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Read the latest stories about what's going on at St. Joseph's Health Care London.

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Tall dream comes true

With a list of burning questions in hand, Patricia Prance answered an incoming video call. On the other end of the line – a giraffe and his zookeeper. Prance has virtually visited not one but two giraffes thanks to St. Joseph's Health Care London's Palliative Care Unit at Parkwood Institute. Her interest in giraffes first sparked when she visited African Lion Safari as a kid. “I just fell in love with the way they ran and their tall necks. And I'm tall and lanky and run kind of like a giraffe,” she laughs. Prance always dreamed of meeting a giraffe and being able to pet it, but travel...

Poop in a pill helping advance cancer care

It’s one of the most exciting areas of research in cancer care. Making waves in scientific and health care circles worldwide, it holds the potent potential to “jazz up” cells that attack cancer and boost the body’s response to treatment. So what is this powerful ally? It’s poop in a pill – home...

Discovery-driven, patient-focused

As the research arm and integral partner of St. Joseph’s Health Care London, Lawson Research Institute (Lawson) is one of Canada’s premier health institutes. For more than 40 years, a culture of curiosity and innovation has propelled Lawson to become a renowned leader in work that improves the lives...

Keeping an Eye on Care of the Future

While in university, Dr. Khaldon Abbas had a deeply moving experience as a volunteer with the Canadian Centre for Victims of Torture (CCVT) that changed the trajectory of his life and career. The community-based organization helps victims of war and torture, and Abbas, whose family immigrated to...

Dementia research hits the ‘mark’

Dr. Michael Borrie is now seeing grandchildren of patients who came to his clinic when he first started Alzheimer’s research 30 years ago. His message to this new generation is more hopeful than ever, bolstered by ever-more-reliable ways of early detection and being tantalizingly close to a future...

Investing in Life-Changing Research

Through donor support, endowed research chairs are exploring and answering some of the most profound and complex research questions of our time. Among cherished family photos and special mementos in the office of Jeremy Burton, PhD, is a slightly faded photo of a young woman. Burton points out the...

Standing up to Falls

By merging world class care with research and artificial intelligence, St. Joseph’s Health Care London is catching falls before they happen. They wreak havoc on independence and well-being, making them one Canada’s most pressing health challenges: falls. A leading cause of injury-related...

Micheline sitting on a chair leaning on her hand

A new lease on life

Sarnia’s Micheline Steele had big plans for her retirement – spending time with her husband, traveling the world, getting out in nature and being active every day. But shortly into her time off, this fitness enthusiast started to experience pain in her shoulders and neck that kept increasing in...

Light in the darkness

This holiday season, Fressia Rivas is feeling hopeful. It’s been almost five years since she experienced a stroke, out of the blue, right before Christmas 2019. Since then, she’s been on a long journey of recovery, navigating the physical, mental and emotional challenges of her condition. Now, with...

$Tex wearing a Veterans vest$

The book of Tex

Frank Davis, known as Tex, was born in 1926 – but not really. One of a family of eight kids growing up near Sackville, Nova Scotia, his birth wasn’t legally registered until he was a year old. That means that, technically, the 98-year-old is actually just a year shy of becoming a centenarian. It’s...