Walter and Maria Schroeder
The CHILD Cohort Study will be a beneficiary of a generous private donation made to McMaster University in support of allergy research.
Part of the $10M donation made by Walter and Maria Schroeder and family will help facilitate CHILD’s use of bioinformatics to harness the massive volume of data the Study has generated. CHILD’s National Coordinating Centre (NCC) is based at McMaster.
“When we met in 2019, I was pleased to share with the Schroeders the discoveries we have made to date in CHILD regarding the early-life origins of asthma and allergies,” comments Dr. Padmaja Subbarao, CHILD’s Director. “I am delighted that CHILD’s story and aspirations resonated with them.”
“We are very grateful for their incredible, generous donation that will allow us to continue the important work that we are doing.”
Dr. Subbarao expresses her gratitude in these terms in a video produced by McMaster. Also featured in the video is Aiyana, an 8-year-old, Winnipeg-based participant in CHILD, who shares her appreciation for the Schroeder’s transformative gift, and displays on screen the poster she made about CHILD for the Study’s 2019 national poster competition.
Watch the video
The Schroeder’s donation will establish the Schroeder Allergy and Immunology Research Institute at McMaster, which will be home to an endowed chair and will support senior scientists, postdoctoral fellows and graduate students in allergy investigation and bioinformatics.
Walter Schroeder was a 1969 MBA graduate of McMaster and is known for founding the Dominion Bond Rating Service (DBRS), which became the fourth-largest debt rating agency in the world. He created the Walter and Maria Schroeder Foundation in 2015, which supports efforts to improve health care in Canada.
Read the McMaster announcement | Read the 2022 McMaster update
