Issue No. 10, December 2013 Slaight gift creates innovative brain centre at Sunnybrook Through a landmark $10-million invest- ment announced Oct. 29, The Slaight Family Foundation has established The Slaight Centre for Image-Guided Brain Therapy and Repair at Sunnybrook. This centre will be the site of the world’s first clinical trials using focused ultrasound to deliver therapy through the blood-brain bar- rier for dementia, stroke and brain tumours.

At the core of the centre is a PET-MRI scan- ner, a fully integrated molecular imaging system that Sunnybrook Research Institute (SRI) scientists will combine with transcra- nial focused ultrasound – making it the only such system in the world.

This will enable scientists to move promis- ing research from the lab to patients, using “We hope the Slaight Centre’s research will patients nearly as quickly,” Dr. Dellandrea focused ultrasound to deliver therapies lead to the day when the steady advancement says. “The long-running generosity of The directly to the brain, not only to treat dis- of dementia is halted, when stroke is stopped Slaight Family Foundation is an inspiring ease, but also to repair damage and restore in its tracks and when damaged brain tissue example of how donor support is allowing us function. is regenerated, restoring the brain to a more to change outcomes and heal the future, for fully functioning state,” Dr. McLellan adds. patients here and around the world.” “The Slaight Centre for Image-Guided Brain Therapy and Repair will pioneer non- Dr. Jon S. Dellandrea, president and CEO The leading-edge PET-MRI scanner com- invasive treatments for diseases of the brain of Sunnybrook Foundation, says The Slaight bines positron emission tomography and and mind. These will be novel solutions for Family Foundation’s investment will acceler- magnetic resonance imaging. The system some of the biggest threats to the health ate the pace of discovery at Sunnybrook. achieves the gold standard of molecular of Canadians,” says Dr. Barry McLellan, imaging, by fully integrating simultaneous Sunnybrook’s president and CEO. “Without this private support, we would PET and MRI to enable the most complete not be able to translate our discoveries to 3-D picture of the brain possible.

Transcranial focused ultrasound was pio- neered by SRI scientists. Integrating it into the PET-MRI scanner will allow them to take their preclinical results – showing that drugs, gene therapy and stem cell therapy can be delivered directly to the brain in Alzheimer’s disease – to the next level: pa- tients. These clinical trials promise to usher in a new era of therapy for brain disease.

“Sunnybrook has the unique medical exper- tise and technological know-how to bring these treatments to people, but this cannot be done without the acquisition of a state- Left: Gary Slaight announces a $10-million of-the-art PET-MRI scanner. Our family investment in Sunnybrook by The Slaight foundation is thrilled to be making this a Family Foundation on Oct. 29. The gift is reality,” says Gary Slaight. part of a comprehensive $50-million dona- tion to five Toronto health-care institutions. The Slaight Family Foundation’s investment Above: Slaight stands with his wife, Donna, in Sunnybrook is part of a comprehensive and his daughter, Ali, at the announcement. $50-million gift to five health sciences cen- Top: A recent MRI-guided, high-intensity fo- tres in Toronto that will make a life-saving cused ultrasound procedure at Sunnybrook. difference for people locally and around the world. New cancer research investigating why ‘less can be more’ Leading-edge scientists Dr. Robert Kerbel However, to spur additional and much- of Sunnybrook and Dr. Yuval Shaked of needed clinical trials – and to move metro- Technion (Israel Institute of Technology) nomic chemotherapy from a niche concept have launched a collaborative international to a widely-used therapy – the medical on- research program to help bring more effec- cology world needs a better understanding tive and less toxic cancer drug therapies into of the biological mechanisms the treatment the mainstream. uses to attack cancers.

The unique global partnership aims to get “This knowledge gap is precisely what our a better understanding of why “less can Canadian-Israeli research partnership will be more” when it comes to chemotherapy, Sunnybrook’s Dr. Robert Kerbel (pictured) is part- target,” says Dr. Shaked, who worked in which is traditionally delivered through high nering with Dr. Yuval Shaked to help bring more Dr. Kerbel’s SRI laboratory as a postdoc- doses of toxic anti-cancer drugs, usually effective and less toxic cancer drug therapies into toral fellow and is now an associate professor given every few weeks for up to five months. the mainstream. with the Rappaport Faculty of Medicine at Technion in Haifa, Israel. Dr. Kerbel and Dr. Shaked are at the fore- metastatic cancers – used either on their own front of a promising treatment strategy or in combination with drugs called angio- “Dr. Kerbel’s research laboratory and my lab – known as metronomic chemotherapy – genesis inhibitors, which cut off the blood will work together closely – making use of that has fewer side-effects and may extend supply that feeds tumours,” says Dr. Kerbel, one another’s expertise – to tackle several survival of patients with cancers that spread a senior scientist at Sunnybrook Research aspects of how metronomic chemotherapy aggressively. Institute (SRI) and the Canada Research acts against cancer cells,” Dr. Shaked says. Chair in Tumour Biology, Angiogenesis and Unlike traditional chemotherapy, metro- Antiangiogenic Therapy. Through a generous donation from nomic chemotherapy uses lower and less Michael and Rena Buckstein, Sunnybrook toxic doses that are delivered more fre- In recent and ongoing international ran- Foundation and Israel Cancer Research quently, even daily, over prolonged periods domized clinical trials of metronomic Fund (ICRF) are partnering to fund this (for instance, more than a year). chemotherapy, the first clinical evidence innovative Canadian-Israeli program. of the treatment’s promise is now being Dan Birch “In preclinical research, my laboratory demonstrated. Large studies are underway has developed quite effective metronomic among metastatic colorectal and breast can- chemotherapy treatments for aggressive cer patients around the world.

Parents’ geriatric care at Sunnybrook inspires philanthropy As they grew elderly, both of Peter Cipriano’s The Irpinia Club and its parents were treated at Sunnybrook. He president, Peter Cipriano, remembers how comforted he felt, on several recently donated a com- occasions, when a geriatric medicine specialist bined $150,000 in support guided their care. of geriatric medicine at Sunnybrook. Pictured here, presenting Peter’s personal “It eased my worries a bit to know that they commitment of $75,000, had a geriatrician looking after them, and I are: (left to right) Peter’s could find answers to my many questions wife Dureen Tseu, son relating to their illnesses and care,” says Michael Cipriano and Peter. Cipriano. “I became truly grateful to have Accepting the cheque are: Dr. Barry McLellan, Sun- had that resource.” nybrook president and CEO, and Dr. Jon S. Dellandrea, Cipriano has turned his gratitude into Sunnybrook Foundation philanthropy. He is a great benefactor president and CEO. to Sunnybrook’s Geriatric Medicine Program, personally contributing funds and encouraging his friends and associates to do Irpinia Club,” says Dr. Rajin Mehta, head of for instance, may be layered on top of existing the same. Sunnybrook’s Division of Geriatric Medicine. conditions such as heart attack and stroke. Expanding the fellowship program will help Most recently, The Irpinia Club, an Italian “With funds they raised, we have been able train doctors to see the medical challenges social club led by Cipriano, raised $75,000 to renovate the facilities in our program to of seniors through the lens of geriatric at its 2013 fall gala event, called Ballo make the patient clinic brighter and more medicine,” says Dr. Mehta. Autunnale. Cipriano personally matched comfortable.” the funds, making the total for the evening Cipriano is thrilled to be a catalyst for much- $150,000. New funds raised at the 2013 Ballo needed growth in geriatric medicine. “It is Autunnale will go towards expanding the important to me that geriatric medicine’s The Irpinia Club, which was created in 1977 size of Sunnybrook’s hospitalist fellowship involvement in acute care stays healthy at by Italian-Canadians from the Irpinia region program, to include a rotation through Sunnybrook. I’d like that model of geriatric of Italy, had already raised $67,500 towards geriatric medicine. care to become the standard at all hospitals the Geriatric Medicine Program. and health centres one day.” “The needs of these patients are often Celia Milne “We are very grateful to Peter and the complex. Pneumonia in a frail elderly person, Personal Health Navigator Time to go? We can help Would you share a hospital room It’s time for you or your loved one to be with someone of the opposite sex? discharged from the hospital. You have The question: I recently visited my elderly mother Paul Taylor, Sunnybrook’s complex health needs, and while you’re in the hospital and was surprised to find her shar- Patient Navigation relieved that the acute care phase of recovery is ing a room with a male patient. Since when have Advisor, provides advice complete, you have many questions about how hospitals been putting patients of the opposite sex and answers questions to best prepare for what’s ahead once you’ve together? from patients and their returned home. families, relying heavily The answer: Actually, in recent years, quite on medical and health Sunnybrook’s transitional coordinators are a number of hospitals across Canada have experts. Email your health-care professionals who help facilitate adopted this practice when space is tight. It’s questions to AskPaul@ discharge planning for complex patients, with known as co-gendering and it can speed up sunnybrook.ca the goal of providing a seamless transition for access to hospital beds for patients waiting in you or your family member. It is their aim to the emergency department. discharge you home safely, with support if with an unrelated person of the opposite sex. needed. This may be a temporary arrangement In certain respects, some parts of the hospi- That will likely mean a longer wait in the while making other plans for the future. tal have always been co-gendered, like the emergency department or a hallway where emergency department itself or the intensive there is little or no privacy. “But maybe, based Recently introduced in Sunnybrook’s care unit where there is a concentration of on their values, that is a better thing to do,” General Internal Medicine units, transitional life-support. Carew says. coordinators are helping to bridge the more traditional roles of Community Care Access But the practice has grown as hospitals have Many patients, however, feel that it is in their Centre coordinator and hospital social worker created specialized wards that group together best interests to be moved to a ward rather by supporting patients and families with people with the same medical condition, such than waiting in the emergency department. complex needs. as stroke patients, says Debra Carew, director Carew says co-gendering is usually just tem- of operations with the Trauma, Emergency & porary. When more beds free up, the patient Patients with Critical Care Program at Sunnybrook. “There is transferred to a room with a person of the complex needs are times when patients may benefit by being same sex. “We have some cases where patients are typically in a specific ward or in a specific grouping of don’t mind co-gendering and, because they older with patients,” she says. like the room or their roommate, they end up chronic health not moving.” c on d it i on s , One of Carew’s responsibilities is patient flow. generally use more health services and require She notes there are usually a limited number Some new hospitals currently being planned more coordination for their care. of beds in the specialized wards. or under construction will have a very high proportion of private rooms – up to 80 per “It’s natural to have questions about the next If a patient is to get one of these beds, it may cent – and will even include extra space so steps and what lies ahead, especially when you mean sharing a room with a person of the op- relatives can stay overnight. Not only will have one or more chronic health conditions,” posite sex, separated by a privacy curtain. Co- these rooms increase privacy, they should also says Inna Panteleeva, a transitional coordinator gendering has now spread to more generalized improve infection control. at Sunnybrook. wards, too – especially when the emergency department is extremely busy and there is a But it’s hard to do a makeover of an exist- Transitional coordinators attend rounds with backlog of patients who need to be admitted. ing hospital. “We looked at putting up the entire health-care team, including nurses, better barriers between beds,” Carew says. social workers, physicians and physiotherapists, For religious or cultural reasons, some patients Unfortunately, there was no easy fix. For now, to understand patients’ needs and assist with wouldn’t be able to accept a bed in a room privacy curtains are the best option. discharge.

“Our role is to demystify and explain the Second World services that are available, and to assist War veterans patients and families with the next phase after (left to right) Don acute care in the hospital,” adds Elizabeth Stewart, Mac Joyner and Daniel Dubin, another transitional coordinator at Neylan greet Sunnybrook. “We cannot assume everyone children during has equal access to information, such as the Sunnybrook’s Internet. There are a wide range of services recent available in the community and it is difficult Remembrance Day cenotaph to know where to turn.” service. Sunnybrook’s What steps can patients and families take Remembrance proactively at any stage of life? Both Panteleeva Day services and Dubin suggest naming a power of attorney featured many special guests, and talking about your wishes with your including the family and loved ones. For family members, Lieutenant accept that your loved ones may be in different Governor of stages of their lives and may require assistance Ontario, the with their recovery at home. Being prepared Honourable David C. Onley. for this time is enormously helpful. Marie Sanderson Your Health Matters is published monthly by the Communications & Stakeholder Relations Department and How to reach us: Sunnybrook Foundation. Submissions to Your Health Matters are welcome, however, they are subject to space availability and Your Health Matters editorial discretion. Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre is inventing the future of health care for the 1.2 million patients the hospital cares for 2075 Bayview Avenue, Suite D1 00 each year through the dedication of its more than 10,000 staff and volunteers. An internationally recognized leader in research Toronto, ON M4N 3M5 and education and a full affiliation with the University of Toronto distinguishes Sunnybrook as one of Canada’s premier P: 416.480.4040 academic health sciences centres. Sunnybrook specializes in caring for high-risk pregnancies, critically-ill newborns and adults, E: [email protected] offering specialized rehabilitation and treating and preventing cancer, cardiovascular disease, neurological and psychiatric disorders, orthopaedic and arthritic conditions and traumatic injuries. The Hospital also has a unique and national leading program for the care of Canada’s war veterans. For more information about how Sunnybrook is inventing the future of health care please visit us online at www.sunnybrook.ca

Edmond Odette Prize honours an innovation-filled career Harry Easton, a long-time innovator tems related to stereotactic radiosurgery, and supervisor at the Odette Cancer a cutting-edge and extremely precise Centre’s machine shop, has been radiation therapy. The device is so suc- named the inaugural recipient of a new cessful that it is being used by cancer Sunnybrook prize that recognizes and centres around the world. encourages technological advancement in cancer treatment. Easton says he is “very proud” to have been named the inaugural winner of the The Edmond Odette Prize for annual award, especially after 40 years Innovation and Technology in Cancer in the field. Care was established following Mr. Odette’s passing just over one year He will likely use the prize money to ad- ago, on Nov. 17. Friends of the Odette vance the machine shop’s 3-D printing family, and the broader community, abilities. “There are limitless capabilities honoured his legacy by contributing in this new technology,” Easton says, generously to the Edmond G. Odette noting that it can be used to make treat- Memorial Fund, which gave rise to the ment-related objects that are customized Odette Prize. to individual cancer patients.

Easton, who received the award during New signage – located in the Odette a Sept. 12 reception, is very deserving, Cancer Centre’s east entrance – hon- says Dr. Calvin Law, interim chief of the ouring the tremendous impact of Mr. Odette Cancer Program. Above: Dr. Calvin Law (right) presents the Odette Prize to Harry Odette and his family was also unveiled Easton. Below: The entire Odette family at the Sept. 12 prize reception. at the reception, which was attended by “Throughout his more than 20 years at the entire family. the Odette Cancer Centre, Harry has been tling cancer,” Dr. Law says. “He and his team known for his technological ingenuity,” Dr. have created a host of technological devices “The Odettes’ contributions are visible Law notes. that have advanced cancer care here and far throughout Sunnybrook, from our state-of- beyond our walls.” the-art Chemotherapy Unit and Gloria “Harry is a true innovator who works closely Odette Pharmacy to our leading-edge imag- with our wide-ranging experts to transform One of many examples is the Lucy Phantom, ing technology,” says Sunnybrook president concepts into tangible objects – technologies a quality assurance device that confirms the and CEO Dr. Barry McLellan. that improve care for thousands of people bat- accuracy of all imaging and treatment sys- Dan Birch

Television show Undercover Boss comes to Sunnybrook For one week in August, Malcolm Moffat – ing walls. He says meeting so many amazing and his true identity as Sunnybrook’s execu- Sunnybrook employees was more than worth tive vice-president – virtually disappeared. A the physical challenges that came with the team of makeup artists with the television intense week. show Undercover Boss Canada transformed his suit-and-tie persona into “Ray”, a training “Undercover Boss was a great opportunity to recruit with a deep spray tan, wig and goatee. meet some of the unsung heroes at the hospi- tal, and to experience first hand what they do Under this guise, Moffat worked side-by-side on a daily basis,” says Moffat. “I was truly im- with five different Sunnybrook employees to pressed with the commitment of everyone to get a real sense of their daily responsibilities, ensuring the best possible patient experience.” challenges and personal lives. They included Sunnybrook painter Daniel Hand shares some painter Daniel Hand, groundskeeper Rohan At the end of the week, all five employees tricks of the trade with Malcolm Moffat, a.k.a. Harrison, food services employee Krista learned of Moffat’s true identity during a “Ray”. Willchuk, Veterans art therapist Lorrie Clarke special reveal day. Each employee was then and environmental services employee Dana offered some meaningful personal and profes- Chatzitassis. sional rewards. the Courtyard Marriott Calgary Airport, the Glenbow Museum, the Fairmont Chateau As Ray, Moffat got his hands dirty doing Sunnybrook would like to thank a number Lake Louise and RBC Royal Bank. everything from scrubbing toilets to repaint- of generous donors for their gifts, including Monica Matys