On March 10, 2021, the McGill community around the world—alumni, students, parents, faculty, and staff—joined forces online for McGill24, the University’s 6th annual day of giving. In just 24 hours, donors to the University and the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences (FMHS) generously gave a record total of over $3.8 million on the strength of 6,885 donations.
The Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences raised $547,547 during McGill24, an increase of over 25% from last year. More than 1,000 donors took part, as the number of donors rose by 33%.
“We did great! A record number of donors took part in the Faculty’s McGill 24 drive. I would in particular like to thank staff and faculty members, who continued their tradition of leading the way by rallying support for and contributing directly to their own departments and schools, as well as to student-led projects. I also want to commend the Class of ’21, who had more donors than any other graduating class year. In spite of the challenges of the pandemic, it is clear that our community has a strong commitment to excellence—and giving back,” says David Eidelman, MDCM’79, Vice-Principal (Health Affairs) and Dean of the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences.
Restart the heart: raising funds and public awareness to save lives
Christina Skiadopoulos, BSc(N)’17, a pediatric ICU nurse at the Montreal Children’s Hospital of the McGill University Health Centre (MUHC) and student in the Pediatric Nurse Practitioner master’s program at the Ingram School of Nursing (MSc’22 candidate), is one of over 200 student and alumni volunteers who promoted the causes that matter to them most through 55 student-led initiatives, such as McGill’s World Restart a Heart (WRAH) 2021 campaign.
In her WRAH ambassador relations role, Skiadapoulos recruited and worked with high-profile campaign ambassadors including Canadian astronauts Dave Williams, BSc’76, MSc’83, MDCM’83, DSc’07, and Robert Thirsk, MDCM’82, Olympian swimmer Jacqueline Simoneau; and Bronze Medal Olympian Joannie Rochette, MDCM’20, to raise awareness about the impact of bystander CPR in saving lives. “It was amazing to see so many influencers, athletes and other distinguished Canadians really wanting to support the cause. Their willingness to share information and insights about CPR and cardiac arrest with their followers on social media and at virtual live events was inspiring,” she says.
Skiadopoulos was also involved in filming high-impact videos featuring sudden cardiac arrest survivor Katrysha Gellis and Rochette, who lost her mother to a sudden heart attack two days before competing in the Vancouver Olympics in 2010. As well, Skiadopoulos appeared in a 60-second video demonstrating how to save a life after cardiac arrest.
“With the success of the McGill WRAH campaign, we gained a big following, reaching over 500,000 people around the world. That helped a lot with fundraising for McGill24 in March. Without the donations from McGill24, we wouldn’t be able to create the videos, the patient educational materials, and get the message out to help save lives as effectively as we do,” she says.
WRAH raised over $4,000 during McGill24. These funds help to support bringing a free eModule on hands-only CPR to McGill’s myCourses platform, work with professional creative agencies to build a high-impact awareness campaign, and the creation of a new patient education booklet, “A Guide to Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrests,” for all MUHC hospitals.
“I work in a pediatric ICU and we see 16-year-old boys playing hockey that have sudden cardiac arrest on the ice with no predisposing factors. As a nurse with experience in an ICU, I saw the value of contributing my knowledge as a co-lead author. The guide is being written for people being followed for heart conditions, and we hope it can be a helpful and life-saving resource for them and for their families. We hope to scale it up for hospital institutions across Canada and North America,” says Skiadopoulos, who is also excited about McGill WRAH’s plan to collaborate with universities across the country to “get them on board with a student-led campaign that will be Canada-wide.”
Rallying support for top medical physics students
The Faculty’s Medical Physics Unit (MPU) raised an impressive $30,800 during McGill24 on the strength of 33 gifts, representing a substantial increase in funds raised and number of donors from previous years. The MPU’s McGill24 campaign supports the Ervin B. Podgorsak Fellowship, established in 2016 in honour of the unit’s former director for nearly two decades. The $10,000 fellowship is awarded annually to a student candidate entering the Medical Physics MSc program with the highest undergraduate Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA).
“Almost all our alumni know Professor Podgorsak and this is a key personal connection. The money is allocated to recruit the best students and the scholarship is about academic excellence. All of our fellowship recipients are high-flyers,” says Dr. Jan Seuntjens, a James McGill Professor of Oncology & director of the MPU, who is a senior scientist at the Research Institute of the MUHC and senior medical physicist, Cedars Cancer Centre, MUHC.
The MPU received a $20,000 donation from Dr. Karl Otto, BSc’95, MSc (Medical Physics)’97, an inventor who developed software-based technology for a new form of radiation therapy now used to treat over a hundred thousand cancer patients daily. “Dr. Podgorsak was a positive influence in my career and it’s with pride that I made the donation,” says Otto.
“We were fortunate to receive such a generous donation from Dr. Otto. We’re exploring some secondary uses in addition to the Fellowship to help support candidates from minority groups, diverse cultures and international students,” says Seuntjens, who reached out to all alumni as a lead-up to the campaign.
The McGill MPU was the first Medical Physics program in Canada and third accredited program in North America. Its 40th anniversary celebration in November 2019 brought together many alumni, students, faculty, and staff in person, which helped to strengthen connections in this tight-knit community. “Our participation in McGill24 is a department venture. We build support by keeping in touch with our alumni online, through organized receptions, solo events, and the annual COMP [Canadian Organization of Medical Physicists] conference,” says Margery Knewstubb, the MPU’s administrative coordinator.
Alumni donors recognize the importance of supporting students entering this demanding two-year program. “New students constitute the future of the field, and every alumnus recognizes the hardships students go through when studying in the program. Graduating from McGill Medical Physics represents a feather in their cap. Our alumni can relate to the experience of students training now and think how nice it would have been in their time to be supported with a scholarship like this,” says Seuntjens.
Challenge and matching funds help McGill24 gifts go further
This year the Faculty Advancement Board (FAB) for the FMHS established the new FAB Challenge/Matching Fund, as an incentive for faculty and staff taking part in McGill 24. FAB members generously contributed over $50,000 to support the FAB Challenge Fund and 33 FMHS departments participated. Each departmental unit was allocated $1,000 as matching funds for the first $1,000 in donations raised by each unit.
With the FAB Challenge Fund as an additional incentive for giving, there was a 43% increase in the number of gifts made towards the 33 units and a 60% increase in dollars raised by all the units.
“Every amount contributed to McGill24 helps in such challenging times. It was gratifying to see how a new donor-supported initiative, the FAB Challenge Fund, helped our Faculty & Staff fundraising campaign to be even more successful this year and increase support for priority projects across all participating FMHS departments,” says Michael Corber, BCom’85, DPA’86, chair of the FAB’s Fundraising subcommittee and of the Rosalind and Morris Goodman Cancer Research Centre Advisory Board at McGill, as well as a partner at Richter LLP.
Corber adds that the FAB has been a stalwart supporter of the McGill Fund, beyond McGill24, citing a recent gift, of $48,000, courtesy of Marisa and Francesco Bellini, honorary co-chairs of the FAB, via the Bellini Foundation, which also helped the Faculty meet its McGill Fund target of $2 million.
All funds raised during McGill24 will also count towards Made by McGill: the Campaign for Our Third Century, the multi-year, $2-billion fundraising drive that McGill launched in fall 2019 to support its ambitions as it celebrates its 200th anniversary.
Units and student groups interested in taking part in next McGill24 can mina.park2 [at] mcgill.ca (subject: McGill24) (contact Advancement Officer Mina Park for more information).