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BMO Establishes $2 Million Chair at SickKids to Further Congenital Heart Disease Research

March 17, 2007

For the first time in the history of the Division of Cardiology at The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids), the head of cardiology will be recognized with the prestigious honour of Chair holder.

SickKids Foundation and the University of Toronto announced today a $2 million dollar donation from BMO Financial Group, which establishes the BMO Financial Group Chair in Cardiology. World-renowned SickKids clinician and researcher, and University of Toronto Professor in Paediatrics, Dr. Andrew Redington has been named the inaugural Chair holder. This announcement coincides with the one-year anniversary of the establishment of The Labatt Family Heart Centre under Dr. Redington’s guidance.

The $2 million gift from BMO Financial Group will allow Dr. Redington to continue to pursue research and contribute to the understanding of congenital heart disease and heart function. Dr. Redington’s group is currently studying a novel technique developed at SickKids, that has already been shown to protect the heart and other organs from damage due to restricted blood flow during heart surgery.

“Through BMO’s generosity and Dr. Redington’s vision, today’s announcement effectively solidifies SickKids as a world leader in children’s cardiac medicine,” said Mary Jo Haddad, President & CEO, SickKids. “An endowed Chair for our Head of Cardiology is a powerful tool in both retaining people like Dr. Redington while recruiting others with similar credentials in the years to come.”

“When BMO gives back to the communities where we live and work, we do so in ways that we hope will transform the world around us,” said Rose Patten, Senior Executive Vice-President, Head of Human Resources and Senior Leadership Advisor, BMO Financial Group. “Dr. Redington’s research is making a profound difference in a critical area, and we believe BMO’s contribution to SickKids will help attract and retain more leaders in health care.”

Under The Labatt Family Heart Centre headed by Dr. Redington, SickKids currently performs 80 per cent of all children’s heart transplants in Canada and cares for 80 per cent of all the children in Ontario with congenital heart defects. More than 60 per cent of children requiring heart surgery are under one year of age, and almost a quarter of children requiring surgery are in their first month of life.

“Being appointed a Chair holder is a level of achievement few in the health care field will attain,” added Haddad. “This level of cardiac care requires individuals who possess outstanding clinical skills, and who are willing to further stretch the boundaries of research to transform health care in order to provide our patients with the best possible outcomes.”

“Today’s announcement underscores our continuing development as a modernized academic cardiac program completely focused on the patient,” said Dr. Redington. “It is extremely galvanizing to be part of the transformation. Over the past five years we have cared for more children, appointed more staff, obtained more grant support and published more papers than ever before.”

The Labatt Family Heart Centre which launched February 2007 is one of Dr. Redington’s proudest accomplishments at SickKids.

“Launching the Heart Centre last year has allowed us to bring all divisions of cardiac care under one umbrella and establish a state-of-the-art facility to care for children with congenital heart disease,” Redington added. “We now have one cohesive centre that has managed to break down silos and cultivate a collaborative environment that the whole hospital can be proud of.”

Dr. Redington moved to Toronto from England in August 2001, to take on the role of Head of the Division of Cardiology at SickKids. Since taking the helm, and in collaboration with the Head of Cardiac Surgery, Dr. Glen Van Arsdell, SickKids has seen significant improvements in patient satisfaction, care and outcomes within the Division of Cardiology. Also notable were the establishment of Canada’s first Division of Cardiac Critical Care Medicine in 2006, and the official opening of the Mitchell Goldhar Cardiac Diagnostic & Interventional Unit in April 2007, the largest paediatric interventional catheterization program in Canada and leader in Ontario for innovative procedures to treat complex cardiac conditions in children.

The BMO Financial Group Chair in Cardiology is supported with endowed funds invested to ensure a steady stream of revenue to support the Division of Cardiology for years to come. This gift will provide vital resources to ensure that advances continue to be made in the research and treatment of congenital heart disease, the most common birth defect and leading cause of birth defect-related deaths worldwide.