In February 2012, the Boris family gave a $30-million gift to fast forward McMaster University's developments in health research and care.

"McMaster University has proven its ability to fast-forward discoveries from the lab bench to the patients' bedside," said Les Boris, son of the late Owen Boris. "It made perfect sense to make this investment in this world-class university."

The gift has two major parts, inspired by Owen Boris' desire to push stem cell science forward as well as his family's frustrating experiences in obtaining coordinated health care.

Of the total, $24 million was designated to establish the Boris Family Centre in Human Stem Cell Therapies, to speed the commercial development of discoveries in blood and neural stem cells.

An additional $6 million was allocated toward The Boris Clinic, which opened in June 2014. The Clinic allows patients with complex health problems to see several specialists and have related tests during one visit. Established in partnership with Hamilton Health Sciences, this patient-oriented clinic is located in the McMaster University Medical Centre in Hamilton and led by Dr. Akbar Panju, who also holds the Boris Family Chair in Education and Internal Medicine.

Owen and his wife Marta created the Hamilton cable company Mountain Cablevision Ltd. They developed the business over a period of 50 years, eventually involving their children Peter, Les and Jackie. The company was sold to Shaw Communications in 2009. Owen Boris passed away in April 2011.

In June, 2007 David Braley committed $50 million to the Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine. The funds are designated three ways: to establish Canada’s first human stem cell library; to fund the establishment of a downtown Hamilton family health centreand to set up an endowment fund which will allow research scientists to respond to new opportunities and discoveries by leveraging further investments from other groups.

In addition, David Braley and his wife Nancy Gordon have also provided the Faculty of Health Sciences with funds to establish three endowed research chairs in family medicine, urology and thrombosis.

They are both former McMaster students and have chosen to leave a legacy for others through their financial support. They see McMaster as a world-class institution with a proven track record for innovation in health care, and believe the initiatives they have funded are assurances that McMaster and Hamilton continues to play a leadership role in these areas.

"These commitments . . . are an investment in education and health care for the people of Hamilton, Ontario and Canada," said Mr. Braley.

A generous $1 million donation to McMaster University from Vasu Chanchlani, an entrepreneur, philanthropist and founding member of the Canada India Foundation, and his wife, Jaya, a family physician in Brampton for more than 20 years has established the Chanchlani Research Centre at McMaster University.

The centre is dedicated to understanding the genetic and environmental causes of common diseases among diverse cultural groups, women and the socially disadvantaged while providing innovative training to the next generation of health researchers. An additional $250,000 from the Chanchlani family funds an award for an international scholar in the field.

Michael G. DeGroote’s historic contribution of $105 million to the Faculty of Health Sciences is a reflection of his belief in and support of McMaster’s vision and commitment to quality education and outstanding research. The former Hamilton resident and business entrepreneur believes that health care is the most prominent concern for Canadians.

"I am investing in new discoveries in health care and in the delivery of health care. The dividends of that investment will not only impact our community, but others around the world," he said. "I am confident of McMaster’s ability to maximize the impact of this gift so that its net effect will have far-reaching benefits."

Earlier gifts to the University from Mr. DeGroote have benefited the business school, the McMaster Museum of Art, epilepsy research, literary criticism and the McMaster University Student Centre.

An extraordinary $15 million donation from the Farncombe family has allowed for the establishment of the Farncombe Family Digestive Health Research Institute. In addition, the Farncombe family's support for endowed chairs and infrastructure capital ensures the long-term success of the Institute and enhances its role as an innovative training environment.

The Farncombe family initially gave $3.5 million in 2004 to the intestinal diseases research program at McMaster, to establish a gnotobiotic or sterile laboratory unique in Canadian universities, as well as an endowed professorial chair, the Farncombe Family Chair in Inflammatory Bowel Disease. In the next four years the program received more than $21.5 million in research grants; investments in additional facilities including DNA sequencing equipment and the allocation of two senior scientist positions, as well as the arrival of international graduate students.

McMaster chancellor, businesswoman and McMaster graduate Suzanne Labarge gave $10 million to McMaster for a program sponsoring interdisciplinary research and a website portal on healthy aging that provides accessible information for the public as well as health care professionals, researchers and policy makers. The program is called the Labarge Optimal Aging Initiative.

"Aging is a huge issue for this society, and it needs to be addressed," said Suzanne Labarge. "I'm confident McMaster, with its multidisciplinary approach and focus on evidence-based medicine, is the best place to pull it all together and advance both the knowledge and the response to the needs of our aging population."

Suzanne Labarge received a BA in economics from McMaster in 1967 and a MBA from Harvard University in 1971. She worked for the Royal Bank for 14 years before spending a decade with the federal government in several senior positions, including deputy superintendent of financial institutions. She returned to executive positions in RBC, retiring as its vice-chairman and chief risk officer in 2004.

Her earlier gifts to McMaster included an endowment to establish the Raymond and Margaret Labarge Chair in Research and Knowledge Application for Optimal Aging, named in tribute to her parents who were involved in both quality education and aging issues.

AstraZeneca, one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world, has a long-standing relationship with McMaster University and has invested more than $3 million to advance research and knowledge in the areas of gastroenterology and respirology. The research-oriented company that employs more than 66,000 people worldwide including 1,000 in Canada, has a wide product portfolio spanning six major therapeutic areas.

Its contributions to McMaster have allowed the establishment of both the Richard Hunt-AstraZeneca Chair in Gastroenterology and the AstraZeneca Chair in Epidemiology of Respiratory Diseases.

Officials of AstraZeneca said the company is proud to work with the University, and are confident their joint research initiatives will benefit people throughout the world.

Mike Cloutier, former president and CEO of AstraZeneca Canada Inc., said the initiatives with McMaster are helping expand Canada’s capacity for pharmaceutical research.

"It is only through the creation of such alliances and government policies that encourage innovation that Canada will be able to ensure its position at the forefront of global health care research."

A leading research-based pharmaceutical and health care company, GlaxoSmithKline has demonstrated its commitment to improving the quality of human life through its substantial contributions to two endowed chairs at McMaster University.

The company contributed $500,000 in 1998 to help fund the GlaxoSmithKline Chair in Gastroenterology, and has provided an additional $1 million for the McMaster University/GlaxoSmithKline Chair in Lung Immunology, which will operate through the Firestone Institute for Respiratory Health at St. Joseph’s.

As one of the largest research and development organizations in Canada, GlaxoSmithKline invests in pioneering research, such as that carried out at McMaster, as a way to encourage scientists in their important discoveries. The company has about 3,300 employees in Canada and contributes more than $176 million annually to research and development in Canada.

The Chair in Gastroenterology has further strengthened the Faculty of Health Sciences’ research team that investigates gastrointestinal diseases, and the Chair in Respirology will improve the understanding and lead to new treatments for children with asthma.

Paul Lucas, president and CEO of GlaxoSmithKline Inc., said these investments are part of the firm's longstanding commitment to research.

The Hamilton Community Foundation (HCF) is part of a network of more than 191 Canadian community foundations who contribute time, leadership and financial support to initiatives that benefit their community most, based on an intimate understanding of local needs and opportunities.

With funding from the HCF, McMaster's School of Nursing's Health in the Hubs initiative is combining existing research evidence around the health issues with residents' views to come up with potential solutions.

The HCF also supports a pilot project by the Midwifery Education Program that brings midwifery services to Hamilton's McQuesten neighbourhood. The project evaluates the introduction of group prenatal care and involves both midwifery and nursing students in the provision of care.

The HCF has supported the Jack Laidlaw Chair in Patient Centred Health Care. They also support the Frank C. Miller Jr. Bursary, a fund that supports tuition costs for students in the Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine

The Hamilton Health Sciences Foundation, a charitable organization raising funds to support the health care programs and services of Hamilton Health Sciences, has partnered with McMaster University to create nine endowed chairs.

Hamilton Health Sciences is a family of seven unique hospitals, a cancer centre and an urgent care centre, serving more than 2.3 million residents of Hamilton and south central Ontario, Canada. Hamilton Health Sciences is the second largest hospital group in Ontario, and serves as a regional referral centre for cardiac, stroke, burns, trauma, neurosurgery, pediatrics, digestive diseases, high-risk obstetrics, cancer, orthopedics and rehabilitation services.

With a staff of approximately 11,000, the hospital is the largest employer in the Hamilton region. As an academic teaching hospital with more than 1,100 beds and an affiliation with McMaster University and Mohawk College, Hamilton Health Sciences is committed to providing exemplary health care while advancing excellence in education and health research. The organization's exceptional track record of inquiry and innovation has earned Hamilton Health Sciences recognition as one of the world's leading health science research organizations.

The Heart and Stroke Foundation is a major supporter of the Faculty of Health Sciences, contributing millions of dollars during the past decade to advance research and developments in the fight against heart disease and stroke.

The foundation has contributed $5 million to establish endowed chairs, including the Faculty of Health Sciences’ first-ever endowed chair: the Heart and Stroke Foundation Chair in Cardiovascular Disease, launched in 1997, proved to be the start of a successful initiative to make endowed chairs an integral part of the University’s research endeavours. There are now more than 50 endowed chairs in the Faculty of Health Sciences.

The foundation also provided the funds to launch an endowed chair in cardiovascular research, another in cardiovascular nursing, and a fourth in population health research.

In addition, the foundation contributes several millions of dollars a year to many research studies conducted by investigators at McMaster University.

The Heart and Stroke Foundation is a voluntary, non-profit organization with a mission to improve the health of Canadians by preventing and reducing disability and death from heart disease and stroke, through research, health promotion and advocacy.

The Jack & Ina Pollock Charitable Foundation, formed in 1996 by the Pollock family to recognize their parents, has been a long-time supporter of children’s health research at McMaster University, with particular interests in childhood disability and the creation of the CanChild program.

In 2000, the Foundation provided a $750,000 endowment to create the John and Margaret Lillie Chair in Childhood Disability Research.

The foundation is administered by Donald and Anne Pollock, and the chair is named in honour of the parents of Anne Pollock and Barbara Misener. John and Margaret Lillie were long-time residents of Port Colborne, Ont., where John was a pharmacist for more than 50 years. The chair recognizes the Lillie family commitment to children and to research into their well-being.

In announcing the chair, family members noted the international reputation of McMaster University and CanChild in research into childhood disability, and expressed confidence that the funds flowing from the endowment would enable its researchers to broaden the scope of their efforts.

The St. Joseph’s Healthcare Foundation, a registered charity that reaches out to the community and builds partnerships, has collaborated with McMaster University in many endeavours that will ultimately benefit heath care in Hamilton and beyond.

The foundation has worked closely with the Faculty of Health Sciences since 1998 in establishing several endowed chairs in various areas of health care. In addition to contributing directly to chairs in cardiology and psychiatry, the foundation holds donations of $1 million each from GlaxoSmithKline, Johnson & Johnson Medical Products, Mortgage Intelligence/GMAC Residential Funding of Canada, and Margaret and Charles Juravinski, that are used to fund endowed chairs in respirology, thoracic surgery and minimally invasive surgery, as well as a surgical professorship that includes a specialty focus in thoracic oncology surgery.

These partnerships are in keeping with the foundation’s purpose to raise funds that support St. Joseph’s Healthcare in its mission to provide innovative, compassionate care to all.