Our History
London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC) has a 150-year history of improving patient care through research. Highlights from our history include:
- 1875: LHSC’s story begins in 1875 with the opening of the London General Hospital where our legacy of research and innovation began
- 1983: LHSC and Upjohn jointly open the Victoria Upjohn Clinical Research Unit at South Street Hospital (formerly Victoria Hospital), focusing on Phase I-III clinical trials
- 1990: Victoria Hospital assumes operations of the clinical research unit at South Street, renaming it the Victoria Clinical Trials Centre
- 1997: The Victoria Clinical Trials Centre is renamed London Health Sciences Centre Research Inc. and becomes a fully incorporated research institute overseeing all hospital-based research at London Health Sciences Centre sites: Victoria Hospital, University Hospital and South Street Hospital
- 2000: London Health Sciences Centre Research Inc. agrees to form a joint venture with Lawson Research Institute at St. Joseph’s Health Care London, naming it Lawson Health Research Institute
- 2003: The Victoria Research Laboratories open at Victoria Hospital, the first collaboration of its kind in Canada bringing together research from cancer, children’s health and vascular biology
- 2024: LHSC and St. Joseph’s launch newly branded research institutes: London Health Sciences Centre Research Institute (LHSCRI) and Lawson Research Institute at St. Joseph’s
Milestones
Throughout our history, LHSCRI researchers have driven forward transformative ideas and innovations that improve and save lives. Our research milestones include:
- 2024: Scientists develop new tool to detect consciousness in the intensive care unit
- 2024: World first discoveries allow researchers to accurately diagnose prenatal exposure syndromes and birth disorders
- 2024: A Canadian-first technique has potential to lead to more organs being available for transplant
- 2023: World-first, multi-centre clinical trial find fecal transplants are safe and show promise in improving response to immunotherapy in patients with advanced melanoma
- 2022: Researchers discover novel method to diagnose long COVID
- 2022: Researchers adapt MRI technology to accurately image salt in kidneys of patients with kidney disease
- 2020: Researchers first in world to profile the body’s immune response to COVID-19
- 2020: Researchers treat patient with COVID-19 using specialized dialysis
- 2019: Case report from researchers at LHSC and University Health Network describes suspected new type of vaping-related lung injury
- 2019: New studies show HIV can be transmitted through the sharing of equipment used to prepare drugs before injection and that a simple intervention can destroy the HIV virus, preventing transmission
- 2019: Scientists develop molecular diagnostic tool to analyze epigenetic patterns, facilitating diagnosis of rare, unknown hereditary disorders. London Health Sciences Centre is the first site in the world to offer this type of testing.
- 2018: Research shows high-dose radiation can improve survival in patients with cancer that has spread to five or less sites
- 2018: An international collaborative study is one of the first to demonstrate that a blood test can predict how patients with advanced prostate cancer will respond to specific treatments, leading to improved survival
- 2017: In one of the largest microbiota studies conducted in humans, researchers show a potential link between healthy aging and a healthy gut
- 2017: Innovative study brings next-generation genome sequencing to London cancer patients, contributing to province-wide database of genomic and clinical data
- 2017: Dr. Alan Getgood and his team are the first in Canada to participate in an investigative trial to determine the safety and efficacy of using a patient’s own cartilage cells to repair knee cartilage injuries
- 2016: Researchers at LHSC and St. Joseph’s are the first in Canada to use a prostate specific membrane antigen (PSMA) probe in positron emission tomography (PET) scans to provide improved and highly specific images used for better diagnosis and management of prostate cancer
- 2015: New partnership with STEMCELL Technologies for commercialization of tools for Parkinson’s disease research
- 2015: Issuance of a U.S. patent with Novare Pharmaceuticals for the composition-of-matter and use of RHAMM-binding peptides with a wide range of potential therapeutic uses. The patent also has claims for the diagnosis and prognosis of cancer, and for prescribing a course of treatment for the diagnosed cancer.
- 2014: Licensing agreement announced with Yabao Pharmaceutical Group in China to develop and test a new life-saving drug to treat sepsis
- 2013: The Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences (ICES) Western opens
- 2011: Lindros Legacy Research Building officially opens at University Hospital
- 2008: Experimental anti-thrombolitic clinic established to calculate personalized dosage of drugs based on a patient’s genetics
- 2007: The first totally endoscopic closed-chest robotic coronary artery bypass surgery on a patient’s beating heart is performed at University Hospital
- 2004: Our scientists release a three-year study on the effects of the Walkerton water disaster