The Montreal Clinical Research Institute (IRCM) today inaugurates its Mila and Brian Mulroney philanthropic pulpit in diabetes. Objective: 10 million dollars to advance research on this disease, which affects more than 1.2 million Quebecers. To get there, the holder of the Chair, the Dr Rémi Rabasa-Lhoret, focuses on multidisciplinarity. Our columnist explains.
Posted at 6:00 a.m.
Like 3.7 million Canadians, the former Prime Minister of Canada Brian Mulroney suffered from diabetes. More specifically, type 2 diabetes. He had received his diagnosis at mid-sodium, following an allergy to morphine which had caused cysts on his pancreas, followed by hepatitis, explains her widow, Mila Mulroney.
“The past four years, Brian was quite sick,” said the one who shared the life of the former Prime Minister for more than 50 years. “We did not go out a lot, and we spent a lot of time talking about what we wanted to bequeath. »»
Photo Marco Campanozzi, the presses
Mila Mulroney
People think that diabetes is a very simple disease – and for Brian, it was -, but it can be much more complex, especially for less fortunate people, and it touched Brian a lot.
Mila Mulroney
In 2023, the couple therefore announced a donation of $ 1.5 million with three foundations (those of IRCM, CHUM and the Montreal Cardiology Institute). This sum today allows the IRCM to create a pulpit which will devote itself to research on type 1 diabetes (which affects around 300,000 people in the country and which often occurs in childhood), and diabetes secondary to cystic fibrosis, a cause to which Mme Mulroney has signed up for many years.
Diabetes is a fairly widespread chronic disease that affects people of all ages, and which we do not make much more so it is considered “banal”. As a result, the population may feel less a feeling of urgency when the time comes to make a donation, unlike infantile diseases and cancers.
However, Mila Mulroney, who was national president of the Canadian Kystic Fibrosis Foundation from 1984 to 1993, knows how much research can make a difference. “When I started getting involved, patients were suffering a lot,” she said, “but now they have a much better life expectancy. If our donation can encourage other people to help us build a path to end with this disease, so much the better. »»
A slightly different pulpit
The Dr Rémi Rabasa-Lhoret describes himself as a passionate about complex diabetes. Director of the research unit in metabolic diseases as well as the IRCM diabetes clinic, he was the attending physician for Brian Mulroney for 20 years. “The rare and less known diabetes, the more it interests me,” he says, smiling.
This doctor-researcher is delighted with the creation of this new pulpit, which arrives at a pivotal moment for research on diabetes. “Over the next 10 years, there could be advances, and Montreal is very well positioned,” he believes.
Where this pulpit is distinguished from others of the genre is that the Dr Rabasa-Lhoret was inspired by human sciences to imagine its structure, more precisely from the Raoul-Dandurand chair in strategic and diplomatic studies (!).
Photo Marco Campanozzi, the presses
The Dr Remi Rabasa-Loret
In research, we tend to work in small closed groups. I wondered how I could put people together so that they work to improve care and promote discoveries. Raoul-Dandurand’s approach inspires me.
The Dr Remi Rabasa-Loret
He therefore formed a nucleus of six people specialized in different fields, which come from IRCM, but also from the CHUM, the McGill University and the Hospital of the Sacred Heart. Currently, the pulpit has already raised a sum of $ 2 million, of which 1 million comes from Léon Gosselin, a private donor who wanted to support the effort of the Mulroney.
The Dr Rabasa-Lhoret does not hide it, he has a lot of ambition for this pulpit. “We have observed a bubbling for 10 years in research,” he continues. We have the forces and the ability to make a difference, ”he adds, citing the inspiring example of the Trikafta, a new treatment for people with cystic fibrosis, of which three-quarters will develop diabetes.
“It is the equivalent of insulin for diabetes 30 years ago,” launches the doctor-researcher. As soon as the drug is administered, patients breathe better. After four months, oxygen are removed. After six months, they are removed from the list of transplants, and after a year, they are told that they can return to work, because they are no longer disabled … “
The Chair aims to prevent illness, to support those affected by it and, in the best of worlds, to cure it.
“There is this dream, a little naive, to manage to change things, to make them evolve, launches the Dr Rabasa-Lhoret. The pulpit is a very important lever to get there. »»What do you think? Take part in the dialogue
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