Edwin S.H. Leong Centre for Healthy Children a vital force in helping children flourish globally
Nov 21, 2025
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A generous $25-million gift from Edwin Leong (MSc 1974) and the Tai Hung Fai Charitable Foundation in 2019 established the Edwin S.H. Leong Centre for Healthy Children, an important partnership between the University of Toronto and The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids). Over the past six years, the centre has been driving critical progress in areas such as data science, policy research and interventions in child health.
Whether it’s addressing the links between health, education and online safety, understanding the impact of screen time on academic achievement in children under the age of eight or exploring new ways to ease the transition for children with complex health needs from paediatric to adult care, the Leong Centre is reducing inequities through research, education and policy to ensure children across the world can thrive.
“Edwin Leong’s tremendous gift has enabled the Leong Centre to generate critical momentum in the quest to improve the health of children everywhere,” said Eyal Cohen and Astrid Guttmann, co-directors of the Edwin S.H. Leong Centre for Healthy Children. “We’re delighted the centre has evolved to become a powerful convenor of knowledge, a catalyst for improving care systems, a creator of effective new health tools and a key contributor in shaping legislation to maximize opportunities for healthy child development.”
Edwin Leong’s tremendous gift has enabled the Leong Centre to generate critical momentum in the quest to improve the health of children everywhere.
As a research hub, the centre mobilizes the talent of clinical experts in child health, scientists from various disciplines and international trainees and expands its influence across the globe through partnerships that broaden its reach and impact.
Edwin Leong’s tremendous gift has enabled the Leong Centre to generate critical momentum in the quest to improve the health of children everywhere.
“It’s immensely gratifying to see how quickly the Edwin S.H. Leong Centre for Healthy Children has emerged as a driving force in addressing essential questions in child health,” said Meredith Irwin, chair of the Department of Paediatrics at U of T and paediatrician-in-chief at SickKids. “The Leong Centre’s multidisciplinary research, focused on a key phase of life, is breaking new ground and enabling the various systems that contribute to children’s development to be more responsive in a way that will make a real difference as children grow up to become adults.”
Strengthening the Leong Centre’s global influence
To amplify its impact, the Leong Centre convened international and local leaders for its symposium “Connecting Health and Education to Improve Child Wellbeing” on Oct. 9, 2025. By bringing together top researchers from a variety of backgrounds and jurisdictions, the centre is further advancing the field of child health to benefit children around the world.
“I’m eager to work with others to make policy changes that will see kids access timely developmental health care and fully participate in their learning and social lives at school,” said an attendee who was among the more than 200 health-care professionals, educators, researchers, students, parents, trainees and policymakers at the event. The symposium brought together speakers from Canada, Hong Kong, Australia, the United States, Japan and the United Kingdom.
The symposium focused on how communities, researchers, educators and others can leverage schools to strengthen child health, development, academic achievement and overall wellbeing. Sessions explored how schools can act as local hubs to improve health and how AI and new data tools can advance child development research. Other sessions looked at unique ways researchers and policymakers can collaborate to address emerging challenges affecting child and youth wellbeing,
Jean Twenge, professor of psychology at San Diego State University, provided the keynote address on “Understanding the Smartphone Generation’s Mental Health.”
Advancing the centre’s leadership
This fall, the Leong Centre welcomed Aasthaa Bansal as the inaugural Edwin S.H. Leong Chair in Data Science for Child Health. In her role, Bansal will help advance data-driven decision-making in child health, streamline care and tackle disparities. To equip early-career researchers with tools to examine how social conditions shape health across the lifespan, Arjumand Siddiqi, Edwin S.H. Leong Chair in Policy Research, launched an online course in social epidemiology, in partnership with the Edwin S.H. Leong Centre for Healthy Aging at the University of British Columbia. In addition, Catherine Birken, Edwin S.H. Leong Chair in Child Health Intervention, is working with TARGet Kids! on a study that focuses on three areas in pediatric primary care: sustaining breastfeeding, supporting nutrition and easing transitions to daycare.
The incredible progress in child health made possible by Edwin Leong’s gift demonstrates how a strong philanthropic vision can lead to real impact
Leong, a businessman and philanthropist, founded the Tai Hung Fai Charitable Foundation in 2005 to provide care and medical support to disadvantaged seniors and underprivileged children, and fund scholarships, fellowships and research related to healthy aging and paediatrics. To help fulfil the foundation’s mission, he has donated generously to universities in Hong Kong and Canada.
The incredible progress in child health made possible by Edwin Leong’s gift demonstrates how a strong philanthropic vision can lead to real impact
“The incredible progress in child health made possible by Edwin Leong’s gift demonstrates how a strong philanthropic vision can lead to real impact,” said David Palmer, vice-president of advancement at U of T. “The Leong Centre is advancing game-changing research in key areas of child health and strengthening a priority of U of T’s Defy Gravity campaign by enabling healthy lives for generations to come.”
