With backgrounds in health, science, and academics, the Dans made their first significant investment in U of T in 2009 with the creation of the Michael and Amira Dan Professorship in Global Health.
In 2012, the couple established the Michael and Amira Dan Fellowships in Neurosurgery, followed by the city-wide Michael and Amira Dan Brain Tumour Bank Network at the University of Toronto’s Temerty Faculty of Medicine in 2013.
In 2014, driven by a desire to help address the critical health needs of Indigenous communities, the couple made a transformational $10-million gift to establish the Waakebiness-Bryce Institute for Indigenous Health at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health.
The world’s first privately endowed research centre dedicated to the health of Indigenous peoples, the Institute works to address the vast impacts of systemic racism on the health and well-being of Indigenous peoples, who continue to face significantly worse health outcomes compared with non-Indigenous individuals.
Through groundbreaking research, education, academic training opportunities, and outreach initiatives, the Institute is focused on building pathways to healing, supporting reconciliation in health care, and creating thriving Indigenous communities in Canada and around the globe.
“The Dans have been the epitome of smart philanthropy. Each time they see a problem, they study it, do their best to understand it, and then put their generosity to work in the smartest possible way,” says Adalsteinn Brown, Dean of the Dalla Lana School of Public Health. “Their contributions to improving Indigenous health, global health, and other areas such as eye health all reflect this approach and their impact extends well beyond their generosity.”
In addition to their transformational philanthropy, the Dans also extensively support the University through their volunteering. Michael served on seven senior-level committees over the course of the University’s Boundless campaign, including chairing the Temerty Faculty of Medicine Campaign Cabinet, and is currently a member of the campaign steering committee for U of T’s new Defy Gravity campaign.
At Indspire, a national Indigenous charity committed to advancing the education of First Nations, Inuit, and Métis people, the Dans have made significant contributions of time and funding—including helping to launch a new Indigenous Student Emergency Fund to support students struggling during the COVID-19 pandemic. Michael has also served as a member of the organization’s board of directors since 2014, and has stepped forward as the first major supporter of Indspire’s inaugural fundraising dinner, Feast in the Forest, scheduled for June 2022.
The Canadian Museum for Human Rights, the first museum in the world dedicated to building awareness and dialogue around human rights, has also profoundly benefited from the Dans’ generosity. In 2003, they were among the first donors to support CMHR’s creation and helped establish the Ceremonial Terrace—a space for reflection and ceremony situated next to the Museum’s Indigenous Perspectives Gallery.
Michael—whose father, Leslie Dan, survived the Holocaust and went on to establish one of Canada’s largest pharmaceutical companies—has previously shared that his family’s own history of persecution directly motivated his desire to advance justice for Indigenous peoples. Writing in Canadian Jewish News at the time of the CMHR’s opening in 2014, he said that “human rights violations and abuses have literally driven my family from one continent to another over the generations.”
Today, grateful for the success they have achieved in the face of hardship, the Dan family is guided by the motto “If you are fortunate, you have to share it.”