confronting our health care
system have riveted public attention on our day to day delivery of health
care. At times, it appears we have forgotten another responsibility of
our health care system ... our obligation to improve the care of our patients
in the future," Dr. Sole added. "And, that includes uncovering,
through research, a means of preventing heart disease or detecting it earlier,
and developing safer, more effective therapies."
-
- Searle Canada has provided quality health care products to Canadians
for more than 45 years. A research-based pharmaceutical company committed
to furthering health education in Canada, Searle Canada is an operating
unit of Monsanto Canada Inc.
-
- The Toronto Hospital is one of the largest research and clinical cardiovascular
centres in the world. It provides the greatest number of cardiovascular
services of any health care institution in Canada - helping thousands of
patients annually. Some 2,400 open heart surgeries, more than 7,000 cardiac
catheterizations and angioplasty procedures are conducted annually, accounting
for almost 60 per cent of the tertiary adult cardiac care in Metropolitan
Toronto and almost 25 per cent of such care for the Province of Ontario.
For more information please contact:
Josey Panetta
The Toronto Hospital (416) 340-3303
Christina Marshall
The University of Toronto (416) 978-5949
Sabeena Ahmad
Searle Canada (905) 849-3067
Eileen Tobey
ETC Communications Inc. (416) 693-2633
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