When it comes to medical research advances that have saved millions of lives of people around the world, not just across our vast country, Canada packs a remarkable punch.
HealthPartners’ tribute report to Canada’s 150th anniversary, More Than Microscopes: The Difference Canadians Make Saving Lives Through Medical Research, celebrates Canada’s medical research excellence. Amid a culture of innovation and collaboration, Canadian researchers have ushered in the age of modern nuclear medicine, opened up the field of biotechnology, pioneered cell-based therapy, designed medical equipment, invented new surgical and treatment techniques, and developed drugs and vaccines — and in the process collected seven Nobel prizes.
The report, which was launched during a celebration event on December 14, also showcases the dual role that Canada’s 16 major health charities — all members of HealthPartners — play in nurturing our country’s innovative research culture and in helping to transform and change the lives of millions of people here in Canada and around the world.
Thanks to the research that HealthPartners’ member charities support, millions of Canadians are living healthier, longer lives. Advances in diabetes treatments make it possible for some people to manage their condition with pills rather than a daily injection of insulin. Ground-breaking therapies have extended the lives of kids born with cystic fibrosis, a fatal disease, from around the age of 6 to their 40s and 50s. Stem cell-based research benefits people battling a host of diseases such as cancer and relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis. For Parkinson’s sufferers, deep brain stimulation surgery helps to reduce the physical symptoms of the disease. And, research is under way to find a cure or better treatments for diseases such as Huntington’s, Alzheimer’s, hemophilia and muscular dystrophy.
“HealthPartners is proud to play a leadership role in connecting donor dollars to life-enhancing and life-changing research like the advances that now benefit Canadians,” says Eileen Dooley, CEO.
“The 150 ground-breaking and life-changing medical breakthroughs highlighted in our report are just the tip of the iceberg of the breadth and depth of research that has taken, and is taking, place across our country. These breakthroughs have helped to move the research yardstick forward, and are a testament to the impact of the more than $150 million raised for our member health charities through HealthPartners. We truly can achieve so much when it comes to helping Canadians from coast to coast to coast live healthy, productive lives.”
Through the pages of More Than Microscopes, readers will be able to glimpse the breadth and depth of the medical research that is taking place across Canada, and to appreciate the level of commitment, scientific curiosity and intellectual know-how of our researchers — all propelled by a desire to save lives.
Because the report is HealthPartners way to celebrate Canada’s 150th, Guy Laflamme, Executive Director and Producer of Ottawa 2017, was invited to help launch More Than Microscopes. With its focus on innovation, Ottawa 2017 served to not only stimulate interest in the sciences and technology, but also to inspire the imagination.
“Canada’s sesquicentennial is the perfect time to make visible the many achievements made by Canadians over the last 150 years. The hundreds of medical research innovations highlighted in this report have helped place Canada sixth among 31 Western industrialized nations in terms of the quality of its research. But they also illustrate how technology can trigger the creative process and spark the imagination. Science combined with innovation leads to extraordinary things. Ottawa 2017’s program elements, such as Kontinuum and La Machine, showcased this,” says Mr. Laflamme.
A connector of 16 of Canada’s most trusted and respected health charities, HealthPartners strives to build healthy workplaces, healthy Canadians and healthy charities by connecting donors to Canada’s most trusted health charities, by advancing life-saving health research and by improving the health of Canadians.
