Peter Gilgan donates $50 million - the largest single gift to Support Early Cancer Detection in North America

This unprecedented gift to The Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation will build the
world's largest program for detecting and intercepting the recurrence of cancer in patients.

TORONTO, Nov. 26, 2025 /PRNewswire/ - An unprecedented gift of $50 million towards early cancer detection, donated by the Peter Gilgan Foundation, was announced today by The Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation. This gift will establish the Peter Gilgan Centre for Early Cancer Detection Research at Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, making it the largest research program of its kind globally. Together with donations made to other hospitals and healthcare organizations to date, Peter Gilgan and the Peter Gilgan Foundation continue to be the largest benefactor to healthcare in Canada.

Cancer remains the leading cause of death for Canadians. More than 50% of cancers are currently diagnosed at an advanced stage. Many patients with late-stage disease face significant physical, emotional, social, and caregiver challenges, and their outcomes are poorer. Such a world-leading early detection program will revolutionize cancer care by identifying the disease when treatment is most likely to succeed, ultimately allowing more patients to be cured.

"Currently, the tremendous promise of early detection remains unfulfilled. Established methods to screen for cancer or detect cancer signals in the blood for the general population are neither cost-efficient or practical," said Dr. Miyo Yamashita, President and CEO of The Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation. "We are in an unprecedented time in history where healthcare progress is at risk due to funding cuts in research. Generosity of this magnitude is transformative. We are incredibly grateful to Peter Gilgan and the Peter Gilgan Foundation for their visionary and philanthropic leadership, sharing our conviction that early detection research will help get closer to a world free from the fear of cancer."

The Peter Gilgan Centre for Early Cancer Detection Research will launch a three-pillar program aimed at pioneering early detection research. Led by our scientists—world leaders with diverse expertise in this promising field—this initiative will accelerate the translation of new discoveries and technologies for early detection into improved patient care and outcomes, enabling more people—adults and children alike—to live long, healthy, and fulfilling lives.

"Cancer is a cause that has touched my family and loved ones, and it affects far too many Canadians," said Peter Gilgan. "Now is the time to invest in Canada's capacity for world-class research and innovation. I am compelled to make this significant gift to establish a centre of this kind, one that will strengthen our country's research and catalyze better outcomes that will create a lasting impact on patients here in Canada and around the world."

The Centre will drive a bold initiative to transform how cancers are detected, monitored, and treated at their earliest stages. It will feature three interconnected pillars:

• Understanding how cancer starts and develops so we can find new ways to detect it early. Our goal is to learn how abnormal cells turn into dangerous, life-threatening diseases.
• Developing new technologies to find cancer in its early stages. We aim to use these tools to improve treatment for all cancer patients, including tools that can assess risk and measure the amount of tumour in newly diagnosed and at-risk individuals.
• Creating a world-leading program at The Princess Margaret to develop pathways for new discoveries in early detection to be studied, trialled, and implemented, including the establishment of the world's most ambitious Molecular Residual Disease (MRD) program. MRD represents the earliest signs of cancer progression after treatment. Patients with MRD currently have the lowest survival rates due to aggressive biology and treatment resistance, urgently necessitating a new paradigm for these patients.

"This unprecedented investment in research advancing the early detection of cancer will close critical gaps in cancer care: understanding the earliest markers of cancer, developing and implementing advanced diagnostic technologies to detect and explore ways to intercept early cancer before it advances further," said Dr. Keith Stewart, Vice President, Cancer at University Health Network, and Director of the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre. "This feedback loop ensures continuous innovation in the mission to intercept cancer early, extend survival, and ultimately increase the number of patients who can be cured."

We are deeply grateful to Peter Gilgan and the Peter Gilgan Foundation for their visionary commitment to accelerating early detection and enhancing health outcomes and quality of life for cancer patients in Canada and worldwide.

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ABOUT THE PRINCESS MARGARET CANCER FOUNDATION  

The Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation is Canada's largest cancer charity. We're dedicated to raising funds for Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, one of the world's leading cancer research and treatment centres, known for its breakthrough discoveries that transform patient outcomes. Together, our work benefits cancer patients everywhere in our mission to create a world free from the fear of cancer. Through philanthropy, fundraising events, and our world-leading lottery program, we're changing how the world understands, prevents, diagnoses, and treats cancer, benefitting patients at The Princess Margaret, throughout Canada, and around the world.  

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SOURCE Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation