The Robert H. N. Ho Research Centre

Mr Robert H. N. Ho’s first major donation to the advancement of public healthcare was made in 2009 to Vancouver General Hospital, the key medical facility for many of the 4.6 million people living in the province of British Columbia in Canada. He made a gift towards the hospital’s new integrated research building, later named the Robert H. N. Ho Research Centre, and other healthcare areas.

 

Proactive philanthropy

As with his subsequent donation to The Greta and Robert H. N. Ho Centre for Psychiatry and Education (The HOpe Centre), Mr Ho kick-started the process by seeking an informal consultation with doctor friends working in Vancouver about the most pressing needs for the region’s public healthcare system. The medics told him about the challenges facing several research teams. These scientists were engaged in first-class studies at top international levels in areas of major global impact, such as prostate and ovarian cancer, and hip mobility. Yet they were scattered throughout the vast complex of hospital buildings, with few opportunities to engage in innovation-sparking interdisciplinary collaboration.

Mr Ho responded promptly, with his donation given through the Vancouver General Hospital (VGH) and University of British Columbia Hospital (UBC) Foundation. “It was not my decision actually,” he said. “It was decided by the doctors.”

The Research Centre, which opened in 2011, has enabled numerous teams to be housed together in a dedicated research environment. The impressive, seven-storey building, almost 70,000 square feet in area, is equipped with state-of-the-art labs and equipment.

 

“It is what goes inside a building that really counts – the product of that building rather than the bricks and mortar”

- Mr Robert H. N. Ho

 

Just as importantly, the facility has been specifically designed to encourage interaction and fresh thinking among the 300 scientists, clinicians and staff who work there. The high level of achievement expected from those in the Research Centre is shown in the partners supporting the building of the facility along with Mr Ho: the federal government, the province of British Columbia, Vancouver Coastal Health and the University of British Columbia faculty of medicine. The provincial government contributed CAD$22.5 million to the project. Stakeholders, including patients locally and worldwide, have not been disappointed.

 

Advancing well-being

  • Vancouver Prostate Centre: the globally renowned centre conducts basic and translational exploration, clinical trials, socio-behavioural studies, complementary and alternative medicine research, and is the largest programme of its kind in Canada. Prostate cancer is the leading cancer in males in British Columbia and Canada (excluding certain skin cancers), and the second most common in men globally. The new building enabled the Prostate Centre to expand. Exciting advances include a blood test to optimise individual prostate cancer treatment (Clinical Cancer Research) and groundbreaking work on the PEG10 gene as a therapeutic target for neuroendocrine prostate cancer (Cell Reports).

    In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, the centre has leveraged its internationally recognised standing in the development of precision oncology drugs to help speed the world towards a therapy for the coronavirus. By repurposing the centre’s artificial intelligence (AI) platform and employing “deep docking” AI technology, 1.3 billion chemical compounds were screened in weeks rather than then usual three years. A shortlist of 100 likely candidates was then identified that might lead to treatment, with the list being made publicly available to researchers globally.

  • OVCARE: the internationally recognised ovarian cancer research programme was previously divided between Vancouver General Hospital and the British Columbia Cancer Agency. With the opening of the Research Centre, researchers could be brought together. In addition, the programme was located within the Vancouver Prostate Centre, fostering daily encounters between scientific teams and activating potential for collaborative discovery. Among OVCARE breakthroughs is the understanding that ovarian cancer is not one disease but comprises many distinct subtypes. A later finding showed the most common type of ovarian cancer starts in the fallopian tubes. This is leading to changes in surgical conventions for procedures such as hysterectomies.

    By 2020, an expansion of the programme’s work was underway to encompass all female-related cancers, setting a goal of decreasing by half the incidence, death, and suffering from all gynaecological cancers by 2034. Artificial intelligence is assisting in interpreting information from tumour tissue, informing more precise early diagnostic tools for endometrial cancer while genetic analysis is adding further insights on how the immune system can be harnessed to prevent or treat ovarian cancer.

  • A more permanent home for the Centre for Hip Health and Mobility has enabled researchers and expert clinicians from different fields to explore world-leading implementation of approaches to the alleviation of arthritis, osteoporosis and fall-related fractures. Generally, falls have been found to cause more than 95% of hip fractures in seniors. Over 20% of those who suffer a hip fracture die within one year. The Centre’s evidence-based model targets those at greatest risk, providing a personal fall risk profile that identifies root causes. It then works with patients, families and medical specialists on prevention.

 

Leading role

Through a donation to Vancouver General Hospital in 2005, Mr Ho supported the acquisition of Canada’s first dedicated cardiac CT scanner to improve heart patient care. The gift also funded renovation of the cardiac catherisation unit to provide additional space for procedures, with the facility renamed the Robert and Greta Ho Cardiac Investigation Centre. He made a major gift to establish The HOpe Centre at Vancouver’s Lions Gate Hospital in 2011. In 2014, a donation initiated The Robert H. N. Ho Enhancing Patient Care Fund with Vancouver Coastal Health, focused on professional development opportunities for nurses and allied professionals.

Mr and Mrs Ho received the 2014 Leadership Award from VGH & UBC Hospital Foundation in recognition of the inspiration they provide and their contributions. “Mr Ho is respected for his breadth of vision and creativity as a philanthropist in healthcare and beyond,” said Ms Barbara Grantham, President and CEO of the Foundation. “Most people who know him understand that he is driven by ideas. Whether it is a passion and belief that the arts can transcend difference and bridge culture or the importance of well-being, both mental and physical, it is manifest in how he expresses his philanthropy.”