When Tanya Ennis was pregnant with triplets, she learned in her first trimester that one of them, now named Liam (top right), had a congenital heart condition.
Ennis was a volunteer in a clinical trial funded by the Women and Children's Health Research Institute at the U of A. The trial, part of a study at the Lois Hole Hospital for Women, was led by Lisa Hornberger, a professor of pediatric cardiology and director of fetal and neonatal cardiology at the Stollery Children's Hospital.
Because Ennis was part of the trial, Liam was born under the care of one of the world's top pediatric cardiologists. Liam had open-heart surgery a few months after his birth and now, at six years old, he's thriving.
This kind of partnership in research, care and treatment will continue for at least another 10 years, thanks to a $54.5-million donation to the institute.
The Royal Alexandra Hospital Foundation donated $14.5 million and the Stollery Children's Hospital Foundation gave $40 million, the largest gift to the U of A in its history. The money will support critical research and projects to improve the health of children and women of all ages and all stages of life.
"The health of these populations is traditionally underfunded and under-researched," says Sandra Davidge, director of the Women and Children's Health Research Institute. "Women are not just smaller men and children are not just tiny adults."
The gift will be used in three ways to propel women's and children's health research: one-third will fund grants; one-third will recruit expert faculty and clinicians; and one-third will subsidize an academic and clinical support team that enables research to get off the ground sooner.
The institute was founded in 2006 as the shared vision of the U of A and Alberta Health Services, and is made up of 420 leading researchers, clinician-scientists, academics and health-care professionals.
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