Dec 2, 2020
Today, Ellen Gardner and Philip De Souza, Communications and Marketing at HIROC, speak with Dr. Ronald Cohn, President and CEO of the Hospital for Sick Children.
Early in his medical career, Dr. Ronald Cohn was on a tourist bus in Toronto and as it drove up University Avenue and by SickKids Hospital he told his wife, that’s one of the world’s leading children’s hospitals and I will probably never work there. Proving that life doesn’t go where you predict, in 2012 Dr. Cohn accepted a position as Chief of the Division of Clinical and Metabolic Genetics, Co-Director of the Centre for Genetic Medicine, and Senior Scientist at the SickKids Research Institute.
Even as he leads the hospital, staying true to his identity as a physician and a scientist is essential for Dr. Cohn, who still sees patients and is very active in the lab that bears his name. Most recently, his laboratory started to investigate the application of a new genome editing technology, CRISPR/Cas9 that holds the promise of correcting genetic abnormalities that lead to muscular dystrophy.
Today he is guiding the hospital in a new strategic direction called Precision Child Health. The campaign is built around the concept of individualized care tailored to each patient’s unique characteristics, from their genetic code to their postal code.
Quotes
“There is an aura in our institution of the people who love working here. That is true for every single person who works here.” – RC
“Moving forward, under the concept of “SickKids care anytime, anywhere”, we will hopefully have monitoring opportunities of children at home that would help us reduce the time they have to actually stay in the hospital.” – RC
“I had a lab meeting and asked the small group assembled – look at this exciting research. I want us to drop everything we’re doing right now. Are you willing to go with me on a journey trying to use this technology as a way to identify new therapeutics for muscular dystrophy?” – RC
“(With Precision Child Health) we’re trying to look at the very broad data set and then leverage the technology in order to think about prediction as well as prevention.” – RC
“It’s a difficult journey, a journey that will never end. But I’m glad we made it (diversity, equity and inclusion) a pillar of our strategic plan and we have full support from literally everyone at the executive level and director level to bring some real change.”
“There are always opportunities for change. I think leaders need to see them, identify them and you need to help implement them.” – RC
“My wife said it best: you put on a suit, it fit you and you just ran with it.”
“I can tell you that one of the best decisions of my life was to move here, and it was a difficult one.” – RC
Mentioned in this Episode:
The Hospital for Sick Children
Johns Hopkins University
Precision Child Health
Dr. Indra Narang
CRISPR/Cas9
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