[VIDEO] Groundbreaking celebrates the Centre for Health Promotion & Rehabilitation project
[img_inline align=”right” src=”http://padnws01.mcmaster.ca/images/kipdn.jpg” caption=”Under the Knowledge Infrastructure Program, the federal and provincial governments provided $16.5-million for the creation of the Centre for Spinal Cord Injury Education, Research and Rehabilitation and the Centre for Cancer Education, Research and Rehabilitation.”]
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McMaster President Peter George, accompanied by Ted McMeekin, MPP for Ancaster-Dundas-Flamborough-Westdale and several private donors, broke ground this morning to officially launch a major expansion project designed to enhance the Centre for Health Promotion and Rehabilitation (CHPR) at the Ivor Wynne Centre.
Under the Knowledge Infrastructure Program, the federal and provincial governments provided $16.5-million for the creation of the Centre for Spinal Cord Injury Education, Research and Rehabilitation and the Centre for Cancer Education, Research and Rehabilitation.
“The Knowledge Infrastructure Program is a wonderful example of how we can leverage partnerships between the federal and provincial governments to deliver top quality programs and facilities to our students and our community, including much needed clinical rehabilitation and consulting,” says Peter George, President of McMaster University. “This generous support ensures we can maximize our role in educating tomorrow's leaders and develop the research which will keep Canada competitive on a global scale.”
Additional funding for the expansion came from private donors, including $2.5-million from Robert Beamish and the WB Family Foundation, set up by Robert and Marilyn Beamish, their children and representatives of Woodbridge Corporation. The Foundation supports health care and medical research initiatives. The donation will create the WB Family Foundation Centre for Spinal Cord Research and Rehabilitation.
The Robert Fitzhenry Specialized Rehabilitation and Exercise Lab is being named in honor of Fitzhenry – a McMaster alumnus – who donated $1-million to the project. Fitzhenry graduated with an honours BA degree in political economy in 1954 and went on with Beamish to build the Woodbridge Corporation into a world-leading business in the international high-tech manufacturing sector. He has been a longtime supporter of McMaster, directing funds to priorities including the stadium and the McMaster vector lab, which provides the delivery agents used to transport gene therapies or vaccines in patients.
And $250,000, donated by the McCall MacBain Foundation, headed by McMaster alumna Marcy McCall MacBain, will create the McCall MacBain Foundation Neurophysiology Lab.
The addition to CHPR will provide approximately 14,000 square feet of new rehabilitation, laboratory and teaching space, in addition to offices for technical staff and faculty members.
“This will provide critical space and modern research facilities, not just for the Faculty of Science, but for students and faculty right across campus,” says John Capone, dean of Science. “We are continuing to build upon a world-class facility which will allow us to translate cutting edge research into new rehabilitation and training activities in the areas of spinal cord injury and cancer rehabilitation. In addition, this investment will produce the next generation of highly-skilled students who are needed in these important areas.”
A new spinal cord injury training facility will be complemented by laboratories that will facilitate research in areas including biomechanics and gait analysis, electrophysiology, sensorimotor neuroscience, data analysis, vascular dynamics and biochemistry.
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