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Helping patients get high quality cancer care
Dr. David Palma, Radiation Oncologist at London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC) and Scientist at Lawson Health Research Institute, is a strong advocate for cancer patients getting the high-quality care they deserve.
His new book, Taking Charge of Cancer: What You Need to Know to Get the Best Treatment, is the first “how-to” manual that shows patients how to obtain and understand their medical records, double-check their doctors’ recommendations and ensure they are getting top-notch radiation, surgery or chemotherapy.
All royalties are being donated to London Health Sciences Foundation's Cancer Care Campaign, which will help to support cancer research at Lawson.
History
Each hospital’s research mission has a rich history. At both hospital organizations, leaders recognized opportunities to leverage in-house experts to conduct research and improve care. However, they also recognized the challenge in supporting these activities without dedicated space and resources.
Through great foresight, our hospitals founded the official research institutes that serve as Lawson's foundation:
- 1983: Supported by Sister Mary Doyle, former Executive Director of St. Joseph's, the Sisters of St. Joseph's establish the hospital's official research institute. LHSC and Upjohn jointly open the Victoria Upjohn Clinical Research Unit at South Street Hospital (formerly Victoria Hospital), focusing on Phase I-III clinical trials.
- 1987: The St. Joseph's research institute is named the Lawson Research Institute (LRI) in honour of London businessman and philanthropist Colonel Tom Lawson and his wife, Miggsie Lawson - close friends of Sister Mary Doyle and major supporters of the research mission.
- 1990: Victoria Hospital takes over the operation of the clinical research unit at South Street, renaming it the Victoria Clinical Trials Centre.
- 1997: The Victoria Clinical Trials Centre is renamed London Health Sciences Centre Research Inc. and becomes a fully incorporated research institute overseeing all hospital-based research within London Health Sciences Centre sites: Victoria Hospital, University Hospital and South Street Hospital.
- 2000: LRI and LHSCRI merge to form a joint venture: Lawson Health Research Institute.
- 2014: Lawson Research Institute (re-)launches as the hospital-based research arm of St. Joseph's with the goal of transforming imagination to innovation to impact; and as LHSCRI is also embedded into LHSC.
Today, partnerships remain strong, allowing researchers to move seamlessly between hospital locations and Western University.
Milestones
Since forming in 2000, Lawson has pioneered breakthroughs across various disciplines of health research and reached several institutional milestones.
- 2019: Lawson led research team is the first in the world to develop a new imaging tool, showed that MRI can be used to measure how the heart uses oxygen.
- 2019: New studies from Lawson and Western University found for the first time that HIV can be transmitted through the sharing of equipment used to prepare drugs before injection and that a simple intervention can destroy the HIV virus, preventing that transmission.
- 2019: In the first genomic analysis of head and neck cancer by smoking status, researchers at Lawson, in collaboration with researchers at the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research and UCLA Cancer Centre, carried out a comprehensive genetic analysis of HPV-negative tumours to better understand the link between smoking and cancer recovery.
- 2019: Lawson scientists develop molecular diagnostic tool to analyze epigenetic patterns, facilitating diagnosis of rare, unknown hereditary disorders. London Health Sciences Centre is the first site in the world to offer this type of testing.
- 2018: Research shows high-dose radiation can improve survival in patients with cancer that has spread to give or less sites. The SABR-COMET study was the first randomized phase II clinical trial of its kind.
- 2018: An international collaborative study between Lawson Health Research Institute, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, the Royal Marsden and Epic Sciences is one of the first to demonstrate that a blood test can predict how patients with advanced prostate cancer will respond to specific treatments, leading to improved survival.
- 2018: In collaborative study between Lawson and Stanford University, scientists develop and test a new synthetic surfactant that could lead to improved treatments for lung disease and injury.
- 2018: Scientists use brain MRI to develop first ever method examining young people before they become ill to reliably identify who will develop acute psychosis and who will not.
- 2018: Research team develops clinically-validated, open-source 3D printed stethoscope for areas with limited access to medical supplies.
- 2018: Lawson opens Clinical Research and Chronic Disease Centre (CRCDC) at St. Joseph’s Hospital to tackle chronic disease and improve patient care.
- 2018: Lawson researchers receive $4.4 million to study personalized medicine at LHSC, examining the value of prescribing treatments based on a patient’s genetics.
- 2017: In one of the largest microbiota studies conducted in humans, researchers at Western University, Lawson Health Research Institute and Tianyi Health Science Institute in Zhenjiang, Jiangsu, China have shown a potential link between healthy aging and a healthy gut.
- 2017: Lawson researchers develop transition program to help young adults with type 1 diabetes move from paediatric to adult care.
- 2017: Innovative study brings next-generation genome sequencing to London cancer patients, contributing to province-wide database of genomic and clinical data.
- 2017: Technology developed at Western University and Lawson Health Research Institute can provide a new window into whether or not patients are responding to treatment for advanced ovarian cancer.
- 2017: Dr. Alan Getgood and his team at Western University and Lawson Health Research Institute are the first in Canada to participate in an investigative trial to determine the safety and efficacy of using a patient’s own cartilage cells to repair knee cartilage injuries.
- 2016: Lawson Researchers at Parkwood Institute are the first in Canada to develop clinical practice guidelines for managing neuropathic pain with patients who have experienced a spinal cord injury.
- 2016: Researchers at Lawson are the first in Canada to use a Prostate Specific Membrane Antigen (PSMA) probe in Positron Emissions Tomography (PET) scans to provide improved and highly specific images used for better diagnosis and management of prostate cancer.
- 2015: Lawson scientists, in collaboration with Ceresensa Inc., produce novel PET-transparent MRI head coil, a world first in imaging technology
- 2015: Lawson announces partnership with STEMCELL Technologies for commercialization of tools for Parkinson’s disease research
- 2015: Novare Pharmaceuticals and Lawson announce issuance of a U.S. patent for the composition-of-matter and use of RHAMM-binding peptides with a wide range of potential therapeutic uses. The patent also has claims for the diagnosis and prognosis of cancer, and for prescribing a course of treatment for the diagnosed cancer.
- 2014: Lawson announces licensing agreement with Yabao Pharmaceutical Group in China to develop and test a new life-saving drug to treat sepsis
- 2014: Lawson researchers are part of a Canadian team who have developed a way to produce a key medical isotope, technetium-99m (Tc-99m), using hospital based cyclotrons
- 2013: The Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences (ICES) Western opens at Lawson
- 2012: Lawson installs Canada's first PET/MRI at St. Joseph's Hospital
- 2011: Lindros Legacy Research Building officially opens at University Hospital
- 2010: Lawson opens the Cyclotron and PET Radiochemistry facility at St. Joseph's Hospital
- 2009: Lawson receives a record $7 million donation to support the Canadian Research & Development Centre for Probiotics
- 2008: Lawson establishes an experimental anti-thrombolitic clinic to calculate personalized dosage of drugs based on a patient's genetics
- 2007: The first totally endoscopic closed-chest robotic coronary artery bypass surgery on a patient's beating heart is performed at University Hospital
- 2006: Lawson opens the Aging, Rehabilitation & Geriatric Care Research Centre, the first centre of its kind in Canada, at Parkwood Institute
- 2005: Lawson creates the first Ontario Cardiac Rehabilitation Registry
- 2004: Lawson scientists release a three-year study on the effects of the Walkerton water disaster
- 2003: Lawson opens the Victoria Research Laboratories at Victoria Hospital, the first collaboration of its kind in Canada bringing together research from cancer, children's health and vascular biology
- 2002: Lawson installs the first Positron Emission Tomography and Computer Tomography (PET/CT) scanner in Canada at St. Joseph's Hospital
- 2001: St. Joseph's is one of five sites in the world piloting the Diabetes Electronic Management Systems
Home Monitoring in Health Care Conference
Research has shown that technology can link clinicians to a changing clinical situation in real-time, enabling provision of appropriate and timely medical care. But how can we implement this here in London?
Join us on November 24, 2018 to learn from local innovators on their current projects and help us collaborate on future goals.
Saturday, November 24, 2018
9:00 a.m. - 1:45 p.m.
(Registration beginning at 8:30 a.m.)
Sumner Auditorium, Victoria Hospital, Rm. B2-119
800 Commissioners Rd. E, London, Ontario
Moderator:
- Dr. Homer Yang, Anesthesia & Perioperative Medicine, LHSC
Speakers:
- Dr. Nassar Khalil, Connecting Care to Home
- Dr. James Lewis, Connecting Care to Home
- Dr. Julieann Vankoughnett, Surgery, LHSC
- Dr. Anthony Tang, Cardiology, LHSC
- Dr. Tim Doherty, Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation, LHSC
- Dr. Mandar Jog, Neurologist, LHSC
- Dr. John Fuller, Perioperative Care, LHSC
- Dr. Arsh Jain, Renal Services, LHSC
- Danish Mahmood, 15-year-old youth innovator, speaker, and high school student
For directions and parking information for Victoria Hospital, please see the LHSC website.
Hospital data shows longer, costlier stays for patients experiencing homelessness
Nearly 30,000 people last year were homeless when admitted to hospital and/or discharged from hospital, a first-of-its-kind Canadian analysis shows. Almost all of these inpatients were admitted following a visit to an emergency department, and the complexity of their illnesses meant they stayed twice as long as the national average.
“What’s most troubling, based on what we know from other research, is that so many were discharged into the community without stable housing,” says study co-author Dr. Cheryl Forchuk, PhD, Assistant Scientific Director at Lawson Health Research Institute. “We need to see housing as a health intervention, and an integral part of a health strategy,” says Dr. Forchuk, a trailblazer in researching health impact and solutions for people experiencing homelessness.
The new analysis – using a database from the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) – is the first detailed look at Canadian hospitals’ use of Z59.0, a mandatory record-keeping code intended to identify and improve services for patients experiencing homelessness.
Key findings from this study include:
- Nearly 30,000 patients identified as living without housing were hospitalized across Canada last year.
- Average length of stay for people experiencing homelessness was 15.4 days, compared with the national eight-day average.
- About 12 per cent of patients had hospital stays of more than one month.
- Average cost per stay was $16,800, compared with the national average of $7,800.
- Substance use, schizophrenic disorders and cellulitis (a bacterial infection) are the three most common reasons for hospital stays.
- Of these patients, 93 per cent were admitted to hospital after an emergency department visit.
Dr. Forchuk’s contribution to this work was supported through Homelessness Counts, a federally funded Lawson project launched in 2021 to improve understanding of how many people in Canada are experiencing homelessness and who they are.
Dr. Forchuk notes that the longer hospital stays, with more complex care for marginalized populations, can lead to evictions from private apartments or rooming houses.
“In London, we’re in a position to showcase what a community in partnership can do,” Dr. Forchuk notes. “We’ve done a lot of work to prevent discharge into homelessness, including the City of London and other partners prioritizing housing for people who are discharged from hospital.”
The study highlights how housing is intimately connected to health and wellbeing, and the importance of hospitals like London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC) and St. Joseph’s Health Care London (St. Joseph’s) participating in initiatives like the Health & Homelessness Whole of Community Response in London, Ontario.
“As health care providers, we recognize the importance of accurate data for understanding an individual’s care journey across sectors and organizations, especially when addressing homelessness,” says Brad Campbell, Corporate Hospital Administrative Executive, LHSC. “For example, hospital and service utilization data has been essential to understanding emergency department patterns for those living without stable housing in our community, enabling us to improve care for marginalized people through different service delivery models. Through collaborations like our partnership with London Cares, we’ve leveraged data to help individuals in our community access supportive housing and comprehensive 24/7 health and social support services.”
Campbell notes this work aligns to priorities in the Ontario health-care sector by increasing collaboration across sectors and removing barriers to care by enabling inter-agency communication to support increased capacity and access to health-care supports.
“Housing is health care," adds Dr. Forchuk. “Gathering and analyzing this data gives us more tools to find workable solutions to the complex problem of how people experiencing homelessness receive, or don’t receive, the health care they need.
MEDIA CONTACT
Deb (Flaherty) Van Brenk, Communication Consultant
Cell: 226 577-1429 or 519 318-0657
Email: @email
Lawson Health Research Institute is one of Canada’s top hospital-based research institutes, tackling the most pressing challenges in health care. As the research institute of London Health Sciences Centre and St. Joseph’s Health Care London, our innovation happens where care is delivered. Lawson research teams are at the leading-edge of science with the goal of improving health and the delivery of care for patients. Working in partnership with Western University, our researchers are encouraged to pursue their curiosity, collaborate often and share their discoveries widely. Research conducted through Lawson makes a difference in the lives of patients, families and communities around the world. To learn more, visit www.lawsonresearch.ca.
London Health Sciences Centre has been at the forefront of medicine in Canada for 145 years and offers the broadest range of specialized clinical services in Ontario. Building on the traditions of its founding hospitals to provide compassionate care in an academic teaching setting, London Health Sciences Centre is home to Children’s Hospital, University Hospital, Victoria Hospital, the Kidney Care Centre, two family medical centres, and two research institutes – Children’s Health Research Institute and Lawson Health Research Institute. As a leader in medical discovery and health research, London Health Sciences Centre has a history of over 70 international and national firsts and attracts top clinicians and researchers from around the world. As a regional referral centre, London Health Sciences Centre cares for the most medically complex patients including critically injured adults and children in southwestern Ontario and beyond. The hospital’s nearly 15,000 staff, physicians, students and volunteers provide care for more than one million patient visits a year. For more information, visit www.lhsc.on.ca.
Renowned for compassionate care, St. Joseph’s Health Care London is a leading academic health care centre in Canada dedicated to helping people live to their fullest by minimizing the effects of injury, disease and disability through excellence in care, teaching and research. Through partnership with Lawson Health Research Institute and our collaborative engagement with other health care and academic partners, St. Joseph’s has become an international leader in the areas of: chronic disease management; medical imaging; specialized mental health care; rehabilitation and specialized geriatrics; and surgery. St. Joseph’s operates through a wide range of hospital, clinic and long-term and community-based settings, including: St. Joseph’s Hospital; Parkwood Institute; Mount Hope Centre for Long Term Care; and the Southwest Centre for Forensic Mental Health Care. www.sjhc.london.on.ca
Hospital data shows longer, costlier stays for patients experiencing homelessness
Nearly 30,000 people last year were homeless when admitted to hospital and/or discharged from hospital, a first-of-its-kind Canadian analysis shows. Almost all of these inpatients were admitted following a visit to an emergency department, and the complexity of their illnesses meant they stayed twice as long as the national average.
“What’s most troubling, based on what we know from other research, is that so many were discharged into the community without stable housing,” says study co-author Dr. Cheryl Forchuk, PhD, Assistant Scientific Director at Lawson Health Research Institute. “We need to see housing as a health intervention, and an integral part of a health strategy,” says Dr. Forchuk, a trailblazer in researching health impact and solutions for people experiencing homelessness.
The new analysis – using a database from the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) – is the first detailed look at Canadian hospitals’ use of Z59.0, a mandatory record-keeping code intended to identify and improve services for patients experiencing homelessness.
Key findings from this study include:
- Nearly 30,000 patients identified as living without housing were hospitalized across Canada last year.
- Average length of stay for people experiencing homelessness was 15.4 days, compared with the national eight-day average.
- About 12 per cent of patients had hospital stays of more than one month.
- Average cost per stay was $16,800, compared with the national average of $7,800.
- Substance use, schizophrenic disorders and cellulitis (a bacterial infection) are the three most common reasons for hospital stays.
- Of these patients, 93 per cent were admitted to hospital after an emergency department visit.
Dr. Forchuk’s contribution to this work was supported through Homelessness Counts, a federally funded Lawson project launched in 2021 to improve understanding of how many people in Canada are experiencing homelessness and who they are.
Dr. Forchuk notes that the longer hospital stays, with more complex care for marginalized populations, can lead to evictions from private apartments or rooming houses.
“In London, we’re in a position to showcase what a community in partnership can do,” Dr. Forchuk notes. “We’ve done a lot of work to prevent discharge into homelessness, including the City of London and other partners prioritizing housing for people who are discharged from hospital.”
The study highlights how housing is intimately connected to health and wellbeing, and the importance of hospitals like London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC) and St. Joseph’s Health Care London (St. Joseph’s) participating in initiatives like the Health & Homelessness Whole of Community Response in London, Ontario.
“As health care providers, we recognize the importance of accurate data for understanding an individual’s care journey across sectors and organizations, especially when addressing homelessness,” says Brad Campbell, Corporate Hospital Administrative Executive, LHSC. “For example, hospital and service utilization data has been essential to understanding emergency department patterns for those living without stable housing in our community, enabling us to improve care for marginalized people through different service delivery models. Through collaborations like our partnership with London Cares, we’ve leveraged data to help individuals in our community access supportive housing and comprehensive 24/7 health and social support services.”
Campbell notes this work aligns to priorities in the Ontario health-care sector by increasing collaboration across sectors and removing barriers to care by enabling inter-agency communication to support increased capacity and access to health-care supports.
“Housing is health care," adds Dr. Forchuk. “Gathering and analyzing this data gives us more tools to find workable solutions to the complex problem of how people experiencing homelessness receive, or don’t receive, the health care they need.
Media Contact
Deb (Flaherty) Van Brenk, Communication Consultant
Cell: 226 577-1429 or 519 318-0657
Email: @email