Major donation of $4M from The Morris & Rosalind Goodman Family Foundation to the Montreal Heart Institute

March 22, 2019
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The Montreal Heart Institute Foundation is pleased to announce a $4 million financial contribution from The Morris & Rosalind Goodman Family Foundation. This generous donation will be dedicated to innovative research projects currently underway at the Montreal Heart Institute. The Montreal-based family foundation thus confirms its role as an invested partner in the cardiovascular health research projects orchestrated at the Institute, helping to save and improve the lives of tens of thousands of patients.

A donation with a major impact on cardiovascular health research

Five projects currently underway at the Institute will benefit from the Morris & Rosalind Goodman Family Foundation’s donation:

• CVDGen Program. Through the study of genetics, this program will make it possible to prioritize new targets for new drugs to solve cardiovascular diseases;

• Mini-organs in the laboratory. This project aims to reprogram and transform stem cells to create different types of human mini-organs to study important heart, immune and digestive diseases in the laboratory;

• Mega-data. This project will create integrated databases of clinical research and pharmacogenomics, making it possible to query mega-data, particularly through artificial intelligence, in order to advance clinical research and precision medicine practises;

• Evolve-HF Study. This clinical study aims to determine the value of percutaneous treatment (without surgery) of moderate mitral valve regurgitation for patients with heart failure;

• SELFIE-HF Program. This program proposes to involve the heart failure patient in his or her own treatment using continuous monitoring of pulmonary blood pressure by a sensor and a mobile smart system. The aim is to adjust the treatment of patients with heart failure before hospitalization is necessary.

Other research projects of the Institute that will be launched soon will also be supported by this donation.

“The research projects to which the Morris & Rosalind Goodman Family Foundation contributes will promote the Montreal Heart Institute and Montreal’s expertise. Our foundation is proud to be able to advance science and medicine, and to reaffirm the Institute’s leadership in research. We are extremely fortunate to have the Morris & Rosalind Goodman Family Foundation as a partner who believes in our innovative approach,” said Lino A. Saputo, Jr., Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Montreal Heart Institute Foundation.

“As part of its commitment to improving public health through research, The Morris and Rosalind Goodman Family Foundation is pleased to partner with the Montreal Heart Institute in working to find new approaches to curing and managing cardiovascular disease. The contribution of the Institute is significant in impacting a disease which is the number one cause of death globally.  We have chosen to support the Montreal Heart Institute Foundation due to its important role in providing resources which allow for the development of innovative outcomes in basic and applied research,” says Dr. David Goodman of the Morris & Rosalind Goodman Family Foundation.

“We are extremely fortunate to be able to count on the generosity of the Morris & Rosalind Goodman Family Foundation, which firmly believes in our research projects that advance cardiovascular medicine,” said Dr. Jean-Claude Tardif, Director of the Research Centre at the Montreal Heart Institute.

A research centre that stands out

The Montreal Heart Institute has the largest cardiology research centre in Canada. Affiliated with the Université de Montréal, it is one of the world leaders in this field, integrating clinical and fundamental research under one roof. More than 300 scientific articles are published there every year. Thanks to its outstanding leadership, the Research Centre is the cradle of the coordination of national and international research networks. More than 625 employees work there, including 80 researchers and more than 160 students in training in cutting-edge sectors.

The Montreal Heart Institute Research Centre is also home to more than ten Canada Research Chairs or endowed Chairs, working within state-of-the-art research infrastructures that meet the highest international standards. Its annual budget now exceeds $50 million, and it is illustrated by an average grant per researcher that is among the highest in Canada, comparable to the best centres in the world. The Centre also has an academic clinical research organization with outreach in more than 35 countries on four continents.

About The Morris & Rosalind Goodman Family Foundation

The mission of the Morris and Rosalind Goodman Foundation encompasses three areas: scientific research which improves public health, experiential and informal education and community capacity building. The Foundation strives to enrich civil society by encouraging best practices and innovation.

About the Montreal Heart Institute

Founded in 1954 by Dr. Paul David, the Montreal Heart Institute constantly aims for the highest standards of excellence in the cardiovascular field through its leadership in clinical and basic research, ultra-specialized care, professional training and prevention. The Montreal Heart Institute is one of the three best cardiology centres in the world. It has the first Prevention Branch in Canada, a cardiovascular genetics centre, and Canada’s first simulation-based education program focused on cardiology. The Institute is affiliated with the Université de Montréal and has more than 2,000 employees, including 225 CMDP doctors and more than 80 researchers. We practise more than 2,300 surgeries each year.

About the Montreal Heart Institute Foundation

Founded in 1977, the Montreal Heart Institute Foundation raises and administers funds to support the Institute’s priority and innovative projects and fight cardiovascular diseases, the world’s number one cause of mortality. Its philanthropic events and the contributions of its donors have enabled this leading cardiovascular health care organization to become the largest cardiac research centre in the country. Since its creation, the Foundation has raised nearly $260 million in donations. Its 27,350 donors helped make important discoveries and support specialists, professionals and researchers of the Institute to provide care at the cutting edge of technology to tens of thousands of patients in Quebec.

From left to right: Josée Noiseux, Dr. Jean-Claude Tardif, Mélanie La Couture, Susan Kudzman, Dr. David Goodman, Morris Goodman, Lillian Vineberg Goodman, Deborah Goodman Davis