Hold’em for Life Oncology Fellowships: Sponsors go ‘all in’ for cancer research
The research must go on. This quickly became the rallying cry for sponsors of the April 2020 Hold’em for Life Charity Challenge poker tournament following the event’s cancellation due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The biannual tournaments, which bring together leaders from the real estate and asset management communities, have raised more than $33 million for cancer research since 2007. In 2019, the group made a landmark $16.4-million commitment in support of oncology fellowships at the University of Toronto and its partner hospitals.
“Beyond the fun and camaraderie of these events, we always remember that they are first and foremost about supporting life-changing cancer research,” says Andrew Hoffman, CEO of CentreCourt and co-founder of the Hold’em for Life Charity Challenge. “I’m so grateful to our sponsors who, notwithstanding the cancellation of the April event, still followed through on their commitments. It’s a testament to their strong belief in our cause.”
The impact of the sponsors’ contributions is already being felt at U of T and its nine fully-affiliated teaching hospitals. Forty-four new Hold’em for Life Oncology Fellows started in their roles on July 1, 2020. Thanks to support from the Hold’em for Life Charity Challenge, each fellow will receive $50,000 per year in funding for their work, along with $50,000 in matched funds from partner hospitals.
The 2020 fellows’ research focuses on colon, breast, prostate, brain and lung cancers, among others, and cover a broad range of topics, including the detection of rare cancers by the presence of circulating tumour DNA, establishing national benchmarks for the improvement of surgical care for kidney cancer patients, as well as the use of light to treat highly-aggressive types of brain and spinal cancers.
Importantly, each fellow works in clinical settings while also simultaneously pursuing their research. This provides them with a unique perspective spanning the bedside and the laboratory bench.
“The clinician-scientists selected as Hold’em for Life Oncology Fellows are helping to drive medical innovation,” says Professor Trevor Young, Dean of the Temerty Faculty of Medicine and Vice Provost, Relations with Health Care Institutions. “The fellows’ work will increase our knowledge of many different types of cancer, leading to what we hope will be new ways of diagnosing and treating these challenging diseases. We’re grateful to the Hold’em sponsors for their steadfast support.”
For more information about the Hold’em for Life Oncology Fellowships and the research being funded this year, can be found here.
This year's generous sponsors include:
$100,000+
Embee Properties
ONEX and The Gerald Schwartz and Heather Reisman Foundation
$50,000-99,999
Atrium
BMO & BMO Capital Markets
CentreCourt
Choice Properties REIT
CIBC
Dream
Fried Frank Harris Shriver & Jacobson LLP
Latham & Watkins LLP
National Bank Financial Inc.
RBC & RBC Capital Markets
Waratah Capital Advisors / Blair Levinsky & Andrea Lenczner
Silvercore Properties
TD Securities
$25,000-49,999
The Azrieli Foundation
Brattys LLP
Broccolini Real Estate Group
Capital Developments
CBRE
Deloitte
Diamond Corp.
EllisDon Corporation
GFL Infrastructure Group Inc.
Horizons ETFs Management
III Capital Management
McCarthy Tetrault LLP
Metropia
National Bank Financial Inc.
Oxford Properties
PIRET
PLATFORM Insurance
RioCan Management Inc.
RPIA
Scotiabank
