The Ontario Ministry of Health and Long Term Care announces $8M over four years in infrastructure funding for the ICHRU. The grant was used to recruit more scientists and establish core shared supports. At the end of the initial four-year term, the funding was extended annually until 2014.
Category: MAP history
First-ever endowed research chair in inner city health
In 1998, St. Michael’s received a donation to establish the Fondation Baxter & Alma Ricard Chair in Inner City Health, the first endowed chair of its kind. The inaugural holder of this Chair was Dr. Donald Wasylenki. Later chairholders included Dr. Pat O’Campo and current chairholder Dr. Ahmed Bayoumi.
Wellesley Hospital merger expands the Inner City Health Research Unit
The Health Services Restructuring Commission announced that Toronto’s 87-year-old Wellesley Hospital was to be closed, and the bulk of its programs were moved to St. Michael’s. The Wellesley had a strong tradition of caring for people experiencing disadvantage and stigma, including people with HIV infection and those experiencing poverty or homelessness. The merger brought several rising stars to ICHRU, including:
- Dr. Rick Glazier, a family doctor and scientist. Soon after joining ICHRU, Dr. Glazier launched the Toronto Community Health Profiles Partnership, now Ontario Community Health Profiles Partnership.
- Dr. Ahmed Bayoumi, an internal medicine physician with a research focus on HIV care and the care of people who use drugs. Dr. Bayoumi went on to lead and co-lead several pivotal MAP studies, including research that successfully made the case to expand supervised injection facilities in Canada.
MAP founded as the Inner City Health Research Unit (ICHRU) at St. Michael’s
Canada’s first Inner City Health Research Unit was founded at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto, under the leadership of St. Michael’s CEO Jeff Lozon, Executive Vice-President and Chief Nursing Officer Patricia Petryshen, and Psychiatrist-in-Chief Dr. Donald Wasylenki. The goals of the Unit were to support excellent care delivery at St. Michael’s Hospital for disadvantaged populations, and to research the linkages between poverty, social exclusion and poor health. Dr. Stephen Hwang, who joined St. Michael’s in 1996 as the hospital’s first inner city population health scientist, was an initial member of the ICHRU. Today, Dr. Hwang is the Director of MAP and leads a world-renowned MAP research program focused on homelessness, housing and health.