The University Health Network in Toronto says it’s received a landmark $35-million donation to build a new transplant institute.
In a news release, the hospital group said the donation comes from the Ajmeras, a Toronto family who created FGF Group of Companies, Canada’s largest industrial baker.
The $35 million brings the family’s total donations to UHN to $62 million and makes them the largest known single-family philanthropic donors to transplant medicine globally, the hospital network says.
“This gift will create the environment necessary to launch ambitious new research programs, increase commercialization, and drive meaningful change in the lives of patients around the world,” Julie Quenneville, CEO of the UHN Foundation, said in a statement.
“It is an incredible example of what happens when a family uses their generosity to empower transformative change and we are beyond grateful for their support and leadership.”
The hospital network says the Ajmera Transplant Institute at UHN will create a global hub for transplantation, research, innovation and education, uniting the full spectrum of transplant care under one roof.
According to UHN, demand for organ transplantation is growing rapidly as rates of chronic disease continue to rise and more patients progress to end-stage organ failure.
Many patients die waiting for a life-saving organ, while others face rejection, complications and the lifelong burden of immunosuppression following transplant, they said.
To address these challenges, UHN said, a new model of collaboration like the Ajmera Transplant Institute is required to unite experts across clinical care, engineering, immunology, regenerative medicine, cell therapy and data science. The hospital network says the UHN Foundation is launching a wider $100-million campaign to support transplant medicine to complement the donation.
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“When I came to Canada at 26 years old, I did it to build a better life for my family,” Sam Ajmera, who was born and raised in Mumbai, India before becoming co-founder of FGF Brands, said in a statement.
“Canada gave us the opportunity to do that, and I am deeply grateful for it. It is immensely meaningful to support an institution as extraordinary as UHN. My hope is that the Ajmera Transplant Institute will turn the discoveries of today into the treatments that save lives tomorrow -- improving the lives of patients and families for generations to come.”
UHN’s previous achievements in transplant medicine include performing Canada’s first donation after death by circulatory criteria heart transplant and transplanting lab-grown insulin-producing cells in a landmark international clinical trial that enabled people with Type 1 diabetes to live without insulin injections at the one-year follow-up.
The hospital network said it also performed a record-breaking 820 transplants in 2025 and 2026, including the most lung transplants anywhere in the world.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford was in attendance when the donation was presented to the hospital network on Wednesday night. In a statement, Ford called the gift “incredibly generous.”
“Their donation will help UHN continue to build on its position as a global leader in transplant medicine, delivering life-saving care and groundbreaking research, and giving more patients and families hope when they need it most.”
