History

The McLaughlin-Rotman Centre for Global Health was established in 2004 at the University Health Network and the University of Toronto. We have close ties with foundations, such as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and with institutions in the developing world, who share the goal of enabling better, healthier lives for the world's poor. We have a global network of partners, scientists, entrepreneurs, policymakers and government officials, non-governmental organizations and funding agencies, that can help bring the models we develop to scale. Our comparative advantage lies in our strong focus on engaging and supporting voices of the south to generate domestic solutions for domestic problems, and the bright young minds of our graduate students and postdoctoral fellows from the developing and developed worlds who have embraced our mission, making it their mission. Our pool of talent includes some 60 or more researchers at the McLaughlin-Rotman Centre for Global Health.

What we have accomplished so far:

The outcomes of our projects and other organizational activities are captured using a Balanced Scorecard approach that looks at the value that we create through four lenses: 1) our stakeholders, 2) internal processes, 3) learning and innovation, and 4) finances. Our significant achievements to-date includes:

  • Developing 16 models of global health innovation across our four pillars. Some of our more notable and/or impactful models that have emerged in the past two years include: Grand Challenges Canada/Grand Défis Canada, The Global Alliance for Chronic Diseases, and The Ethical, Social, Cultural and Commercial (ESC2) Advisory Service Model.
  • Completing a clinical trial for a novel antimalarial compound (rosiglitazone) and beginning another clinical trial later this year.
  • Cultivating a network of domestic and international funders and partnerships that will facilitate the uptake of our models. This network includes: Genome Canada through the Ontario Genomics Institute, Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Canada's International Development Research Centre, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and the Governments of Ghana, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda.
  • Performing extensive clinical, scientific, ethical and policy research in the following developing countries: Brazil, Cameroon, China, Cuba, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, India, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mexico, Mozambique, Nigeria, Peru, the Philippines, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, Thailand, Tunisia, and Uganda.
  • Publishing 97 articles in leading journals and the issuance of 2 patents.
  • Issuing Eight (8) press releases in the 2008-2010 time period with the top 3 achieving over 2 million readers / viewers and a feature article in The Economist with an ad value of ~$458,000 CAD.
  • Ensuring the timely submission and acceptance of milestone reports for all of our funding grants.
  • Training 18 postgraduate students and 7 postdoctoral fellows, with the completion of six 6 postgraduate degrees and fellowships, respectively.