Media Releases

Philanthropist donates $12 million to Mississauga Health Sciences Complex

February 4, 2011

Toron­to, ON — Phil­an­thropist Ter­rence Don­nel­ly has donat­ed $12 mil­lion to the Uni­ver­si­ty of Toron­to to sup­port stu­dents and help con­struct a new Health Sci­ences Com­plex at U of T Mis­sis­sauga. The gift is the largest dona­tion ever made to the Mis­sis­sauga cam­pus.

Donnelly’s gift will sup­port the con­struc­tion of the build­ing that will house the Mis­sis­sauga Acad­e­my of Med­i­cine and sup­port med­ical stu­dents through bur­saries and schol­ar­ships. The facil­i­ty will be named the Ter­rence Don­nel­ly Health Sci­ences Com­plex.

Don­nel­ly, pres­i­dent and direc­tor of The Colonel Har­land Sanders Char­i­ta­ble Orga­ni­za­tion, Inc. (Cana­da) and pres­i­dent of The Ter­rence Don­nel­ly Foun­da­tion, pledged $12 mil­lion as part of a cam­paign to increase the num­ber of high­ly trained physi­cians in the province. The provin­cial gov­ern­ment and pri­vate donors, includ­ing Mis­sis­sauga busi­ness­man Car­lo Fidani with a chal­lenge gift, helped fund the health com­plex. Donnelly’s gift ful­fills Fidani’s chal­lenge, result­ing in a $22 mil­lion con­tri­bu­tion to med­ical edu­ca­tion at U of T.

“Ter­rence Donnelly’s gen­eros­i­ty and vision will make a dif­fer­ence to com­mu­ni­ties across Ontario,” says U of T pres­i­dent David Nay­lor. “We are deeply indebt­ed to him for his remark­able lead­er­ship, and his com­mit­ment to improv­ing access to top-flight med­ical edu­ca­tion and to high-qual­i­ty health care.”

The $37 mil­lion four-storey Ter­rence Don­nel­ly Health Sci­ences Com­plex, which is sched­uled to open this sum­mer, will house the grad­u­ate bio­med­ical com­mu­ni­ca­tions pro­gram, research lab­o­ra­to­ries, class­rooms and offices in addi­tion to the Mis­sis­sauga Acad­e­my of Med­i­cine. In the facil­i­ty, researchers and sci­en­tists will work side by side with fac­ul­ty mem­bers who will teach future med­ical prac­ti­tion­ers, cre­at­ing an envi­ron­ment that will bring the­o­ry to life for stu­dents.

“Mr. Donnelly’s gift will have a far-reach­ing impact on this cam­pus,” says Pro­fes­sor Deep Sai­ni, prin­ci­pal of U of T Mis­sis­sauga and vice-pres­i­dent of the Uni­ver­si­ty of Toron­to. “Thanks to his dona­tion, new oppor­tu­ni­ties for col­lab­o­ra­tion will open up, not just in med­i­cine but also in the life and social sci­ences. His gift has pro­vid­ed the tem­plate for growth at U of T Mis­sis­sauga.”

The Mis­sis­sauga Acad­e­my of Med­i­cine, locat­ed with­in the Ter­rence Don­nel­ly Health Sci­ences Com­plex, will edu­cate 54 under­grad­u­ate med­ical stu­dents a year. By 2014, the Acad­e­my will have a total of 216 stu­dents enrolled in the four-year pro­gram.

“Mr. Donnelly’s gift will make a dif­fer­ence in the lives of this com­mu­ni­ty for many gen­er­a­tions to come,” says Dr. Catharine White­side, dean of the Temer­ty Temer­ty Fac­ul­ty of Med­i­cine.  “The major­i­ty of physi­cians who will train at the Mis­sis­sauga Acad­e­my will like­ly prac­tise in close prox­im­i­ty, con­tribute sig­nif­i­cant­ly to their com­mu­ni­ty and enrich the health sci­ence net­work in Mis­sis­sauga. We are tru­ly for­tu­nate to have such a won­der­ful and sup­port­ive friend.”

“I am hon­oured and hum­bled that you have named this beau­ti­ful new build­ing after me,” says Don­nel­ly. “But the true val­ue in this build­ing is not the bricks and mor­tar, but the work being done with­in its walls – the teach­ing, learn­ing and research. I am pleased to be able to sup­port U of T’s con­tri­bu­tions that will have a direct ben­e­fit on the health of all Cana­di­ans.”

The Mis­sis­sauga Acad­e­my of Med­i­cine is a part­ner­ship among U of T’s Temer­ty Temer­ty Fac­ul­ty of Med­i­cine, U of T Mis­sis­sauga, Tril­li­um Health Cen­tre and Cred­it Val­ley Hos­pi­tal.

CONTACT:

Jane Stir­ling
Mar­ket­ing and Com­mu­ni­ca­tions
Uni­ver­si­ty of Toron­to Mis­sis­sauga
jane.stirling@utoronto.ca

Paul Can­tin
Com­mu­ni­ca­tions
Temer­ty Temer­ty Fac­ul­ty of Med­i­cine
paul.cantin@utoronto.ca