UHN Researcher and Clinician, Dr. Dafna Gladman has been named an Officer of the Order of Canada. This prestigious distinction—one of the country’s highest civilian honours—recognizes her foundational contributions to the field of psoriatic arthritis (PsA) and efforts to advance our understanding of this chronic disease. PsA is a chronic autoimmune disease that causes joint inflammation, pain, and stiffness, often alongside psoriasis.
Dr. Gladman is a Senior Scientist at UHN’s Schroeder Arthritis Institute. She also serves as Deputy Director of the Centre for Prognosis Studies in Rheumatic Diseases, Director of the Psoriatic Arthritis Program, and Co-Director of the Lupus Clinic at Toronto Western Hospital.
Her innovative research has transformed the care of autoimmune diseases like PsA and lupus, leading to breakthroughs in diagnosis and treatment worldwide. She developed a comprehensive patient database, driving discoveries in genetics and early detection, and has set global standards in patient care. A trailblazer and mentor, Dr. Gladman’s work continues to transform lives and inspire the next generation of researchers.
“Members of the Order of Canada are builders of hope for a better future,” said the Governor General in a news release. “Thank you for your leadership and visionary spirit, and welcome to the Order of Canada.”
The award will be presented during an upcoming ceremony; details will be announced later.
To see the full list of appointees, read the Governor General’s press release.
The Order of Canada, created in 1967, recognizes individuals who have made extraordinary contributions to Canadian society. More than 8,000 people from all sectors have received this prestigious honour.
Welcome to A Year in Research, a celebration of impactful health research at UHN. This festive social media campaign highlights our strides in innovation, collaboration, and patient-centred care—core to shaping the future of health care.
This year, UHN redefined patient-centred research through initiatives like Pride in Patient Engagement in Research (PiPER), ensuring that every discovery directly impacts real-world outcomes by integrating patient voices at every step. Breakthroughs in regenerative medicine brought stem cell therapies from the lab to the clinic, offering new hope for complex diseases, while cutting-edge innovations have transformed cancer treatment on a global scale.
UHN also emerged as a leader in artificial intelligence, with advances in AI-powered diagnostics and robotics revolutionizing personalized care and transforming how we approach prevention and treatment. Inclusion, diversity, equity, and accessibility (IDEA) principles have guided research to address health disparities, ensuring equitable care for all communities.
The future is also bright for the next generation of scientists. Programs like UHN STEM Pathways and the Office of Research Trainees are fostering emerging researchers, empowering them to tackle the challenges of tomorrow. Collaboration has been key, with UHN’s six research institutes and five hospitals working together to accelerate discovery.
Our scientific achievements would not have been possible without our academic partner, the University of Toronto, our foundations—The Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation, UHN Foundation, and the West Park Foundation—and support from all levels of government, the private sector and many nonprofits. We also share our success with our patient partners, who inspire us to make a difference.
Stay tuned as we celebrate this remarkable journey over 8 days, sharing stories of progress, partnerships, and promise. Together, we’re creating A Healthier World—one discovery at a time.
Explore the Stories Behind the Progress:
● Bringing Discoveries to Life: Learn how UHN translates research breakthroughs into life-changing health solutions.
● Better Together: Discover how UHN engages patients to strengthen research and improve outcomes.
● Bridging Gaps: See how UHN integrates health equity into research to serve diverse communities.
● Unlocking the Future with AI: Explore UHN’s innovations in AI and robotics that are reshaping health care.
● Inspiring the Next Generation: Find out how UHN supports emerging researchers to address tomorrow’s challenges.
Turquoise water, breezy warm air, and the soothing sound of sea waves as they wash over the sand before retreating into a colourful underwater world.
It’s no surprise that Dr. Federico Gaiti, who grew up in Reggio Emilia, Italy, a country surrounded by the beautiful Mediterranean Sea, developed a passion for scuba diving and marine biology.
“I became more and more interested in why we have such stunning diversity of colours and forms underwater,” says Federico, who completed his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees at the University of Bologna. Mediterranean bluefin tuna, sea anemones, jellyfish, and sponges—not only were they companions for his scuba diving adventures, but they also became central to his research.
His quest to trace the origins of multicellular life led him to the southern hemisphere, where Federico pursued a PhD in Evolutionary Biology and Genomics at the University of Queensland, Australia. The Great Barrier Reef, with its unparalleled diversity of life forms, provided a wonderful opportunity to peek into the ocean’s evolutionary secrets—and eventually led to his career in cancer.
“Life began as single-celled organisms and gradually evolved into complex, multicellular forms. Cancer, on the other hand, seems to reverse-engineer this evolutionary journey,” says Federico.
During his PhD, he studied marine sponges, one of Earth’s most ancient groups of multicellular animals, along with jellyfish, corals, anemones, etc. “In multicellular animals, cells cooperate and specialize in different functions to maintain a harmonious system,” he explains.
“But cancer cells lose this ability—they behave more like single-cell organisms. They prioritize their own survival, proliferate uncontrollably, and lose specialized functions, often reverting to a more primitive, undifferentiated state. Much like single cells adapting to new environments, cancer cells evolve rapidly to withstand external pressures, such as therapy.”
“It felt like a natural next step to blend my background in evolutionary biology with a drive to tackle problems that directly impact human health.” Federico shifted toward human-centred biomedical research during his postdoctoral studies at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York.
Now, instead of studying the separation of single-celled organisms and marine sponges, Federico focuses on mapping the evolutionary family trees of tumour cells to better inform cancer development and progression.
An edge he gained from his “past life” is a deep understanding of how genes are regulated within cells, namely the study of epigenetics. This includes regulatory elements like non-coding RNAs, DNA methylation, and chromatin marks. In his earlier work, he had previously used this knowledge to identify how the regulatory genome has evolved across different animal species. Today, he needs to determine how these same regulatory mechanisms change between different lineages of cancer cells.
With Dr. Dan Landau, a leading expert in cancer evolution, Federico unravelled that, in both leukemia and gliomas, epigenetic changes accumulate within cells, driving tumours to evolve. These changes contribute to the tumour’s diverse and uneven cellular makeup over time.
Gliomas are hard-to-treat tumours that affect the central nervous system including the brain and spinal cord. The team found in gliomas, there are distinct cellular states, driven by specific epigenetic changes that are important for the tumour to develop.
One such state involves malignant cells regressing into a more primitive state, resembling neural progenitor cells—a type of cells that are close to stem cells, undifferentiated, and can self-renew.
“When malignant cells revert to this more primitive, undifferentiated state and acquire stem cell-like features, they become the fuel for the tumour growth,” Federico adds, “We found that these epigenetically-encoded cell states are inheritable—one cell in this state can propagate its lineage and contribute to the cancer progression process.”
Differences in DNA methylation, a particular chemical modification of the cells’ DNA, give rise to these various cellular states, and affect which genes the cells can transcribe and express. To decode these complex layers of gene regulation, Federico used a method called multiomics single-cell profiling, which looks at each individual cell from patient glioma samples, and creates a profile of their DNA methylation, transcriptome, and genotyping information. He coupled this analysis with a method to trace and differentiate cancer cell lineages and eventually mapped the evolutionary family tree to understand how different glioma cells are related and change over time.
“Studying how tumour cells evolve from early onset to a more developed stage can give us insights on how to intervene early and how to prevent cancer progression,” Federico says.
Federico brought his interests and expertise to the Princess Margaret (PM) where he continues to explore how malignant glioma cells evolve while invading normal brain tissues. Collaborating with other scientists at PM, his team is broadening the use of this integrative method to investigate cell diversity and evolution in various other cancers, which will help develop targeted therapies for early detection and prevention.
The rising star in single-cell cancer biology moved to Canada and established his lab at PM in 2021, a move that brought both exciting opportunities and new challenges for Federico.
“Becoming an independent researcher and leading a lab introduced me to new experiences that I hadn’t encountered before,” says Federico, “I am fortunate to have great mentors at PM, such as Drs. Mark Minden and Vuk Stambolic, who continue to guide me through the highs and lows of this new role. Their senior mentorship serves as a strong example that helps me at times when I mentor my own trainees.”
Federico leans on his communication skills to lead a multidisciplinary research team. “Everyone is unique in their own way. They can have different backgrounds, skill sets and communication styles. Being approachable and listening attentively have helped me adapt my mentorship approach to fit each trainee’s unique needs.”
Meet PMResearch is a story series that features Princess Margaret researchers. It showcases the research of world-class scientists, as well as their passions and interests in career and life—from hobbies and avocations to career trajectories and life philosophies. The researchers that we select are relevant to advocacy/awareness initiatives or have recently received awards or published papers. We are also showcasing the diversity of our staff in keeping with UHN themes and priorities.
Virtual reality (VR) has transformed health research and care, offering innovative applications in rehabilitation, pain management, and surgical training. However, many users experience cybersickness—a form of motion sickness—that remains a significant barrier to its widespread adoption. A new study from the KITE Research Institute suggests that incorporating avatars in VR simulations may reduce cybersickness and improve user comfort.
Cybersickness can arise from sensory conflicts, such as seeing motion in a virtual environment while the body remains stationary. Enhancing the sense of presence, or the feeling of being immersed in the virtual environment, may help reduce this sensory conflict.
Researchers evaluated whether using an avatar, a virtual representation of the user, could enhance the sense of presence and alleviate cybersickness. Study participants underwent a 15-minute VR simulation either with or without an avatar.
The findings revealed that participants using an avatar reported a more immersive experience and significantly lower levels of cybersickness. By enhancing user comfort and immersion, avatars have the potential to broaden the use of VR across various health care applications, making this transformative technology more accessible.
Dr. Behrang Keshavarz is the senior author of the study and a Senior Scientist at the KITE Research Institute. Dr. Keshavarz is also an Adjunct Professor at the Toronto Metropolitan University.
This work was supported by UHN Foundation and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.
Makani A, Saryazdi R, Givetash S, Keshavarz B. The presence of an avatar can reduce cybersickness in Virtual Reality. Virtual Real. 2024 Oct 30. doi: 10.1007/s10055-024-01057-1
A study by The Institute for Education Research (TIER) at UHN and the Centre for Advancing Collaborative Healthcare & Education (CACHE) explores how health care leaders can balance short-term initiatives with the need for longer-term transformational change.
Primary care in Canada, the backbone of its universal health care system, is facing significant challenges. Notably, improving access to primary care remains a top and daunting, priority. Access can be even harder for equity-deserving groups, such as Indigenous peoples, recent immigrants, and low-income households.
The nationwide Team Primary Care (TPC) initiative, a funding proposal co-led by the College of Family Physicians of Canada and the Canadian Health Workforce Network, focused on addressing these challenges by promoting interprofessional team-based approaches to comprehensive primary care as a key solution. In team-based primary care, different types of health care workers (e.g., family physicians, nurse practitioners, and social workers) work collaboratively to provide the right care at the right time and place to those who need it. TPC was guided by core principles including social accountability, truth and reconciliation, psychological health and safety, equity, diversity, inclusion, accessibility, and interprofessionalism.
A key partner in the TPC initiative was the Centre for Advancing Collaborative Healthcare & Education (CACHE), a strategic collaboration between the University of Toronto and the Toronto Academic Health Sciences Network, with UHN as the lead hospital. CACHE works with local, national, and international partners to advance education, practice, research, systems, and policy to improve care. As part of TPC, CACHE provided professional development and coaching across the country in an effort to enable emerging and experienced teams to optimize their collaborative practices.
To pursue meaningful change, the team at TIER and CACHE used Principles-Focused Evaluation (PFE) to examine how the TPC principles were interpreted, applied, and adapted while delivering on CACHE’s commitments to TPC.
Findings from this evaluation indicated that leaders working on health care reform need to balance two competing goals: the need to meet immediate project deadlines while fostering meaningful, long-term change. These competing goals require a delicate balancing act between fast and optimal.
To mitigate this challenge, the study recommends an approach coined “organizational critically reflective practice.” This method encourages teams to continuously learn, balance key values, and adapt, continually re-grounding in guiding principles for the work.
This practice involves recognizing knowledge gaps and challenging harmful practices through the following steps:
● Understanding how principles are interpreted by all team members early on
● Reflecting on current practices and including perspectives that may be overlooked
● Determining shared goals and regularly reassessing the potential harms of haste during the process
“We hope that organizations undertaking major health care reforms will use these insights to prioritize early and ongoing critical reflection and learning, ultimately leading to more meaningful and lasting improvements in the health care system,” says Dr. Stella Ng, senior author, Director of CACHE and Scientist at TIER.
The first author of this study is Dr. Tavis Apramianis, a Clinician-Investigator in the Department of Family & Community Medicine (DFCM) at the University of Toronto and Scientist in the DFCM’s Office of Education Scholarship. Dr. Apramian is also a Wilson Centre scholar.
The authorship team consists of CACHE team members as well as contributors who joined specifically for the TPC initiative.
Senior author Dr. Stella Ng is also an Associate Professor at the University of Toronto.
This work was supported by Employment and Social Development Canada, the Foundation for Advancing Family Medicine, and UHN Foundation.
Apramian T, Karim A, Parker K, Sinclair L, Ladak Z, Ku C, Gregor S, Winnebota L, Ponte D, Ng S. How national healthcare change initiatives balance emergent and deliberate change: A principles-focused evaluation. Healthc Manage Forum. 2024 Sep 12:8404704241279501. doi: 10.1177/08404704241279501. Epub ahead of print.
Toronto General Hospital Research Institute (TGHRI) recently held its annual Research Day, highlighting some of the latest findings from its talented scientists and trainees.
The event, held to a full house at the MaRS Centre on October 30, featured talks from TGHRI Principal Investigators, trainees, and staff, divided across three sessions: Cardiovascular, Collaborative Centres, and New Investigator Highlights. Julie Quenneville, the CEO of UHN Foundation, also addressed the group, sharing how the UHNITED campaign is advancing research innovation through philanthropy and inviting everyone to participate in the We Walk UHNited event on May 31, 2024.
The day began with opening remarks from Institute Director Dr. Myron Cybulsky and a welcome message from Executive Vice President of Science and Research, Dr. Brad Wouters. Kyla Kumar, UHN’s Vice President of Communications & Brand Strategy, also surprised the attendees, announcing the winner of UHN’s Week of Gratitude contest for Taylor Swift concert tickets.
Keynote speaker Dr. Burkhard Ludewig, Head of the Medical Research Center at the Kantonsspital St. Gallen as well as Translational Cardioimmunology at the University Hospital Zurich, discussed his research on the mechanisms behind myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart that can reduce its ability to pump blood.
The day also included 11 Flash Presentations from top-ranked poster submitters, where the presenters had 90 seconds to give an “elevator pitch” of their research and to invite the attendees to visit their poster for further details.
In the poster session, trainees shared their projects and engaged in discussions on their research. Awards were given to six presenters and included the Murray Krahn Award for Excellence in Health Technology Assessment (HTA). In addition, six postdoctoral researchers were awarded.
The day brought together researchers, trainees, and leaders to celebrate innovation and collaboration. From thought-provoking talks to interactive poster sessions, the event highlighted the vibrant and supportive community at TGHRI.
Congratulations to all the winners and to everyone who presented their work.
TGHRI Research Day was made possible through support from UHN Foundation, Novo Nordisk, and Bristol Myers Squibb.
Earlier this fall, Pride in Patient Engagement in Research (PiPER) hosted its second PiPER Research Day to highlight its goals and achievements in improving health outcomes by engaging people with lived experience in research. The event welcomed over 203 registrants, including individuals with lived experience and representatives from various research fields, and was a resounding success.
PiPER is a transformative research initiative at the University Health Network (UHN) that was launched in 2022. Its mission is to actively engage persons with lived experience (i.e. patients), families, and caregivers as part of research teams, ensuring that their voices are integral to improving health outcomes and enhancing the quality and relevance of research outputs.
The Research Day was held on October 9 at the Guild Inn Estate in Scarborough, where attendees could enjoy outdoor spaces and light-filled meeting rooms, setting the stage for a day of collaboration, learning, and inspiration.
Dr. Brad Wouters, Executive Vice President of Science and Research at UHN, kicked off the event by highlighting PiPER’s history, role within Research at UHN, achievements to date and future role within UHN. Maureen Dunne, a neurodivergent business leader, delivered a keynote presentation titled, "Embracing the Neurodiversity Paradigm: Turning Differences into Strengths," that urged attendees to rethink neurodiversity and view these differences as strengths that drive innovation. Another keynote speaker, Stephanie Lurch, an educator and physiotherapist, followed with her compelling talk, "Manifesto of a Critical Consciousness." She called for a deeper understanding of anti-racism, equity, diversity, and inclusion, emphasizing the importance of transformative change across all systems.
The event featured workshops, story sharing sessions, oral presentations, and posters that brought together people with lived experience, researchers, trainees, and health care leaders. These sessions and presentations focused on integrating patient voices into research. Highlights included stories on real-world impact, posters, and an art exhibit that showcased innovative projects and enabled researchers and people with lived experience to connect and collaborate on future initiatives.
PiPER Research Day delivered a compelling and urgent message: creating a more inclusive and effective learning health system is not only necessary but possible, particularly through engaging people with lived experience in research. PiPER Research Day reinforced that institutions like UHN must lead the way by embedding the voices and perspectives of patients at the heart of our research.
Thank you to the Research Day Planning Committee, volunteers, speakers, and attendees who made PiPER Research Day possible. Beyond Research Day, PiPER continues collaborating with TeamUHN to develop new policies, processes, resources, and research methods that support the implementation of transformative research experiences, driving collective impact toward a healthier world.
For more information on PiPER, click here or email piper@uhn.ca. Follow PiPER on X and LinkedIn.
PiPER Research Day was made possible due to the support of our partners: The Ontario SPOR Support Unit (OSSU), UHN’s Research IDEA (Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, Accessibility, and Antiracism), PiPER, and the North American Conference on Integrated Care (NACIC), who supported the attendance of people with lived experiences. NACIC also supported two PiPER Research Day presenters (Adeife Akingbade and Vishma Sookdeo) to present at NACIC 2024 in Calgary.
Research conducted at UHN's research institutes spans the full spectrum of diseases and disciplines, including cancer, cardiovascular sciences, transplantation, neural and sensory sciences, musculoskeletal health, rehabilitation sciences, and community and population health.
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