Spinal cord research facility a first for Canada

Vancouver, BC – A state-of-the-art $45-million research facility that will take spinal cord research beyond what is currently possible anywhere in the world is officially under construction at Vancouver General Hospital.

This is the only facility in Canada, and one of only two in the world, that brings researchers from so many disciplines together with surgeons, physiotherapists and patients to discover and develop new therapies for spinal cord injuries, says Gordon Campbell, the province’s premier. Weve made a $12.9-million commitment to ICORDs research centre, which builds on the $17.5 million we have already contributed to spinal cord research and treatment.

ICORD, which stands for International Collaboration on Repair Discoveries, is a partnership of the University of British Columbia, the Rick Hansen Foundation, and Vancouver Coastal Healths Research Institute. ICORD will share the six-storey, 11,000-sq-m building with the VGH Spine Centre and the Rick Hansen Foundation. The only other comparable centre of excellence in the world is in Miami.