Dianne and Irving Kipnes Health Research Institute opens at University of Alberta

New institute will transform health care in Canada by bringing together best-in-class leaders in AI and health to transform research into practical patient solutions

Health researchers call it the “valley of death” – the 17 years on average that it takes for a scientific discovery to reach the patients it intends to help.

For Dianne Kipnes, the valley felt personal. Following treatment for cervical cancer, she developed severe lymphedema, a condition that leads to debilitating swelling and pain in the limbs. With a PhD in clinical psychology, she understood that the search for solutions required more research. So in 2018, Dianne and her husband, Irving, established the Dianne and Irving Kipnes Chair in Lymphatic Disorders at the University of Alberta to generate more scientific knowledge and improve patient care.

Now the Kipnes family is further expanding that commitment to ensure breakthroughs move from discovery to practice at a much faster pace – a philosophy that is at the heart of their approach to philanthropy. On Sept. 15, the University of Alberta announced a $25-million gift from the Dianne and Irving Kipnes Foundation to establish the Dianne and Irving Kipnes Health Research Institute. The institute will leverage the university’s best-in-Canada work in artificial intelligence to build on its strength in interdisciplinary research and bring findings more quickly to those who need them most.

“Philanthropy isn’t just about writing a cheque – it’s about believing in people, ideas and institutions. It’s about helping them reach their full potential,” says Irving Kipnes. “When that belief in people is matched with resources, discoveries are made, opportunities expand and entire fields move forward faster than anyone thought possible.”

This research institute marks a new era for Canadian health innovation – one that invests not just in discovery, but the vital step of transforming it into practical solutions for patients, says Bill Flanagan, president and vice-chancellor of the University of Alberta. And this new institute honours the legacy of Dianne, who passed away in December 2024, by advancing her vision of improving health outcomes for all Canadians.

“Dianne and Irving wanted to help patients who are in the hospital today,” Flanagan says. “Marrying AI with health-care research is going to exponentially increase what we can do as a university to improve lives in concrete ways.”

With the U of A already a top-ranked leader in AI and health, the institute will bring together experts from both fields and recruit new ones to create user-ready solutions to challenges such as streamlining hospital queues and discovering new drugs. The institute will also provide researchers with a shared research computing core that will help them access and make use of provincial health data.

Alberta benefits from having one of the world’s most centralized and integrated health data systems, says Brenda Hemmelgarn, dean and vice-provost of the university’s College of Health Sciences and dean of the Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry. Providing researchers with this wealth of health data will allow them to identify and solve problems most relevant to the communities they serve. “These partnerships and data do not exist anywhere else in Canada,” Hemmelgarn says. “The vision is to use this data to make evidence-informed decisions to improve health outcomes for Albertans and all Canadians.”

The dedicated health research translation unit within the institute will also reduce the administrative burden researchers often face when coordinating clinical trials, testing new technologies and navigating regulations, all of which will bring health innovations to patients sooner.

“Alberta will be the place where research discoveries reach patients in our communities not in decades, but in years, or even months,” Hemmelgarn says.

The institute will also provide lymphedema-specific training for health-care professionals and students.

“Dianne wanted to see results and she wanted those results to be meaningful and impactful,” Flanagan says. “She knew that working in partnership with the University of Alberta gave her an opportunity to have the kind of impact that she wanted in her life.”

Advertising feature provided by University of Alberta. The Globe and Mail’s editorial department was not involved.