A Message from Our Leaders

This year SickKids turned 150. We celebrated by honouring our past — and planning for the future. Our top priority? Transforming paediatric medicine so every child gets care as unique as they are.

At our birthday celebration on April 3, 2025, with thousands watching in person and online, current and former patients told us how SickKids transformed their lives. A parade of 150 patients, families, and staff marched through the Hospital, reminding us of the people at the heart of the care we provide. Celebrations continued with a community party in Nathan Phillips Square, complete with a SickKids hot air balloon. We also invited people across the globe to celebrate SickKids scientific discoveries and innovations in patient care by going “balloon spotting” for 150 sculptures — each inscribed with a story of impact. To add to the excitement, we are incredibly proud to share that SickKids has been named the number 1 paediatric hospital in the world by Newsweek. This honour reflects our incredible staff, commitment to care and innovation, and your efforts as a community of donors to invest in and elevate what’s possible in children’s health.

As we reflect on how far we have come, we are also focused on the path ahead. We know that for many of our patients, every birthday is a fight. That’s why we’re leading the way on Precision Child Health and the end of one-size-fits-all medicine. Since 2020, we have been driving this movement, and our SickKids 2030 five-year strategic plan will help us take it even further. It’s the next step in harnessing cutting-edge science, technology, data insights, a world-class team, and state-of-the-art facilities to deliver individualized care to every patient.

We’re actualizing this ambitious plan with innovative programs and major investments in science:

• SickKids is one of the top research hospitals in the world, and we are doubling down on science by expanding our Research Institute. We’re recruiting top talent from around the world who utilize genome sequencing, big-data computing, cell analysis, and imaging to enable precision therapies.
• We are increasing our research intensity, supporting our scientists to continue making major discoveries with global implications in cancer, autism, PTSD, rare disease, and many other areas. Partners like you play a critical role. For every $1 invested in a scientist, they can secure between $5 and $7 in external funding, furthering their research.
• We launched SickKids Artificial Intelligence (SKAI), which integrates AI across care, research, education, and operations. Already, we’re exploring how to use AI safely and ethically to reduce wait times in the Emergency Department and predict patient responses to specific drugs.
• Our Surgical and Endoscopy Community Partnerships Program helps our patients get care faster by transitioning long-waiting SickKids surgical cases to one of six Toronto-area community hospitals.
• SickKids is gathering critical data about our patients through the Health Equity Data Initiative, helping us understand their unique experiences and remove barriers to care.

We are creating a SickKids campus that will support and expand this innovative work. We are excited to have received confirmation of the government’s ongoing support for Project Horizon, our campus redevelopment strategy. Approvals have been granted to revise the project scope from the former single-site plan to a two-site plan, starting with a new Ambulatory Care Tower followed by the Peter Gilgan Family Patient Care Tower.

As SickKids continues to transform child health, we will need to make major investments in our campus, research infrastructure, technology, people, and partnerships. Supporters like you are essential to helping us do that. Together, we will drive Precision Child Health forward and fight for more birthdays for even more kids.

Dr. Ronald Cohn, FACMG

President and CEO,
The Hospital for Sick Children

Kathleen Taylor, CM

Chair, Board of Trustees,
The Hospital for Sick Children

Jennifer Bernard, CFRE

President and CEO,
SickKids Foundation

Walied Soliman

Chair, Board of Directors,
SickKids Foundation