The PRINCESS Margaret Hospital
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CONQUER CANCER IN OUR LIFETIME 2010 REPORT TO OUR DONORS Obsessed with PrOgress A Message from the Chairman of the Foundation Board and the President & CEO with your help and generosity, we raised $70 million fundraising initiative—Road Hockey to Conquer Cancer. We will again take on some risk, but we will also confidently apply our accumulated experience When your mission is to CONQUER CANCER IN OUR in running large fundraising events to a sport that is LIFETIME, progress is important. You have to make enjoyed by many Canadians. progress each and every day, and we do. We raise money for The Princess Margaret, and work hard with We are proud of our ability to bring new ideas to frui- hospital leaders to ensure that the funds are allocated tion and then share them with like-minded partners in wisely and according to our donors’ wishes. other parts of Canada who are also dedicated to con- quering cancer. The Shoppers Drug Mart® Weekend At The Princess Margaret Hospital Foundation (PMHF), to End Women’s Cancers™ and The Ride to Conquer we have adopted the new term ‘social enterprise’ Cancer are both examples of our Foundation helping because, as a leader in this sector, we feel it is impor- other social enterprises across the country grow their tant to embrace change where it makes good sense fundraising capacity. to do so. The use of the new term recognizes that we have incorporated some of the best practices of the This past fiscal year, with your help and generosity, private sector for the public good. we raised $70 million (net) to support breakthrough research, compassionate patient care, and exemplary Our Foundation has a clear vision, a strong, account- teaching at The Princess Margaret. In this report, you able governance structure, and an understanding will read about how these funds are being invested, that larger rewards involve taking on some level of and the great leadership role that The Princess risk. Launching new events like The Ride to Conquer Margaret is playing in the challenge to CONQUER Cancer involve risk but offer great potential for raising CANCER IN OUR LIFETIME. much needed funds to support one of the top 5 cancer research centres in the world. Our Board, pro- fessional staff and our partners have the experience to recognize and mediate the risks. We are open to fresh ideas at The Foundation, and in Keith P. Ambachtsheer Paul Alofs the Fall of 2010, we will officially launch our newest Chairman President & CEO In Our Lifetime It may seem like we’ve been fighting this fight forever. But we haven’t. There was a time, not long ago, when cancer was a death sentence. And the treatment was dreaded almost as much as the disease. We’ve seen that change in our lifetime, at The Princess Margaret. We’ve seen the entire process of cancer care forever altered. We’ve seen radical mastectomies become lumpectomies. We’ve seen the precision of image-guided therapies spare more healthy tissue. We’ve seen undreamed-of advances at the cellular level and revolutionary work in healing beyond the body. All in our lifetime. All at The Princess Margaret. We’ve seen a provincial cancer hospital become one of the world’s top 5 cancer research centres. We’ve seen our people grow beyond a thousand. We’ve seen leading researchers, from all over the world, leave their homes to come here. Because this is where they believe the fight will be finished. In our lifetime. Yes, we are still losing people to cancer. But imagine if Terry Fox were diagnosed today. He would be much less likely to lose his leg and he could live to continue the fight. That’s how far we’ve come, and that’s how fast. It may seem like we’ll be fighting this fight forever. But we won’t. Because we’re closing in. We have the momentum. We have the talent. And we have the passion. This is the front line. We are Canada’s cancer warriors. But we can’t do it alone. The world needs to hear The Princess Margaret message. So share it at every opportunity with anyone who will listen. It’s a simple message, really. But it’s a message of incredible power: we are conquering cancer at Canada’s cancer research centre, The Princess Margaret. In our lifetime. The Princess Margaret The Princess Margaret Hospital Foundation 1 Building MoMentuM A Message from Dr. Mary Gospodarowicz and Dr. Ben Neel many relationships in place with other academic institutions allow us to advance our scientific research more quickly. Massive tasks such as zeroing in on the genetic markers of different cancers require intense collaboration. Clinical trial partnerships with other cancer centres and industry allow promising new drugs and procedures to be safely tested and made available to patients expediently. Our mandate to train the cancer specialists and health care leaders of tomorrow also generates momentum. We provide a rich learning environment for medical residents and budding scientists, and we benefit from their curiosity, their ideas, and their fresh perspective. And you, our generous donors, are the source of so much of this momentum. The funds you provide fuel critical research. Thanks to you, our world-leading researchers have new equipment and resources, and we are able to initiate and pilot important new We feel a strong sense of momentum and opportu- programs for our patients. Your gifts also enable us nity in cancer research and cancer medicine at The to acquire additional funding from government and Princess Margaret. The treatments we offer today are public agencies. more effective and better tolerated than they were 10 or even 5 years ago, and they are better tailored to a We have ‘raised the bar’ in so many areas of cancer patient’s particular type of cancer. Our confidence in treatment, and are proud to publish and share our treating the disease grows daily, as we gain a deeper findings with the worldwide cancer community… understanding of the biology of cancer and gain creating more momentum to CONQUER CANCER IN access to improved tools to fight and prevent it. OUR LIFETIME. Momentum is a powerful ingredient when you have complex problems to solve and sick patients to care for. Where is it coming from? The ‘bench to bedside’ mindset that tightly links our Dr. Mary Gospodarowicz, Medical Director scientific research with our patient care creates a great Cancer Program deal of momentum. Our doctors and our scientists Princess Margaret Hospital/UHN work together, and share knowledge from their unique points of view. The benefits of this ongoing exchange are significant. Our rich history of discovery and reputation as one of the top 5 cancer research centres in the world Dr. Ben Neel, Research Director opens doors and provides major momentum. The Ontario Cancer Institute and The Campbell Family Cancer Research Institute Princess Margaret Hospital/UHN 2 2010 Report to Our Donors The Princess Margaret Hospital Foundation 3 Stepping up to the plate Providing leadership in publicly and knocking the ball funded medical care out of the park! At the leading cancer research centre in the coun- No base hits for try, the senior staff of Princess Margaret Hospital Emmanuelle (PMH) have an important role to play in helping Gattuso. For her to define and execute a cancer care strategy for causes, she wants the province of Ontario and beyond. This requires to deliver big, so expertise not only in cancer care, but also in the fortunately for The financial realities of publicly funded medicine and Princess Margaret, the health care infrastructure that exists to care for her cause is breast the residents of Ontario. cancer and helping Dr. David McCready, Many clinical specialists and allied health experts Head of the Breast have taken on leadership roles with Cancer Care Cancer Program, Ontario (CCO), the provincial agency responsible eliminate long wait for continually upgrading cancer services. times for breast cancer diagnosis. Dr. Amit Oza is Medical Director of the Cancer Clinical Research For several years, Dr. McCready has been testing Unit and Co-Director of The and evaluating a new approach that reduces Robert & Maggie Bras and Family wait time for a breast cancer diagnosis to one New Drug Development Program day—greatly lowering the amount of anxiety that at PMH. He also co-chairs the patients have to endure. To move his pilot project gynecology committee for the to a fully-operational centre, Dr. McCready esti- National Cancer Institute of mated that $25 million was required. Emmanuelle Canada’s Clinical Trials Group. and her husband, media entrepreneur Allan This group designs and assesses trial proposals Slaight, decided that the women of Ontario ranging from Phase I testing of new drugs to large needed this centre, and made a lead gift of $12.5 Phase III national and international trials. million to launch the campaign. But that was just the beginning. Dr. Oza also participates on steering committees for the U.S. National Cancer Institute and the executive She approached her many friends, helped produce committee of the Gynecologic Cancer Intergroup. TV commercials, made time for newspaper and TV interviews, and was the spokesperson for a direct Dr. Jonathan Irish is the Chief mail appeal. In November 2009, she told viewers of Surgical Oncology for PMH/ on CP24 that for each dollar donated, she and her UHN. Since 2004, he has led the husband would match it. Thanks to thousands of Access to Care (‘Wait Times’) and individual donors, plus some large donations from Strategic Funding Initiatives for corporations and family foundations, the campaign the Surgical Oncology Program now has great momentum, and The Gattuso Rapid for CCO.