Focus on Impact:

We’re proud to share a collection of stories this year that share a common thread – remarkable people who are inspired to create change.

People like the Broderick family, who invest in advanced cardiac research to improve the quality of life for Albertans living with genetic heart conditions. The young woman featured above, Kadence Foley, is benefiting from this generous gift. 

Accelerated by Geoff and Anna Cumming, our international connections and partnerships are growing and have never been more important or more impactful. 

Collaboration is now underway between Canada and Australia. 

This partnership — with the Doherty Institute, a joint venture of the University of Melbourne and the Royal Melbourne Hospital, and home to the Cumming Global Centre for Pandemic Therapeutics — is advancing critical research in infectious diseases and microbial medicine. 

This year, you’ll also read about the Pathways to Medicine Scholarship program, which is powered by philanthropic and alumni support to provide opportunities for young Albertans from underrepresented communities to attend medical school. 

Established in January 2025, the registry has already recruited more than 500 people in southern Alberta. It will save lives because it allows clinicians to diagnose more patients with genetic cardiomyopathies sooner.

“Unfortunately, by the time you develop symptoms of heart failure, the disease is quite advanced and often irreversible. We can diagnose high-risk genetic syndromes and start lifesaving treatments that reduce the risk of heart failure and sudden death,” says Dr. Kiamanesh. 

Once a patient is diagnosed, the team will then offer genetic testing to first-degree relatives who might be at risk.

A special connection

Foley was diagnosed with cardiomyopathy and FA in May 2015 at the age of 11, shortly after her eight-year-old sister, Addison, was also diagnosed. Addison sadly passed away in July 2020 at the age of 13, due to heart complications associated with her condition.

“I miss just having that best friend beside you the whole time. We did everything together,” says Foley.

She is now in her second year studying social media and digital marketing at Mount Royal University, and volunteers at the BGC Airdrie Club. Foley, who also has diabetes and epilepsy, requires appointments at different sites around Calgary to treat her complex health needs. But coming to the Broderick Cardiac Neuromuscular Clinic is one she looks forward to. 

“Dr. Kiamanesh always makes me smile. He’s kind with his words. When I tell him what’s going on, he always makes sure to go beyond what I’m asking and reassuring me,” says Foley. She’s grateful to the Brodericks for their generosity and how their gift is helping her and others with similar conditions.

“When I heard about the family that donated to the cardiomyopathy program, it made me feel special because someone out there thought about people like me or other people with this kind of heart condition,” says Foley.

Calgary’s Hugh and Laureen Borgland generously gave $2- million to the Oncology Outcomes (02) initiative, which analyzes data to see what treatments or interventions might be the most effective for future cancer care. Housed at CSM’s Arnie Charbonneau Cancer Institute under the direction of oncologist-researcher Dr. Winson Cheung, MD, O2 has already made several data-research discoveries that are benefiting real patients.

The Borglands wanted to make a difference and lead by example. “I hope it attracts other people to donate,” says Hugh, BA’67. 

The couple also feels it’s important for their children and grandchildren to see them giving back to their community. 

One of O2’s recent studies applied advanced analytics and predictive algorithms to a large subset of data to see which breast cancer patients would benefit from chemotherapy.

The initiative is also making great strides in improving treatments for kidney cancer with a study on which sequence of immunotherapies would benefit the most kidney cancer patients. The findings have resulted in updates to treatment guidelines.

“This is a good example of how our work is benefiting patients locally and internationally,” says Dr. Cheung.

The 30-member O2 team has also undertaken lung cancer studies, including one that is helping to improve treatment delivery to make sure newly diagnosed patients get timely access to advanced life-changing treatment options.

They’re collaborating with B.C. and Ontario teams to expand their research into a variety of other tumour types.

With environmental factors — in addition to tobacco cigarette smoke — now known to be a major cause of lung cancer in Canada, a new UCalgary transdisciplinary research hub will pinpoint how these exposures happen and what we can do about it. 

The Environmental Cancer Research Hub at the Robson DNA Science Centre, within the Arnie Charbonneau Cancer Institute, brings together experts from multiple disciplines to study environmental sources of lung cancer such as wildfire smoke and radioactive radon, which is drawn up from the ground into homes. 

“The Hub features state-of-the-art technology such as a metal-free lab where scientists can measure the level of radioactive and heavy metals that have been absorbed into the body or that are present within pollutants captured from the air,” says research lead Dr. Aaron Goodarzi, BSc’99, PhD’05, a professor in the departments of Oncology, and Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, at the CSM and director of the Robson DNA Science Centre.

Generous giving by the Alberta Cancer Foundation, Diane Colton and the Robson family helped launch the Hub.

Results from a landmark cross-Canada study published last fall by Dr. Goodarzi and his team found a concerning rise in radon exposure in Canada. An estimated 10.3 million people live in homes containing amounts of radon that raise their lifetime risk for lung cancer to worrying levels.

“That was absolutely a game changer in terms of public awareness. In October and November, the publication of the report prompted a quarter of a million Canadians to Google the word ‘radon,’” says Dr. Goodarzi.

The Hub builds on the work of the Evict Radon National Study — which Dr. Goodarzi also leads — to study and raise awareness about the dangers of radon. This year, the Evict Radon National Study team launched a large project to investigate the accumulation of radioactive metal levels arising from radon exposure in people, using toenail clippings. 

The team continues to recruit up to 10,000 Canadians to test their homes for radon, which can be done by ordering a radon kit. If levels are high, the good news is that there are measures that can be taken to reduce it. 

Since exposure to high levels of an environmental toxicant typically happens one to two decades before the resulting lung cancer is diagnosed, knowing someone’s historic exposure to radon well in advance of any cancer diagnosis could save lives by enabling earlier screening.

After Dr. Mathieu Chin completed his Bachelor of Science in kinesiology, his dream came true when he matched to the Internal Medicine program. He is now an internal medicine resident at UCalgary.

“The Pathways to Medicine program had an immense impact on my post-secondary education, and this would not be possible without generous donors and the wonderful mentors involved in the program. I am truly humbled to have been a part of the program and for the opportunity to be a learner in medicine,” says Dr. Chin, BSc’20, MD’23.

“It has given me a unique opportunity to not only pursue my dreams of becoming a physician, but also the privilege of being a part of a community filled with mentors and role models like no other.”

The P2M program hosted a Celebration of Excellence in April 2025, honouring students from the graduating classes of 2019 to present, and welcoming 85 current students, graduates, family members, faculty members, staff and donors. Going forward, annual celebrations will be held.

The P2M program hosted a Celebration of Excellence in April 2025, honouring students from the graduating classes of 2019 to present, and welcoming 85 current students, graduates, family members, faculty members, staff and donors. Going forward, annual celebrations will be held.

“It was wonderful to celebrate the success of so many students and to see how the P2M program has changed lives,” says program director Dr. Ian Walker, MD’98.

The program is modelled after similar programs in the U.S. to provide opportunities to lower socio-economic or socially disadvantaged applicants who may not have the necessary financial resources or social network. Each year, the P2M program provides five UCalgary students scholarships of up to $20,000 each, at $5,000 per year for a maximum of four years. 

Donor giving provides extra supports for students and other enhancements to the program, which gets its core funding from UCalgary’s Cumming School of Medicine.

“These future physicians will have a direct impact on health care in the province and it’s all possible thanks to philanthropy,” says Dr. Walker.

He says additional donor funding will allow P2M to expand and provide opportunities for even more students.

“We have the capacity to expand the program up to probably 10 students a year if we had the financial support to do that,” says Dr. Walker.

UCalgary alumni Dr. John Shepherd, MSc’78, MD’81, and Verna Magee Shepherd, MSc‘79, have been supporting P2M since 2018.

“It’s great to see the success of the P2M program. We look forward to continuing to support this important initiative,” says John.

To be eligible, applicants must be enrolled in any UCalgary undergraduate program. Upon meeting all the criteria and successful completion of their degree, they will earn guaranteed admission to UCalgary’s MD program at the CSM. They will also be provided mentorship, support for their Medical College Admission Test (MCAT), opportunities to practise their interview for the CSM and access to relevant workshops and seminars. As well as becoming physicians, students who have completed the program have gone on to work in other fields like addictions counselling, social work, nursing and other social-services organizations.

Thanks to a research partnership — sparked by Geoff and Anna Cumming’s generosity — between the University of Calgary and the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity at the University of Melbourne, researchers at both institutions are now working shoulder-to-shoulder to advance innovative projects in infectious diseases research and microbial medicine.

More than $155,000 Cdn in collective grant funding was awarded in 2024 in two streams.

Projects focused on One Health (how human health is linked to animals and the environment) and antimicrobial resistance, diagnostics and clinical trials received three Melbourne-Calgary Collaborative Seed Grants. Two additional seed grants, jointly funded by the Cumming Global Centre for Pandemic Therapeutics and the CSM’s Snyder Institute for Chronic Diseases, were also awarded with a focus on technologies that will ease the burden of the next pandemic. Each project has co-principal investigators based at UCalgary and the Doherty Institute. 

“Throughout the application process, it was heartening to see our talented researchers working together across institutes to come up with new ideas that could lead to the next critical breakthrough in tackling infectious diseases globally,” says Dr. Todd Anderson, MD’85, dean of the CSM.

The partnership between institutions grew out of shared strength in researching infectious diseases, immunology and the microbiome, as well as a connection born from the generosity of philanthropist Geoff Cumming, BA’74, Hon. LLD’16. Cumming made a $100-million gift to UCalgary in June 2014, establishing the CSM, and, in August 2022, he and his wife, Anna made a $250-million gift to the University of Melbourne via the Doherty Institute establishing the Cumming Global Centre for Pandemic Therapeutics.

Dr. Kathy McCoy, PhD, a professor at the CSM and scientific director of the International Microbiome Centre (IMC), the largest academic germ-free facility in the world, was awarded two grants, one in each funding stream. She is currently in Melbourne working on the projects. Working with the Doherty Institute’s Dr. Maximilien Evard, PhD, one project explores whether mice colonized with a wild microbiome (naturally occurring in the environment) have a stronger immune response to viral infections. In the other project, Dr. McCoy is studying how microbiome therapeutics can be used to fight harmful antibiotic-resistant bacteria in the gut.

“While both of these two projects are fundamental research, our goal is to leverage the new information to better understand host-microbiome interactions and how the microbiome impacts human health and disease,” says Dr. McCoy. “Our ultimate goal is to generate precise microbial therapeutics to treat patients affected by many diseases, including inflammation, cancer, infections, autoimmunity and more.”

Dr. McCoy adds the work they are doing also extends to future pandemics, which is the core mission of the Cumming Global Centre.

During her exchange in Melbourne, Dr. McCoy is also sharing information about UCalgary and its microbiome research program, fostering new collaborations and identifying funding opportunities for joint ventures. She and her Melbourne counterparts have already received funding for a four-year grant from the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) of Australia for their work on testing live bacterial treatments. Work Dr. McCoy has enjoyed with the added benefit of missing a Canadian winter.

“It was certainly great to escape the Calgary winter. Melbourne is a vibrant city with lots to offer, so there is no way I have been able to experience everything! However, I am enjoying the sunshine, the coffee and the collegiality of Melburnians.”