innovative Leader By Shawn Lawrence
BaYCrESt a centre of excellence for innovation in aging
OntariO
Fully affiliated with the University of Toronto and located in Toronto, Baycrest is a centre that provides care and services to approximately 2,500 people a day through its geriatric heath care system. To any outsider, it looks like a large hospital. But a closer look reveals Baycrest as a place where world recognized cognitive neuroscientists and talented clinicians have created a dynamic venture research environment focused on brain health and successful aging.
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“It’s one of the very few places in the world where you have a world-class cognitive neuroscience institute embedded within a very rich continuum of senior care services,” explains Baycrest president and CEO Dr. William Reichman. “That’s what’s amazing about this place, you have these world-class scientists working side-by-side with clinicians, and that means we can more readily translate the science into practical application that benefit people. It’s
Biotechnology Focus / May 2010
an extraordinary opportunity to be able to conduct research in a real-world setting, with such a rich and varied aging population.” What Dr. Reichman is alluding to is the presence of the Kunin-Lunenfeld Applied Research Unit (KLARU) for clinical research and the Rotman Research Institute (RRI) for brain research at Baycrest. The former conducts research alongside clinicians applying the results directly to client care; the latter a world leader in cognitive neuroscience. Usually such institutes are either free standing or they’re on the campuses of universities and are not in close relation to settings of actual care. According to Dr. Reichman, how all of these enterprises come together is what makes Baycrest unique. “RRI scientists have made significant contributions to helping us understand how we remember things, what areas of the brain are involved, and not only how we remember but also how we actually execute and get things done on a day-to-day basis,” he says, adding that the end goal is to take these findings and use them to improve the aging experience and to better understand brain function. Every five years Baycrest research undergoes an external review conducted by highly respected scientists from around the world. In their most recent review experts called the cognitive neuroscience programs at Baycrest‘s RRI “world-class,” listing them among the best in the world alongside
UC Berkeley, UCLA, University College London and MIT. Moreover, the panel pointed to Baycrest as a “wonderful resource” for targeted brain fitness product development efforts with both government and private investors. “That’s just an extraordinary achievement for a place that many construed for so many decades to be just a nursing home on Bathurst Street. Very few people I think fully understood what was going on behind the scenes at our centre in terms of the sophistication and caliber of the research,” he says, adding that it was the long standing reputation of research excellence at Baycrest that convinced him to leave his position as an internationally-known expert in geriatric health and dementia in the U.S., and accept the position of CEO and president of Baycrest. In addition to being backed by a strong research pillar, Baycrest has made significant gains in leveraging these strengths into partnerships with government and collaborations with health science organizations. The Baycrest Centre for Brain Fitness, which was launched in 2008, owes its existence in large part to this collaborative activity. The centre was established with a $10 million investment from the Ontario Ministry of Research and Innovation, plus $10 million in donor support. The chair of Baycrest’s board of directors, Dr. Tony Melman, notes some of the innovations associated with the centre could save the Ontario healthcare
