The research center will focus on the prevention and treatment of infectious diseases for pregnant women and children born prematurely, particularly for vulnerable clients.
This is the first specialized center in this field and for this clientele in the country. The budget allocated for its creation is estimated at $30 million. To date, $5 million has been invested by Intact Financial Corporation, which allows the launch of the center’s activities, mainly the hiring of researchers and clinicians.
“It is largely research that will be used to change the delivery of services in hospital settings, but it is not a clinic,” said Charles Brindamour, CEO of Intact Financial Corporation. When we look at how the pandemic has had a really difficult impact on society, it’s clear to us that to help with resilience, infectious diseases is a place that deserves a lot more support, research and dissemination. ‘analysis.”
“It’s really joint where researchers from the University [de Montréal] work with hospital practitioners [Sainte-Justine] to develop a better understanding of the impact of infectious diseases on the population,” summarized Louis Gagnon, CEO of Intact in Canada.
He explained that the center is a specialized research infrastructure to better prepare the health system for future pandemics. “Especially for vulnerable places: municipalities and communities more vulnerable to these infections,” he added.
“Despite advances in medicine and public health, the challenges linked to infectious diseases are numerous and growing. […] The Center of Excellence in Infectious Diseases will make it possible to better support all populations, including the most vulnerable, and to optimize our approaches to research, prevention, diagnosis and treatment of infections, to transform the lives of generations,” declared in a press release from the President and CEO of CHU Sainte-Justine, Isabelle Demers.
Mr. Brindamour, also co-president of the CHU Sainte-Justine Foundation “Thinking Big” fundraising campaign, emphasized that the mother-child clientele has a different dynamic because the risk of transmission is much greater. “In this context, it deserves a different angle in terms of research. But it goes beyond mother-child, we want to support the center of excellence to properly integrate vulnerable populations, we can think of disadvantaged people, Indigenous people, [aux gens issus de] immigration. We want to ensure that the resources dedicated to research are directed more towards those who are most impacted,” he mentioned.
Mr. Gagnon, who is also co-president of the University of Montreal’s fundraising campaign “L’heure est brave”, indicated that the donation from Intact Financial Corporation, to which he and Mr. Brindamour contributed of $1 million as a personal donation, is the only contribution to the center of excellence at this time. “We are the ones who are starting the program and we hope to influence others to invest in this program,” he declared.
