BIG STEPS Campaign Investment - BIG STEPS in Research

The CHEO Research Institute is the daily setting for cutting edge work focused on curing pediatric diseases and improving health care outcomes. With the funding sought through the BIG STEPS Campaign, we will invest $15 million to attract more leading researchers to our team of world-class minds, and increase our efforts in four key areas of childhood and youth health research. For more information on the CHEO Research Institute

Read more about targeted areas for Research investment
Clinical Research
Pediatric Cancer Research
Childhood Obesity Research
Mental Health Research

Dr. Alex MacKenzie
CEO & Scientific Director, CHEO Research Institute
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Clinical Research

Clinical Research is the interface between science and patient care. Studies show that those hospitals which conduct the most clinical research give the best clinical care. Over the last decade alone, studies conducted by CHEO clinical researchers have improved the way children with common illnesses are treated the world over. With the comprehensive clinical research infrastructure supported by the BIG STEPS Campaign, CHEO researchers will trial promising new therapies for brain tumours, investigate lifethreatening childhood sleep disorders, prevent bone disease in children with chronic diseases, and trial new therapies for autism.

Pediatric Cancer Research

Cancer strikes 400 Ontario children each year, with a further 3,000 receiving active treatment for cancer. While pediatric cancer survival rates have thankfully improved, there are still too many children for whom cancer is a fatal diagnosis – and many of the treatments developed with adults in mind too often result in longer-term problems for children. Support from the BIG STEPS Campaign will help advance groundbreaking molecular genetics research currently underway at the Research Institute. This holds the promise of developing targeted pharmacological and viral approaches to pediatric cancer that could be both more effective and less toxic.

Dr. David Stojdl
Pediatric Cancer Specialist,
CHEO Research Institute
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Childhood Obesity Research

Childhood and adolescent obesity is a pressing and widespread health problem in Canada and around the globe, with serious implications for medical, social and psychological well being. Obese children today are too frequently the diabetics of tomorrow. Under the leadership of the country’s leading childhood obesity experts, and with the support of the BIG STEPS Campaign, the CHEO Research Institute’s Healthy Active Living and Obesity (HALO) team will expand its efforts to understand the interrelated factors that lead to childhood obesity and identify effective approaches for its prevention and treatment.

Mental Health Research

Mental illness poses a significant clinical and societal challenge for Canada’s young people, with an estimated 15 percent of all Canadian children and youth today living with such a diagnosis. Sadly, only one in six receives any significant assistance from mental health services. CHEO is already firmly established as a Centre for Excellence in Child and Youth mental health research and care. With added support from the BIG STEPS Campaign, CHEO will recruit a world leading mental researcher who shall lead and continue to expand the CHEO mental health team. This shall enable a focus on the translation of research results to the broader community, integrating new knowledge into clinical practice and mental health service delivery.