University Health Network (UHN) is a public research and teaching

hospital network A hospital network is a public, non-profit or for-profit company or organization that provides two or more hospitals and other broad healthcare facilities and services. A hospital network may include hospitals in one or more regions within one or ...

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

, Canada. It is affiliated with the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university whose main campus is located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded by ...

, and is the largest health research organization in Canada, ranking first in Canada for total research funding. The network includes

Toronto General Hospital The Toronto General Hospital (TGH) is a major teaching hospital in Toronto, Ontario, Canada and the flagship campus of University Health Network (UHN). It is located in the Discovery District of Downtown Toronto along University Avenue (Toronto), ...

, Toronto Western Hospital, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, West Park Healthcare Centre, the Toronto Rehabilitation Institute, and The Michener Institute, a post-secondary institution granting diplomas and certificates in health sciences and leadership. In the 2019-2020 fiscal year, there were more than 39,000 acute inpatient stays and close to 121,000 emergency department visits across the three acute care hospitals. ''

Newsweek ''Newsweek'' is an American weekly news magazine based in New York City. Founded as a weekly print magazine in 1933, it was widely distributed during the 20th century and has had many notable editors-in-chief. It is currently co-owned by Dev P ...

'' has consistently named UHN's Toronto General Hospital as among the world's top hospitals, most recently ranking Toronto General as the world's 3rd best hospital in 2024, and first in Canada. The hospital was named Canada's top research hospital by Research Infosource from 2015 to 2022.

History

A series of mergers over many years has resulted in the UHN in its current form. In 1986, the Toronto Western Hospital and the

merged to form the Toronto Hospital. In 1998, the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre joined, with the resulting institution named the University Health Network in 1999. The Toronto Rehabilitation Institute joined in 2011, facilitating rehabilitation services for patients as they transitioned out of acute care. All four hospitals are affiliated with the

Faculty of Medicine A medical school is a tertiary educational institution, professional school, or forms a part of such an institution, that teaches medicine, and awards a professional degree for physicians. Such medical degrees include the Bachelor of Medicine, ...

at the

and serve as teaching hospitals for resident physicians,

nurses Nursing is a health care profession that "integrates the art and science of caring and focuses on the protection, promotion, and optimization of health and human functioning; prevention of illness and injury; facilitation of healing; and alle ...

, and other healthcare professions. 2016 saw the integration of The Michener Institute into the UHN. The Michener Institute for Education was originally established in 1958 and is the first non-medical unit to join the UHN. On April 1, 2024, West Park Healthcare Centre joined the UHN.

Programs

UHN and Sinai Health System jointly run the SHS-UHN Antimicrobial Stewardship Program, advocating for improved patient access to appropriate antibiotics while combating

antimicrobial resistance Antimicrobial resistance (AMR or AR) occurs when microbes evolve mechanisms that protect them from antimicrobials, which are drugs used to treat infections. This resistance affects all classes of microbes, including bacteria (antibiotic resista ...

. The program is led by

infectious diseases infection is the invasion of tissues by pathogens, their multiplication, and the reaction of host tissues to the infectious agent and the toxins they produce. An infectious disease, also known as a transmissible disease or communicable dise ...

specialist Andrew Morris, who joined as founding director at its inception in 2009. During the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, UHN received a $323,981 grant from the

Public Health Agency of Canada The Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC; ) is an agency of the Government of Canada that is responsible for public health, emergency preparedness and response, and infectious and chronic disease control and prevention. History The PHAC was f ...

's Immunization Partnership Fund to increase

COVID-19 vaccine A COVID19 vaccine is a vaccine intended to provide acquired immunity against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the virus that causes coronavirus disease 2019 ( COVID19). Knowledge about the structure and fun ...

uptake among personal support workers and their patients.

References

{{Authority control * Hospital networks in Canada 1999 establishments in Ontario *University Health Network