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Fighting one of the leading causes of death in Canada

New partnership between McGill and the Heart and Stroke Foundation will strengthen key research programs and advance the understanding, prevention and treatment of cardiovascular disease

Almost 70,000 Canadians die each year from heart disease and stroke – that’s one person every seven minutes. And despite impressive gains in research and treatment, cardiovascular disease still accounts for almost 30 per cent of all deaths every year in Canada.

Published: 25 June 2013

In an effort to further reduce the devastating impact of cardiovascular disease, McGill University is proud to announce that it has been selected to join the Heart and Stroke Foundation Research Leadership Circle, an unprecedented $300-million, multi-year collaboration between the foundation and 19 of the country’s leading academic and hospital research institutions.

As part of this partnership, McGill researchers will be eligible to receive at least $5 million in funding over the next 10 years to support projects that will advance research and understanding of cardiovascular disease, offering Quebecers and Canadians hope for better preventive techniques and treatments.

“The Heart and Stroke Foundation has been an invaluable partner of McGill for many years, demonstrating time and again the critical part that foundations play in moving research forward through targeted philanthropy,” says McGill Principal and Vice-Chancellor Heather Munroe-Blum. “We are extremely grateful to the Foundation for its continued support, and we look forward to the advancements we will make together in the fight against heart disease and stroke.”

Dr. David Eidelman, Vice-Principal of Health Affairs and Dean of Medicine at McGill, echoed this sentiment. “We are honoured to join the Heart and Stroke Foundation in its efforts to dramatically reduce heart disease and stroke for communities across Quebec and Canada,” he explains. “This crucial funding will give impetus not only to the great research being conducted in medicine and the allied health disciplines at McGill, but also to the several collaborations underway with our sister faculties at McGill.”

McGill is internationally recognized as a leader in the field of heart disease and stroke, with prominent researchers spanning the Faculties of Medicine, Science, Engineering and Education, among others, as well as its network of teaching hospitals.

The Heart and Stroke Foundation has pledged to cut Canadians’ rate of death by heart disease and stroke by 25 percent by 2020 and is hopeful that this commitment, the largest in its 60-year history, will accelerate progress toward that goal.

“Simply put, there’s an urgent need to save more lives faster and that’s why the Foundation has brought together the Research Leadership Circle,” says David Sculthorpe, CEO of the Heart and Stroke Foundation. “This $300-million commitment will allow our partners an unprecedented ability to plan major research projects, foster greater collaboration and attract even more of the world’s best researchers within and outside of Canada to fight these insidious diseases.”

The Heart and Stroke Foundation, one of Canada’s largest charities and a trusted authority on cardiovascular health, has played a pivotal role in McGill’s research prowess in this area. Since 1994, over 75 McGill researchers have benefited from the support of nearly 185 grants and awards funded by the national Foundation and its provincial partners.

 

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