Libin Cardiovascular Institue of Alberta Celebrates 10 Years

https://libin.ucalgary.ca/libin10

The Libin Cardiovascular Institute of Alberta celebrated its ten year anniversary this year.  In 2004, the generosity of donors Alvin and Mona Libin and the coordination of Dean Eldon Smith, along with his team at the University of Calgary's Faculty of Medicine and collaborators within Calgary Health Region combined to create the internationally recognized centre for heart research.

The successes of the Institute over the past decade are clearly quantifiable.  A recent article on the institute's website notes that the original $15 million donation from the Libins has grown to over $50 million worth of philanthropy.  Libin researchers  have published over 2500 peer-reviewed publications, but the institute is more that just research and education.  As the web article states, "It is often said that Calgary is the best place in the country to have had a heart attack. That’s because we have achieved the highest 30 day post MI survival rate in the country, a result of integrating the university’s cardiovascular research enterprise with the regions care delivery mechanisms."

The following video features current UofC Medical Dean John Meddings, Alvin Libin, Director Todd Anderson, patients, and others speaking about integrating health care and research at the Institute, and gives an idea of the founding concept.  Alvin Libin notes that his personal connections with Dr. Eldon Smith, his family doctor who had come to the University of Calgary from Dalhousie in 1980, had much to do with the Institute's establishment.  Libin notes of Smith, "We became very good personal friends...he was also my doctor...We became involved in the idea of how we could get bigger better in heart at the Foothills hospital."  Smith is still very much in play with the Institute's vision, chairing the Strategic Advisory Board, and sitting on the board of Alberta Health Services.  The video closes with the message that the Libin Cardiovascular Institute is all about "people, people, people."

For more on the Libin Institute:
Click www.Libininstitute.org
Read Hearts, Minds & Vision: Roots of the Libin Cardiovascular Institute of Alberta
or Follow them on twitter @libininstitute