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Discovery should be ‘everyone, everywhere,’ says Lawson Research Institute Scientific Director Lisa Porter.

Lisa Porter believes excellence in health research is a continuum of inquiry, inspiration, innovation and improved patient care.

That’s why she is so energized by the promise and potential of Lawson Research Institute (Lawson) at St. Joseph’s Health Care London (St. Joseph’s), where she is Scientific Director and Vice President Research.

“Discovery comes from exploring great questions. You can’t have a ‘eureka’ moment without asking why things work, or don’t work – and that’s what we do so well here at St. Joseph’s,” says Porter.

A distinguished scientist herself with a passion for asking those probing questions, Porter leads strategic planning for research across the organization. Her vision includes growing the rich culture of research in several specialty pillars, while also reinforcing direct links between scientific inquiry and patient health.

“There’s data to show that patients who are treated in research-intensive hospitals live longer. That’s not just patients in clinical trials who benefit; that’s all patients who live longer,” she notes.

Other elements of her vision for Lawson include elevating data sharing and research support, expanding training opportunities for young researchers, growing grant support, strengthening collaboration and partnerships, and building relationships and reputation. 
“I love that excellence is one of the values of St. Joseph’s. Excellence doesn’t mean we have all the answers. It means we’re continuously striving to be better. It means we’re asking questions that can drive better health care – not just for the patients we serve, but for national and global impact, too.”

Porter comes from a family of knowledge-seekers and problem-solvers. Her father repaired electronics and was an avid inventor. Her mother was a self-taught income –tax preparer with meticulous attention to detail. They ignited in her a curiosity that continued through her undergraduate studies in biology and pharmacology, her graduate and postdoctoral work, and her research as a cancer scientist at University of Windsor and founding director of its WE-SPARK Health Research Institute.

Now at Lawson, she wants to encourage, inspire and spotlight the innovative work of researchers, scientists, clinicians and students who are passionate about improving health.

“I want research to be everyone, everywhere,” she says. “We need hospitals, industry, people with lived experience, and policy makers coming into the fray. It can’t be just the researcher, the scientist. It’s about having champions embedded in all walks of life, from first line of care to people who can influence systemic change. It’s a messy piece, but it’s also how we fulfil this bigger mission to help everyone who comes to us for health care.” 

Lawson Research Institute scientists and partners will focus on molecular imaging and theranostics to potentially transform the detection and treatment of neurodegeneration and cancer.

The quest to advance detection and treatment of Alzheimer’s disease and to personalize cancer care has received a major boost, with $7.2 million in funding to Lawson Research Institute (Lawson) of St. Joseph’s Health Care London (St. Joseph’s) for first-of-its kind research.

Lawson scientists will partner with a broad team of researchers at London Health Sciences Centre Research Institute (LHSCRI), McMaster University, University Health Network and BC Cancer on the ground-breaking studies focused on molecular imaging and theranostics as a potential game-changer in detecting and treating neurodegeneration and cancer, particularly prostate, brain and breast cancer.

Principal investigator Ting-Yim Lee, PhD, Lawson’s Director of PET/CT Research, and his team of investigators were awarded $2 million through the Ontario Research Fund – Research Excellence for the study titled “Improving Cancer and Alzheimer’s Disease Diagnosis and Treatment Through Cutting-edge Molecular Imaging and Theranostics”. Co-Principal Investigator is radiation oncologist Dr. Glenn Bauman at LHSCRI.  

Additional funding from private-sector partners and Lawson, as well as from donors through St. Joseph’s Health Care Foundation, brings the total research investment to $7.2 million.  

The research has the potential to offer hope for solutions to some of the most prevalent and pernicious diseases affecting Canadians, explains Lee.  

“Both research projects are the first of their kind in Canada aimed at advancing how we diagnose and treat Alzheimer’s disease and cancer,” he says. “This collaborative funding initiative will also drive innovation in the exciting field of molecular imaging and theranostics at St. Joseph’s, at the heart of which is St. Joseph’s new, high-sensitivity GE HealthCare Omni Legend 2 PET/CT – the first in Canada.”

The studies encompass the following:  

• Alzheimer’s disease: The new PET/CT at St. Joseph’s allows researchers to simultaneously study both blood flow and glucose metabolism in the brain. Both these mechanisms are believed to be contributing factors in the onset of Alzheimer’s. By measuring both at the same time, the research team hopes to uncover early signs that the brain is in trouble and at risk of plaque deposits and toxic proteins that have been linked to the development of Alzheimer’s.
• Cancer: The cancer study will focus on developing theranostic techniques to achieve personalized dosimetry – a method used to determine the exact amount of radiation a patient should receive during treatment, based on their individual characteristics. This maximizes effective treatment while minimizing harm to healthy tissues.

Molecular imaging and theranostics is a rapidly emerging field of medicine that combines ultra-precise scans and theranostics (a term that melds the words therapeutics and diagnostics). Together, they offer a one-two punch by integrating imaging and radiotracers that can identify the location and extent of diseased tissues and selectively destroy the abnormal cells while leaving surrounding healthy cells undamaged. In collaboration with GE HealthCare, St. Joseph’s is developing Canada’s first GE HealthCare Centre of Excellence in Molecular Imaging and Theranostics.

“By bridging the gap between research and clinical practice, we hope to ease the burden on patients and their families, offering more effective and compassionate care” 
-Ting-Yim Lee, PhD, Director of PET/CT Research at Lawson Research Institute.

“We are already seeing the impact of novel theranostics  for treatment of men with advanced prostate cancer,” says Bauman. “Promising new theranostic approaches are emerging for many cancers and this investment further positions London to be a leader in this area of research.”

In the initial phase of the studies, 100 patients will be recruited from St. Joseph’s Aging Brain and Memory Clinic at Parkwood Institute for the Alzheimer’s study; while 90 patients will be recruited from London Health Sciences Centre’s Verspeeten Family Cancer Centre for cancer studies. There are plans to recruit patients from the collaborating centres once results from the initial phase are confirmed.

“By bridging the gap between research and clinical practice, we hope to ease the burden on patients and their families, offering more effective and compassionate care,” says Lee. “We are deeply grateful for the opportunity to turn our research into real-world solutions that can make a meaningful impact.”

With dozens of 'firsts' in imaging research, “Lawson is a powerhouse of innovation,” adds Michael Kovacs, PhD, Program Lead, Lawson’s Imaging Research Program, and Lead, Cyclotron & PET Radiochemistry Facility. “We're excited to explore how this work could transform care."

Dr. Khaldon Abbas is using his curiosity and passion for ophthalmology to improve patient care and outcomes for people with eye diseases and disorders.

While in university, Dr. Khaldon Abbas had a deeply moving experience as a volunteer with the Canadian Centre for Victims of Torture (CCVT) that changed the trajectory of his life and career.

The community-based organization helps victims of war and torture, and Abbas, whose family immigrated to Canada from Iraq a little more than a decade before, wanted to share his skills as a translator and tutor with newcomers.

“I came to Canada when I was 12. I had limited English, we had no family or friends here, and it was really hard to acclimate,” says Abbas. “I wanted to give back to the community and to be there for immigrant families who were facing similar challenges that my family had to deal with.”

During one shift with CCVT, Abbas was paired with a family from Syria, whose nine-year old daughter was losing her eyesight. She was living with retinal dystrophy, a degenerative disorder that can progress to complete blindness.

Witnessing the impact the eye disorder had on the young girl and her family inspired Abbas to further his own education and set a goal to become an ophthalmologist.

That was eight years ago. Since then, Abbas spent several years working as a clinical research coordinator and completed four years of medical school at the University of British Columbia.

Today, he is a clinical research fellow at the Ivey Eye Institute of St. Joseph’s Health Care London (St. Joseph’s) – a position supported through St. Joseph’s Health Care Foundation thanks to the generosity of donors.

During the next year, Abbas’ research will focus on improving patient care and outcomes for people with eye diseases and disorders.

Drs. Phil Hooper, Verena Juncal and Tom Sheidow, all retinal surgeons at Ivey Eye, are the impetus behind the fellowship and now serve as Abbas’ mentors. Through the fellowship, the trio wanted to expand their clinical research program which is heavily focused on clinical trials. Their goal was to delve into quality improvement projects and explore, among other things, patient data, referral patterns and wait times – information that could guide Ivey Eye in refining care to better understand how to improve the overall flow of patient care.

As surgeons at the largest single-site eye care centre in Canada committed to innovative care, the Ivey Eye physician leaders felt a responsibility to make this work a reality.

“We started talking about this about three years ago,” says Sheidow. “We were familiar with similar roles at other academic eye care centres and we were fortunate to have some funding, so we brought the idea to the foundation and started to craft the terms of reference,” he adds.

Abbas is the second physician in this fellowship, following in the footsteps of Dr. Amy Basilious, who is now in her second year of residency at Ivey Eye.

“Amy did an exceptional job as our inaugural fellow and we were looking for someone with similar characteristics – bright, curious, motivated, a self-starter and a passion for ophthalmology,” says Sheidow. “Khaldon has all of that and more,” he adds, referring to Abbas’ interest and background in clinical trial work.  

Even before arriving in London for the fellowship, Abbas began working with his new team to generate research project ideas and shape a research plan. Among the projects he will tackle is one that will assess the effectiveness and complications of lens exchange surgeries, and another in collaboration with Basilious focused on macular hole repairs.

He will also spearhead two quality improvement studies aimed at streamlining the referral process to Ivey Eye for optometrists and enhancing education and information resources for patients with eye diseases and disorders. Through his work, Abbas is excited to build his research skills, forge new professional connections and see some of his research translated into tangible improvements in patient care.

He’s grateful to Hooper, Juncal and Sheidow, along with St. Joseph’s and the Foundation, for their vision and spirit of innovation in establishing the fellowship.

“Everyone has been extremely welcoming and supportive of me, especially my mentors and fellow co-workers” he says. “There’s a real family environment at St. Joseph’s. I feel like this is my new home away from home.”

St. Joseph’s Health Care London is taking giant strides in the science of rehabilitation and movement, with direct benefit to patients.

St. Joseph’s is setting a long-time vision into motion.

“Five years ago, we had a vision of leveraging our long history and expertise in providing innovative rehabilitation treatments to improve the lives of people with mobility needs on a larger scale,” says Roy Butler, President and CEO of St. Joseph’s Health Care London (St. Joseph’s). “That dream has come to life.”

While experts at St. Joseph’s had the knowledge, innovative spirit and passion to achieve the vision, they needed a partner who shared the same enthusiasm.  

William and Lynn Gray answered that call. With their generosity and ground-breaking investment, The Gray Centre for Mobility and Activity was created.  

“Lynne and I are very pleased with the steady forward advancement of the centre’s mission since its establishment just a few short years ago,” says Bill Gray. “The innovative thinking and idea generation that seeks new solutions to the issue of mobility have really taken root. We hoped that The Gray Centre would have an impact on care ... and it has.”

“We’ve watched the development of The Gray Centre with enormous pride and are pleased to have our name associated with it, and the excellence it stands for,” adds Lynne Gray.

A unique concept

Established in 2020, The Gray Centre at St. Joseph’s Parkwood Institute is a regional hub focused on researching leading-edge treatments and interventions in mobility and activity. The centre’s unique model of linking research and care allows researchers to work side-by-side with clinicians, patients, and caregivers to uncover optimal methods for maintaining mobility throughout a person’s life.

“Scientists at The Gray Centre are leading the way in integrating technology and solutions in care to better understand how we can enhance each patient’s treatment plan to improve their functionality and ability to move,” says Butler.  

Pioneering Research

More than 50 ongoing rehabilitation research projects at Parkwood Institute are exploring areas such as spinal cord and traumatic brain injury rehabilitation, pain, outcomes for amputees, virtual exercise and cognitive behavioral therapy, gait analysis as a measure of dementia progression, and stroke rehabilitation and recovery.

The Gray Centre is a catalyst and connector for these projects by investing in cutting-edge technology, providing seed grants, embedding researchers from Western University, leveraging clinical expertise, attracting world-class researchers and translating new knowledge into clinical practice by training students and clinicians, and fostering sustainable practice change.

More than $1.3 million granted through St. Joseph’s Health Care Foundation has advanced work at The Gray Centre over the past year. From researcher support to new equipment such as two transcranial magnetic stimulators, a portable handheld ultrasound and several sensored mats for gait assessment donors have stepped up to advance this work.  

Leadership with Purpose

At the helm of The Gray Centre is Siobhan Schabrun, PhD, a world-renowned neuroscientist and the inaugural William and Lynne Gray Research Chair in Mobility and Activity. Thanks to a partnership with Western University’s Faculty of Health Sciences and Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry, donor funding for the chair made through St. Joseph’s Health Care Foundation was matched, creating a $5-million endowed position.  

Schabrun’s innovative research benefits people suffering from chronic pain. With a focus on non-invasive brain stimulation techniques to enhance neuroplasticity and improve mobility and activity outcomes, she and her team are, in essence, retraining the brain’s pain response. This innovative work bridges the gap between neuroscience and rehabilitation, offering new hope for individuals with musculoskeletal and neurological conditions.  

Originally trained as a physiotherapist with a PhD in neuroscience from the University of Adelaide in Australia, Schabrun has attracted more than $15 million in competitive research funding and written or contributed to more than 140 scholarly publications.  

FLOATing Forwards

The newest advancement is a first-in-Canada and a marvel of medical engineering that is transforming options in rehabilitation research and practice. 

The Reha-Stim Medtec FLOAT system at St. Joseph’s Parkwood Institute enables patients with mobility limitations to walk, supported, without fear of falling. They "float" in a controlled environment using a combination of robotics, body-weight support and real-time feedback. The device has a harness attached to a robotic arm, which adjusts the level of support based on the patient's movements. Sensors provide continuous feedback for maximum learning and greatest benefit to physical therapists and patients alike. The FLOAT system has shown significant improvements in patients' mobility, balance and overall functional independence.

“Innovative equipment like the new FLOAT System is an example of the type of innovation that does not exist anywhere else in Canada,” says Bill Gray. “The real-life application of technologies like this are what The Gray Centre is intended to be about.”  

Through the combined efforts of dedicated professionals, cutting-edge technology and philanthropist partners, St. Joseph’s Gray Centre has combined vision with passion and is transforming lives, one step at a time.

By merging world class care with research and artificial intelligence, St. Joseph’s Health Care London is catching falls before they happen.  

They wreak havoc on independence and well-being, making them one Canada’s most pressing health challenges: falls.  

A leading cause of injury-related hospitalizations, even death, among older adults, a fall can happen anytime, anywhere – with 50 per cent occurring at home. But what if we could predict and prevent falls before they happen?   

A pioneering initiative at St. Joseph’s Health Care London (St. Joseph’s) is doing just that. The 3FM Clinic, short for Falls, Fractures, Frailty and Mobility, at St. Joseph’s Parkwood Insitute is at the leading edge of falls prevention in Canada, integrating research with clinical practice to offer hope and practical solutions to older adults.

Led by St. Joseph’s geriatrician Dr. Jaspreet Bhangu and Western University rehabilitation scientist and physiotherapist Janelle Unger, PhD, the visionary 3FM Clinic is working to prevent falls before they happen.

“We know there are a number of factors that can cause an older adult to fall such as illness, medication side effects, balance and gait issues, cognitive impairment, visual changes and environmental hazards,” says Bhangu. “What we’re working to understand is how those factors together impact individual patients and their risk of falling.”

To do so, the 3FM Clinic team – one of the largest, most diverse teams of its kind in the country – completes a multi-step evaluation of patients: 

• Nurses gather their medical history, current medications, functional abilities and personal goals.
• Physical therapists measure the patient’s gait (how they walk) and balance to understand their physical capabilities.
• Occupational therapists test their vision, cognitive function and identify issues that might hinder the individual’s ability to perform routine tasks safely.
• A geriatrician focuses on medical risk factors such as bone health, medications and cardiovascular health to help manage risks associated with aging. The team then creates a customized care plan that incorporates exercises, therapeutic interventions and educational strategies.

On the research side, Unger and her team in the RED Neuro Lab at St. Joseph’s Gray Centre for Mobility and Activity are leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) to predict falls more accurately.  

“Traditional fall prediction models often rely on limited data and lack real-world input from clinicians and patients,” explains Unger. “By partnering with Bhangu and the clinical team, as well as the patients in the 3FM Clinic, we’re able to integrate clinical information with biomechanical data collected from wearable sensors known as inertial measurement units (IMUs).”

An IMU is a device that tracks and measures a person’s movement and orientation and provides valuable data on how that person moves and stays stable. 

“We plan to use AI to analyze the data collected through the IMU’s and are working to create accurate fall prediction models,” says Unger. “This research, funded by Western’s Bone and Joint Institute, has the potential to improve care decisions, enhance preventive strategies and ultimately reduce the incidence of fall-related injuries and hospitalizations for our patients and people across the globe.”

By embracing innovative research and compassionate care, the 3FM Clinic is a model for future efforts in fall prevention and geriatric care, offering a safer, more independent future for older adults.

You can prevent falls too:

• Use assistive devices: Properly fitted walkers or canes provide essential support and stability.
• Fitted footwear: Shoes (not slippers or flip-flops) with appropriate tread and low heels help prevent slips and falls. They should also fit your feet.
• Home improvements: Improved lighting, clear walkways and assistive bathroom fixtures.
• Exercise: Participate in strength and balance exercises to enhance physical fitness.
• Medication reviews: Regularly have your medications reviewed to identify if you are at risk of falling. 

In August 2025, members of our community raised concerns about our animal research program at Lawson Research Institute (Lawson). While we were confident we followed all regulations and ethical standards, we commissioned an independent third-party review of animal research at Lawson and indicated we would make the results of that review public.

What the third-party review found:

• Lawson met all regulatory, ethical and professional standards in animal research.
• There was no evidence of intentional secrecy, concealment or avoidance of oversight. The research is reported in peer-reviewed publications, grant disclosures and academic presentations - all available to the public.
• No other animal or non-animal model could have been used to achieve the translational outcomes the researchers were trying to achieve.

What areas of improvement did they identify?

Recommendations include improved communication between St. Joseph’s, Lawson, Western University and Western’s Animal Care Committee, with clear accountabilities for decision making, to ensure all parties are aware of their unique roles and responsibilities, to update shared agreements and policies, including transparency plans and enhance the process for reporting of concerns.

What other reviews were completed?

• Western Animal Care Committee Report
• Canadian Council on Animal Care Special Assessment Report
• Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Agribusiness inspection Report

The majority of the key findings of these reports align with those of the third-party panel.

What’s next?

We are developing an action plan to address all recommendations and are working with our partners on next steps.  

Animal research remains an important part of medical discovery. The life-saving imaging approaches developed at Lawson are now standard of care worldwide for people suffering from heart disease and heart attacks. We are immensely proud of the work our researchers conduct every day to save and improve lives.

Thank you,

Roy Butler, PhD
President and CEO
 

Jeremy Burton, PhD
Interim Vice-President
Research and Scientific Director Lawson Research Institute