In 2020-2021, near $3M was raised by IRIC’s philanthropic community. That outpouring of generosity led to the recruitment of two leading scientists, the creation of two legacy gifts to support cancer research and the training of the next generation, the funding of four promising projects including the IRIC Emergency Fund, as well as the maintenance and acquisition of cutting-edge equipment.
As part of a vast campaign of planned donations led the Réseau des diplômés et des donateurs de l’Université de Montréal, Michel Bouvier, Chief Executive Officer of IRIC, and his partner, Muriel Aubry, retired Professor and Director of the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine of the Université de Montréal, have committed to making a legacy gift in support of the Institute and of the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine of the UdeM to support cancer research and the training of the next generation of scientists.
Thanks to the generosity of the Fondation Famille Diane et Léon Gosselin, the substantial amount of $500,000 was donated to the Fonds vaccin thérapeutique contre le cancer and allows the research teams headed by Dr. Claude Perreault, Sébastien Lemieux and Pierre Thibault to complete the crucial final steps leading to the clinical trials of a cancer vaccine. Mr. and Mrs. Gosselin have been supporting IRIC’s activities for over 10 years.
The fund was created in early 2020 by Dr. Robert Patenaude ̶ who has been a chronic myeloid leukemia survivor for almost 40 years thanks to the great care and determination of Dr. Claude Perreault ̶ , and who made a startup donation of $25,000.
IRIC is delighted by the fact that the Richard and Edith Strauss Foundation has renewed its support for two promising cancer research projects. A first donation of $200,000 was made to the Pediatric Leukemia Project led by Brian Wilhelm, Principal Investigator at IRIC, and by Dr. Sonia Cellot, Pediatric Hematologist at CHU Saint-Justine. A second research project led by Dr. Guy Sauvageau involving acute myeloid leukemia also received $100,000 in new funding from the Foundation.
Pierre Sauvé (Engr., a 1966 graduate of Polytechnique Montréal) has been very involved with the Université de Montréal over the past few years. This year, Mr. Sauvé chose to make his testamentary donation to IRIC. This remarkable gesture makes it possible to award scholarships to students who are committed to cancer research.