History to Today
Research at St Joseph's Healthcare was established in 1993 via the creation of the Father Sean O'Sullivan Research Centre (FSORC). Under its founding Director, Dr. Stuart MacLeod, the Centre evolved with a focus on clinical research and clinical epidemiology. Later, in parallel with the development of FSORC, the Firestone Institute for Respiratory Health (1998) and the Brain Body Institute (2001) were also established at the hospital. The Research Administration Team was created in 2002 to respond to the institutional needs for growing research enterprise and to systematically address the organizational recommendations made by an external review of research. The team approach to planning and developing solutions brings efficiency that is integrated into daily work patterns, and provides close communication with the research committees. In 2006, Dr. Ian Rodger was appointed as Vice President of Research and Academic.Today St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton is a fast growing academic health sciences research community, which includes the Firestone Institute for Respiratory Health, Brain-Body Institute, Centre for the Evaluation of Medicines as well as research efforts in Nephrology, Virology and Mental Health. It is the regional center for mental health, kidney disease (including transplantation and dialysis), respiratory disease and thoracic surgery, and head and neck cancer.
Our facilities include research-dedicated fMRI and CT/PET, new state-of-the-art laboratories and a new academic centre with two auditoria. The Centre for Minimal Access Surgery (CMAS) supports major surgical robotics collaborations with NASA and the Canadian Space Agency.
Father Sean O'Sullivan
Father Sean O'Sullivan was born and educated in Hamilton and later Brock University. At age 20, Father Sean became Canada's youngest MP and appointed special assistant to Prime Minister Diefenbaker. In 1977, after representing the riding of Hamilton-Wentworth for 5 years as a member of the Conservative Party, Father Sean left a promising political career to become a priest. He studied at the Irish College Seminary at the Vatican, and was ordained in 1981. In 1983 Father Sean was diagnosed with leukemia to which he succumbed in 1989. Learn more about Father Sean on the Hamilton Public Library website.
