How UHN is bringing Canada to the forefront of medical innovation – Macleans.ca

From next-generation medicines to advances in artificial intelligence and robotics, we are in a golden age of harnessing innovation to help people live healthier lives. In downtown Toronto, University Health Network (UHN) is leading the charge to provide better care, not only to Canadians but to patients around the world.

“At University Health Network, we constantly challenge old ideas to change the status quo in healthcare and provide a better experience for both patients and providers,” says Dr. Kevin Smith, president and CEO of UHN.

But breaking new ground requires the participation of more than just the community of more than 5,000 UHN researchers. As the world’s number one publicly funded hospital, UHN needs the help of Canadians to fulfill its mission to revolutionize healthcare.

“The reality for all hospitals in Canada is that the only way to truly push the boundaries of medicine is through community support,” says Julie Quenneville, CEO of the UHN Foundation. “Donors drive research and innovation at UHN, and thanks to your support, we are able to make the latest treatments available to members of our community, regardless of their financial ability.”

It is a huge collective effort and is giving way to many new things. UHN is one of the first hospitals in the world to use remote deep brain stimulation to treat Parkinson’s disease, restoring function to patients with hand tremors so severe that they make everyday tasks impossible. UHN has developed a remote cardiac monitoring platform that uses patient data to prevent heart attacks before they occur. UHN is also leading the way in robotic surgery and uses advances in communications and virtual technology to pioneer telesimulation for surgeries, allowing surgical teams around the world to learn new techniques and improve patient recovery times.

“Our work makes it possible to achieve the previously unthinkable,” says Dr. Smith. “UHN scientists are responsible for the advancement of ex vivo lung perfusion, a model now being implemented around the world to keep donor lungs alive outside the body while a surgical team prepares them for transplant. That spirit of innovation also extends to our social medicine and population health initiatives focused on the social determinants of health, including food security and housing, where we are redefining the role of a hospital. We are also immensely proud of our pioneering work with integrated care, a model that seeks to provide a seamless care experience and help patients transition more quickly to their homes and communities with one care team, a shared digital record, a telephone number available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. call and an integrated interprofessional team.”

The list goes on and on. And these advances are improving care not only for those who live in Toronto but also for patients across the country.

“The experience we have at UHN sites (Toronto General, Toronto Western, Princess Margaret Cancer Center and Toronto Rehab) makes us a reference center for the entire country, helping patients whose health situations may be too complex for other hospitals,” says Quenneville.

It’s not just the funding that makes all of this possible, he adds, but the donation model itself. “Most traditional funding agencies typically fund ideas once they have been proven to work; They tend to be more risk averse. “It is our donors who have made all of these great strides and advancements possible.”

To learn more about how you can help UHN transform healthcare for Canadians from coast to coast, visit UHNITED.ca.