News
The Blais Family Fund
Published on April 30, 2019
Pierre Blais is clear proof that investing in medical research contributes to saving lives. In 1992, he was diagnosed with incurable chronic leukemia. His children were 12 and 17 years old at the time. Their mother had recently died of the disease. In 2003, Investigator and Hematologist Guy Sauvageau, CEO and Scientific Director of IRIC at the time, proposed that he undergo a treatment in its experimental stage based on a bone marrow transplant. After an initial failure, a second transplant was successful. Pierre has been free of the disease for almost 13 years and has been committed to supporting research ever since.
In 2010, Pierre Blais created the Blais Family Fund which devotes itself, year after year, to bringing together golf lovers. For each of the past nine years, over 140 golfers have played in the tournament organized at the Buckingham Golf Club to raise awareness and mobilize their friends and family for the cause.
To date, the Blais Family Fund has helped raise close to $400,000 to support the Institute, thus contributing to the recruitment of Etienne Gagnon, Principal Investigator of the Cancer Immunobiology Research Unit. The money raised also resulted in the continuation of four innovative projects led by Etienne Gagnon, Trang Hoang and Sylvain Meloche, all Principal Investigators at the Institute.
You too can make a difference by encouraging our research efforts.