This year marks a decade since the launch of the Owerko Centre, an ambitious initiative made possible by an inspiring foundational $10-million gift from Stan and Marge Owerko through the Alberta Children's Hospital Foundation.
Positioned within the Alberta Children's Hospital Research Institute at the University of Calgary's Cumming School of Medicine, the Centre was founded to accelerate discovery in neurodevelopment and children's mental health.
"In 10 years, the Owerko Centre has made an impressive impact in neurodevelopment and children's mental health research," says Dr. Susan Graham, PhD, the Centre's director. "The community has been right there alongside us, participating in research studies and sharing their lived experiences so that we can focus on the areas that need the most attention."
Research on childhood brain development is important to all of us, especially those living with neurodevelopmental conditions such as autism, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and other intellectual disabilities. Research helps uncover how the brain works and sparks new ideas to help children thrive as they grow.
The vision for this work has been rooted in partnership. Wanting to see this field advance so that more children and families could benefit from high-quality research and improved care and treatment, Stan and Marge Owerko made a bold investment that helped bring the Centre to life.
"Over the past decade, it has been so inspiring for Marge and me to follow the incredible progress of the innovative research being conducted by the exceptional team at the Owerko Centre," says Stan. "Knowing that their findings and discoveries are helping families seek better solutions for their children is extremely gratifying."
A commitment to child health
Stan and Marge have always made it clear through their philanthropy that they are committed to family and community wellness, says Saifa Koonar, president and CEO of the Alberta Children's Hospital Foundation. "As one of the first to champion the cause of brain health for kids, they have inspired many in our community to follow their lead, making Calgary an epicentre for groundbreaking multidisciplinary research in mental health and neurodevelopmental conditions," Koonar says.
Since its inception in 2015, the Owerko Centre has become a hub for leading experts, innovative researchers, and community partners across UCalgary. Highlights include:
- Investment across a broad research spectrum: research areas like autism, ADHD, speech and language development, brain imaging, molecular biology, the microbiome, screen time, disability policy, and youth mental health, have been fuelled by Owerko Centre funding.
- Three major cohort studies: All Our Families, Alberta Pregnancy Outcomes and Nutrition (APrON), and Pregnancy During the Pandemic follow thousands of participants, shedding light on pregnancy, early development, behaviour, and family well-being.
- A growing research community: Membership now includes more than 70 researchers representing nearly every faculty at UCalgary.
- Expanding community impact: The Little Red Reading House joined the Owerko Centre as a community-based hub dedicated to promoting literacy, language, and early reading.
- Strategic partnerships: The Centre maintains strong connections with the Cumming School of Medicine's research institutes and plays a key role in major initiatives like One Child Every Child and The Summit.
Looking ahead to the next chapter
Looking to the future, the Centre is building on the visionary gift of the Owerko Family. The Alberta Children's Hospital Foundation committed an additional $10 million in 2024 to steward the next chapter of research and discovery at the Owerko Centre.
Plans are underway for a large-scale research program focused on advancing ADHD research, alongside a new data-sharing platform designed to make research findings more accessible to collaborators around the world. This fall also marked the Centre's inaugural Community Connections event, an opportunity for community members to explore research up close and gain deeper insight into the work happening here.
"I'm really proud of what the Owerko Centre has accomplished in its first decade," says Graham. "The Owerko Family and the Alberta Children's Hospital Foundation have been such wonderful champions of the work we do. They don't just provide funding; they are highly visible, they engage, and they inspire our researchers and trainees. It's an incredible partnership."
The Owerko Centre at the Alberta Children's Hospital Research Institute (ACHRI) brings together researchers and trainees as a multidisciplinary research hub with a broad focus on neurodevelopment, neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs), and child mental health.
Susan Graham, PhD, is Director of the Owerko Centre at the ACHRI and scientific director of UCalgary's Azrieli Accelerator. She is a professor in the Department of Psychology in the Faculty of Arts and a member of the Owerko Centre, ACHRI, and the Hotchkiss Brain Institute at the Cumming School of Medicine.
