Since the first full day of operations in Sunnybrook’s Garry Hurvitz Brain Sciences Centre on January 20, 2025, Dr. Nir Lipsman, Chief of the Hurvitz Brain Sciences Program and Harquail Chair in Neuromodulation, has witnessed the collaboration, discovery and extraordinary patient care that make Sunnybrook special.
“This building represents the hope of every Canadian living with and loving those with a brain condition, from Alzheimer’s to stroke to depression,” says Dr. Lipsman. “This is where hope turns to action and progress is made.”
The first of its kind in Canada for patient care and interdisciplinary research, the Hurvitz Centre is the very embodiment of Sunnybrook’s vision of the future of health care. It unites many of our experts in brain health under one roof with a focus on revolutionizing approaches to some of the most complex brain disorders of our time.
With visionary leadership support from Garry Hurvitz, more than 7,000 donors came together to make the new Hurvitz Centre possible, alongside critical support from the Government of Ontario.
“The Hurvitz Brain Sciences Program is a beacon of hope and thanks to your partnership and remarkable support for the new Garry Hurvitz Brain Sciences Centre, it will shine for generations to come,” says Kelly Cole, President & CEO of Sunnybrook Foundation.
The Garry Hurvitz Brain Sciences Centre is the new home for Hurvitz Program collaboration, including among the following centres:
- Harquail Centre for Neuromodulation
- Murphy Family Centre for Mental Health
- Yuval & Lori Barzakay Brain Health Clinic
- The Kerr Centre for Interventional Psychiatry
- Ontario’s first circadian sleep centre
Trailblazing care for brain health
Researchers in the Hurvitz Brain Sciences Program are revolutionizing approaches to the most complex brain disorders, including dementia, stroke, obsessive-compulsive disorder and ALS.
Researchers in the Frederick W. Thompson Anxiety Disorders Centre have led a study that shows mindfulness- based interventions can deliver outcomes equivalent to cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) for specific groups of people with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).
Psychiatrist and Thompson Centre Research Director Dr. Neil Rector is also partnering with the Harquail Centre for Neuromodulation on a pilot study to assess whether repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS), which uses magnetic pulses to alter the electrical activity of the network of the brain, can lead to more effective CBT for people with severe OCD.
The team in the Dr. Sandra Black Centre for Brain Resilience & Recovery is pursuing research aimed at preventing Alzheimer’s disease and delaying the onset of memory problems before they even begin.
The initial results of one groundbreaking trial involving Lecanemab, an antibody treatment that targets amyloid deposits – a naturally-occurring protein that is a hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease – has shown a 27-per-cent reduction in cognitive decline in people with early-stage forms of the disease.
Neurologist and Bastable-Potts Chair in Stroke Research Dr. Richard Swartz discovered in a world-first trial that when the clot-busting drug tenecteplase is administered even 15 minutes faster, it can reduce the likelihood of cognitive impairment by about seven per cent.
“Getting faster stroke treatment helps limit injury to the brain, which means it can be more resilient and recover faster,” says Dr. Swartz.
Hear directly from clients about their experiences with the Thompson Centre.
Gail reflects on how the Thompson Centre team helped her to regain control of her life.
Fadi shares his experience of living with OCD after moving to Canada
Care, hope and gratitude
Collaboration between Sunnybrook’s ALS Clinic and the world-renowned Harquail Centre for Neuromodulation is giving David Hillyar hope for his dual diagnoses of ALS and essential tremor. David is so grateful for the care he has received that he decided to become a Sunnybrook donor.
Accelerating ideas into action
Donor support is helping to propel ideas from bench to bedside, driving breakthroughs in treatment and care for brain disorders.
Delaying ALS where it starts
An international team of scientists led by Dr. Carol Schuurmans, Dixon Family Chair in Ophthalmology, has become the first to delay the onset of ALS where it starts – in the brain.
Dr. Schuurmans reprogrammed brain astrocytes, a type of cell that is essential to cognitive function, to induced neurons in preclinical models of ALS using a technique she co-developed with fellow Sunnybrook Research Institute scientist Dr. JoAnne McLaurin and Dr. Cindi Morshead of the University of Toronto.
The researchers now want to know if neural reprogramming can have the same effect on the human brain. Dr. Schuurmans is growing cerebral organoids, a miniature and simplified version of human brain tissue, to test her theory on organoid models of ALS. Future work is aimed at examining whether neuronal reprogramming can also aid degenerative eye diseases.
“Modeling disease in the laboratory with organoids holds major promise for the treatment of a multitude of neurodegenerative diseases, from ALS to stroke to macular degeneration.” Dr. Carol Schuurmans, Dixon Family Chair in Ophthalmology
World-first ALS therapy trial
Intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) comprised of antibodies from healthy donors is seen as a promising treatment for ALS, but early trials failed because the antibodies were unable to penetrate the blood-brain barrier. Sunnybrook ALS Clinic neurologists.
Drs. Lorne Zinman and AJ Abrahao are working to change that with the continuation of a world-first trial that pairs IVIG with focused ultrasound to open the blood-brain barrier of the motor cortex in ALS patients, which launched in Spring 2025.
Donor support for Sunnybrook’s ALS Clinic helped generate the early results that attracted a landmark $1-million grant from the U.S.-based ALS Association in 2024.
Measuring rTMS brain response
With a goal of improving therapeutic options for people with treatment-resistant mood disorders like depression, Sunnybrook interventional psychiatrist Dr. Sean Nestor is using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to target the precise region of the brain responsible for mood.
Dr. Nestor is using transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS), a non-invasive neurmodulation strategy that has been shown to offer life-changing improvements in some patients with treatment-resistant depression.
What’s more, he is using fMRI to measure in real time the effect of rTMS on the brain, and to identify biomarkers that might help predict the best candidates for this therapy.
Collaborating among the best
Your investments are supporting skills development and teamwork that deliver impact beyond Sunnybrook’s walls.
Family Navigation Project expands to Northern Ontario
Sunnybrook’s Family Navigation Project (FNP) is expanding to the Sudbury-Manitoulin region, and we have our donor community to thank.
Nearly $3 million in donor funding was contributed to match FNP’s largest ever research grant. Taken together, these funds are jumpstarting efforts to scale FNP – a made-at-Sunnybrook, evidenced-based model to connect youth and families with the mental health and addictions care they need – to Northern Ontario.
Co-design activities with youth, caregivers, and service providers in the region are now underway, with plans to open the doors to the Sudbury- Manitoulin branch of FNP in 2026.
“Based on feedback from design sessions in the community, we will adapt our model to suit the needs of local youth and families, while retaining what makes FNP successful.” Kristin Yee Joshi, Project Manager, FNP Sudbury-Manitoulin expansion
Training tomorrow’s stroke experts
Donor support is increasing the opportunities for education and training within the Hurvitz Brain Sciences Program.
Starting this year, we are increasing the number of neurology fellows who will learn stroke diagnostic, treatment and prevention skills from our experts. Upon conclusion of their training, fellows will bring Sunnybrook’s unique expertise to their home communities and countries.
“Because of donor support, we’re attracting the best fellowship candidates to Sunnybrook and to Toronto, caring for patients faster and training future leaders” Dr. Julia Hopyan, Director of the Sunnybrook Neurology Fellowship Program
Special Thanks
Thanks to donors like you, Sunnybrook is the place to be for brain care, research and training. Our high-performing teams are delivering outstanding care and relentlessly pursuing discoveries that are offering hope where there once was none. This is possible because of donors like you. Thank you for making Sunnybrook’s Hurvitz Brain Sciences Program special.
View the Flipbook and Download the Report
Hurvitz Brain Sciences Program Report