The hospital's Peter Gilgan Centre for Research and Learning is the largest pediatric research centre in the world by area; the skyscraper holds 69,677.28 square metres (750,000.0 sq ft).[3][4] SickKids is credited with a number of inventions, includingPablum, a fortified children's cereal, in 1930. In 1968, the hospital opened North America's first pediatricintensive care unit. In 1989, the hospital discovered the gene responsible forcystic fibrosis. The hospital's research is primarily based in the fields ofgenetics andoncology. Several of Canada's first surgeries have been performed at SickKids, including the separation ofconjoined twins,bone marrow transplantation,multi-organ transplantation, andin-utero cardiac surgery.[5]
Victoria Hospital for Sick ChildrenNurse and orderly transport child to operating room, c. 1915Peter Gilgan Centre for Research and LearningAtrium designed byEberhard Zeidler
In 1875, an eleven-room house was rented forCA$320 (equivalent to $9,327 in 2023) a year by a Toronto women's bible study group, led byElizabeth McMaster.[6] Opened on March 1,[7] it set up six iron cots and "declared open a hospital 'for the admission and treatment of all sick children.'" The first patient, a scalding victim named Maggie, came in on April 3. In its first year of operation, 44 patients were admitted to the hospital, and 67 others were treated in outpatient clinics.[8]John Gennings Curtis Adams became the hospital's first dentist of record in 1883.
In 1876, the hospital moved to larger facilities. In 1891, it moved from rented premises to a purposely-built building atCollege and Elizabeth Streets. It would remain there for 60 years. The building, known as theVictoria Hospital for Sick Children, is now the Toronto area headquarters ofCanadian Blood Services. In 1951, the hospital moved to its presentUniversity Avenue location. On its grounds once stood the childhood home of the Canadian-born movie starMary Pickford.[8]
In 1972,[9] the hospital became equipped with a rooftop helipad (CNW8).[10]
In December 2022, the hospital was attacked by theLockBitransomware gang, who apologized 13 days later and provided a decryptor to the hospital for free.[12]
The hospital was an early leader in the fields offood safety andnutrition. In 1908, apasteurization facility for milk was established at the hospital, the first in Toronto, 30 years before milk pasteurization became mandatory.[13] Researchers at the hospital invented an infant cereal,Pablum. The research that led to the discovery ofinsulin took place at the nearbyUniversity of Toronto and was soon applied in the hospital byGladys Boyd. Dr.Frederick Banting, one of the researchers, had served his internship at the hospital and went on to become an attending physician there. In 1963,William Thornton Mustard developed theMustard surgical procedure to help correct heart problems inblue baby syndrome.[13] In 1989, a team of researchers at the hospital discovered the gene responsible forcystic fibrosis.[14]
One of the funded proposals was titled “Building COVID-19 Vaccine Confidence: Educating the Educators.” The result was a promotional video titled “COVID-19 Vaccination Information for Education & Child Care Sector Staff” narrated by Dr.Danielle Martin.[18] It was produced by19 to Zero, and distributed by theOntario Ministry of Education to school boards, private schools, and childcare centres to use in COVID-19 vaccination educational programs.[19]
A second proposal was titled “Stop COVID in Kids - School-based vaccine education outreach to build trust and empower families”, which received additional funding in the form of a $440,000 grant from thePublic Health Agency of Canada's Immunization Partnership Fund.[16][20]
In 1980-81, up to 29baby deaths at SickKids were suspected to have been deliberately murdered by a nurse using the heart medicationdigoxin. However, after years of inquiry, it remains unclear if any murders actually took place or if toxicological tests were misinterpreted. In 2024, retired SickKids pediatric intensive care specialist Dr. Desmond Bohn, who took the latter position, pointed to similarities in the BritishLucy Letby case.[21]
The hospital housed theMotherisk Drug Testing Laboratory.[22] At the request of various child protection agencies, 16,000 hair samples were tested from 2005 to 2015. The former Ontario Appeal Court judge, Susan Lang, reviewed Motherisk Drug Testing Laboratory and determined that it was not qualified to do forensic testing. Lang also stated, "That SickKids failed to exercise meaningful oversight over MDTL's work must be considered in the context of the hospital's experience with Dr.Charles Smith."[23] The 2008 Goudge Report also found that Dr. Charles Smith, whose forensic testimony led to wrongful convictions in the deaths of children, was not qualified to do forensic testing.[24]
The hospital is in its initial stages of expansion. In 2017, it established the "SickKids VS Limits" fundraising campaign, which continued until 2022 to raise $1.5 billion for the expansion project.[25][26] The funds will be used to build a patient care centre on University Avenue and a support centre on Elizabeth Street, to renovate the atrium, and to fund pediatric health research.[26]
To provide the required area for the buildings, demolition of existing structures was required. That included the removal of askyway spanning Elizabeth Street, the demolition of the Elizabeth McMaster Building at the northeast corner of Elizabeth Street and Elm Street, and the demolition of the laboratory and administrative building.[27]: 26–31
Construction of the 22-story Patient Support Centre administrative building occurred on the site of theElizabeth McMaster Building. Groundbreaking took place in October 2019, topping out took place in September 2022, and it opened in September 2023.[28][29][30] The Peter Gilgan Family Patient Care Tower is expected to open in 2029, and the atrium's renovation is expected to be completed by 2031.[27]
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Benjamin Alman, professor and head of the division of orthopedic surgery, senior scientist in developmental and stem cell biology
Jean Augustine (born 1937), member of the Board of Trustees
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