How UHN is leading Canada in vision restoration

Dr. Clara Chan has always pursued high-impact, fast-paced opportunities. The former Goldman Sachs intern made the switch from Silicon Valley startups to corneal surgery following a summer at a Toronto cornea clinic with Dr. David Rootman, a world-renowned corneal surgeon at University Health Network’s (UHN) Donald K. Johnson Eye Institute.

Originally from Toronto, Chan moved between Canada and the United States for her education, first attending Stanford University, then completing medical school in Ontario and returning to the United States for a fellowship in corneal surgery. She eventually settled back in Toronto to develop the country’s most comprehensive ocular stem cell transplant program with Dr. Allan Slomovic at UHN, Canada’s top hospital and, currently, the third highest-ranked hospital in the world.

“It’s nice to come full circle,” says Chan. “I published my first research article in medical school with my mentor, Dr. David Rootman, and we now share our practice here.”

As a world-leading institution in transplant and stem cell innovation, UHN handles some of the most complex medical challenges in the country. For Chan, there was no better place to launch the institute.

Johanne Provost, a mother from Quebec, had been struggling with swelling and pain in her eye—eventually losing her vision entirely. Johanne’s ophthalmologist had been consulting with Chan on her case. Together, they delivered a diagnosis of lichen planus, an autoimmune condition typically appearing on the skin. While they were working to bring Johanne’s immune system back under control, the stem cells in her eyes became permanently damaged. Her last and only hope to restore her vision was a corneal stem cell transplant.

Typically, stem cells are transferred over from the patient’s other eye—however, this wasn’t an option for Johanne, as her condition affected both of her eyes. Instead, Chan used corneal stem cells from a deceased donor, making UHN the first and only institution in Canada to offer ocular stem cell transplants from non-living donors.

A UHN multidisciplinary team of world-class transplant specialists, care coordinators and nurses began to prepare Johanne for surgery with a combination of immunosuppressants to stabilize her immune system and to ensure a more successful outcome. Following her surgery and recovery period, Johanne was finally able to see her children—now teenagers—and her husband again, all three years older than when she last saw them.

“The surgery gave me my life back—my independence, my liberty,” she says.

Through donor support, UHN’s Donald K. Johnson Eye Institute currently provides international fellows with specialized training and access to one of the world’s largest patient populations in need of corneal surgery. Donor support is also fuelling UHN’s new Canada Leads initiative, aiming to recruit top clinician-scientists from around the world to help accelerate research for more Canadian-born discoveries, job creation and global influence.

“Corneal stem cell transplants are only possible through the incredible research that turns bold ideas into treatments for our patients, like Johanne,” says Chan.

Learn more about how you can help UHN attract the world’s best talent at UHNfoundation.ca/CanadaLeads.