Brain Breakthroughs
It’s About Time

Your brain is what makes you, you. It defines how you think, how you feel and how you function. When something goes wrong with your brain, it shatters your sense of being, and ripples out to family and friends.

But it doesn’t have to be this way. You have helped accelerate our pace of discovery and dramatically change lives with the support of our Brain Breakthroughs campaign.

Thanks to your support, we have exceeded our goal and raised over $42 million.

Tools & Equipment

When you or a loved one are injured, you want the best minds in medicine to be equipped with the best tools for the job. Your gifts have empowered our clinicians with state-of-the-art technology, including a new 3TMRI machine, so they can provide world-class care for the body’s most complex organ. 

Learn more.

People & Care

Thanks to philanthropic support of Brain Breakthroughs, teams were able to jumpstart or expand various neurology fellowship programs, from stroke and epilepsy to neurocritical care. Your generosity helped provide fellows with the training and experience to become future leads in their field. They will take this knowledge with them wherever they may practice to help more patients.

Meet the next generation of Neurology superstars.

Research & Discovery

Because of your generosity, researchers have made breakthrough advancements across a spectrum of diseases, including Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, stroke, MS, OCD, and depression.

Learn more.

Expressing Gratitude

The advancements in care and research inspires clinicians from around the globe to come to Vancouver to share their knowledge and learn from teams here, joining the brightest and the best doctors, technicians, nurses and care workers. A recent stroke survivor, Trevor Norris, and his wife Mena, are incredibly grateful for the care they received while being treated at VGH:

“We were unbelievably fortunate to have quick professional help from Dr. Gary Redekop who performed my surgery, additional advice from Dr. Thalia Field and wonderful care from the Neurology ICU nurses during my recovery. We are so grateful for the work you do and your commitment to your patients.”

Brain Wellness Expands Province-Wide

British Columbians are living longer, and thanks to great advances in medicine we can now spend more time learning, playing and enjoying life. However, as our population ages, the prevalence of neurodegenerative diseases in adults will only increase.

The BC Brain Wellness Program you helped launch provides evidence-informed lifestyle and wellness programs for individuals living with chronic brain conditions, their care partners and healthy agers. It brings together an interdisciplinary team of specialists to deliver a combination therapy that supports our brain health with classes facilitating:

• exercise
• music, performance and visual arts
• mindfulness and self-management
• nutrition and sleep
• group learning and community building