FEBRUARY IS
HEART
MONTH
Your Heart.
Your Institute.
Our Future – Together.
Screen early. Intervene swiftly. Save lives. Transform care.
Heart Month Stories with Joel Haslam
One Million Canadian Hearts
2026 Ambassador Bonnie Bowes shares exciting news about the Institute’s innovative One Million Canadian Hearts initiative. Focused on preventing heart disease, by screening early, identifying risk factors, and intervening swiftly, One Million Canadian Hearts wants to prevent people from ever becoming patients. Joel was so intrigued that he signed up to be screened and is now revealing his personal heart health results.
Jonathan Pivnick
Jennifer Zlepnig
Once a tiny toddler, not expected to live past childhood, Dr. Jennifer Zlepnig is now a beloved physician, mother, wife, family member and friend. Her life saved by the innovative surgical techniques of Heart Institute founder, Dr. Wilbert Keon, Jennifer Zlepnig remains a grateful and inspired patient who honours Dr. Keon’s memory every day as a physician and mentor to a new generation of healthcare workers.
Hannah Pollock
After working as a nurse in preventative health care for three decades, a prevention-focused screening clinic at the UOHI would save Hannah Pollock’s life. Two years ago, when the summer heat and humidity had Hannah feeling uncharacteristically fatigued, she noticed a poster advertising a Heart Institute screening clinic. Now healthy and vibrant, Hannah is grateful for what she calls a miraculous intervention and brand new heart.
Meet Our 2026 Heart Month Ambassador, Bonnie Bowes
Bonnie Bowes is the Vice President, Quality, Risk and Health Information and Chief Nursing Officer at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute. She is also the clinical lead of the pioneering One Million Canadian Hearts initiative.
A Hallmark Initiative of the Heart Institute’s newly launched strategic plan, Your Heart. Your Institute. Our Future – Together.
MAKE A DONATION AND
AMPLIFY YOUR IMPACT
The world-renowned University of Ottawa Heart Institute is a one of the foremost cardiac centres in Canada, a beacon for innovative patient care, prevention, education, and ground-breaking research.
Nationally and internationally, it is a leader in cardiac research, ranking in the number one spot for research in Ottawa.
Every single citizen in Ottawa can feel proud of their Institute. We are excited about what we have accomplished together, acknowledging that there is still work left to do.
We’ve started a movement with heart. As a community, you are the pulse, the beat that makes things happen.
Throughout Heart Month, your gift will be matched!
One Million Canadian Hearts
Screen early. Intervene swiftly. Save lives. Transform care.
The One Million Canadian Hearts initiative is a key component of the Institute’s newly launched strategic plan, Your Heart. Your Institute. Our Future – Together.
Knowing that cardiovascular disease remains a leading cause of death in Canada, the Institute launched the One Million Canadian Hearts initiative as part of its strategic plan.
With prevention as its focus, One Million Canadian Hearts has set the goal of screening one million Canadians for cardiovascular disease risk factors.
One Million Canadian Hearts is focused on preventing cardiovascular disease by screening early, identifying risk factors and intervening swiftly.
So that people never become patients.
The One Million Canadian Hearts initiative is unique and exciting as it brings the expertise of the Institute out into the community.
This initiative is also helpful to the healthcare system as prevention is much less expensive and uses less resources than acute care treatments and procedures.
Get involved and
support Heart Month
February is Heart Month is an annual opportunity for individuals, groups, and businesses to raise funds and awareness for the University of Ottawa Heart Institute (UOHI).
In 2025, our community raised 1.4 million dollars, breaking past records, thanks to our incredible match sponsors and donors. We are grateful to have the support of over one hundred community initiatives throughout February.
Every dollar makes a difference in the fight against heart disease.
Your gift will be matched by our Heart Month sponsors and Corporate Community Heroes throughout February!
This February the Light the Capital Red initiative returns. Honouring the Heart Institute's hard work and the many patients who have passed through its doors by lighting windows red across Ottawa.
Please consider championing the #GIVEWITHHEART Paper Hearts Campaign supporting the University of Ottawa Heart Institute Foundation (UOHIF) this February.
Throughout February is Heart Month, our Community Initiative Partners are offering an amazing variety of opportunities to get involved and show your support for life-saving cardiovascular research and care in Ottawa.
Your HEART. Your Institute
OUR FUTURE—TOGETHER.
WITH YOUR HELP, WE GIVE THE GIFT OF TIME.
We are excited about what we have accomplished together, acknowledging that there is still work left to do. Your gift will be matched by our Heart Month sponsors throughout the month of February.
February is Heart Month is a time to come together to raise funds and awareness for the University of Ottawa Heart Institute, one of Canada’s most distinguished heart health centres. Every dollar makes a difference in the fight against heart disease.
HEART DISEASE IS THE
LEADING CAUSE OF
DEATH IN CANADA, AND THE OTTAWA REGION.
Your gift will be matched by our Heart Month sponsors and Corporate Community Heroes throughout February!
About the Institute
Since 1976, the University of Ottawa Heart Institute (UOHI) has flourished into Canada’s leading and most distinguished cardiac health centres. It is recognized for the unparalleled care it provides to its patients, and its world-renowned research that brings science from bench to bedside. It is the country’s main influencer when it comes to preventing heart disease. Its promise remains the very pillar on which it was built, always putting patients first.
The University of Ottawa Heart Institute is the primary cardiac referral centre for Eastern Ontario and several other areas across Canada, including Nunavut, Newfoundland & Labrador. It also offers satellite clinics and outreach programs throughout the Ottawa Valley.
The Canadian Women’s Heart Health Centre, located in Ottawa, is the first of its kind in Canada, dedicated to researching women’s cardiovascular health. Likewise, at the Institute, resides a world-class research facility, the Centre for Valvular Heart Disease, the Canadian Centre for Rare Cardiac Conditions, and the trail-blazing UOHI Data Science Centre.
The Institute continues to harness the latest advancements in machine learning and technology while finding tomorrow’s treatments.
LOOKING BACK
Almost five decades of excellence at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute (est. 1976):
1984
UOHI performed the first heart transplant in Ottawa
1989
Performed a transplant on an 11-day old infant, the youngest in Canada
2012
In just 24hrs it performed the 498th, 499th, and 500th transplants
2014
Launched the first Women's Heart Health Centre in Canada
2018-2020
Built a state-of-the-art critical care facility and patient care system
2023
The first-of-its kind the Brain + Heart Interconnectome, and interdisciplinary research program is launched
2024
The new ground-breaking Data Science centre opens
2025
The UOHI STEMI programs turns twenty, in its time it has reduced heart attack deaths by half
2026
The Heart Institute celebrates 50 years since opening its doors on May 11, 1976.
YOUR SUPPORT WILL HELP US
GIVE THE GIFT OF TIME.
Extraordinary Cardiac Care with YOUR SUPPORT
Your Institute. Your heart. Our future—together.
The world-renowned University of Ottawa Heart Institute is a beacon for ground-breaking research, education, and excellence in innovative patient care.
Nationally, UOHI is a top cardiac institute and recognized global leader in cutting-edge research.
PLEASE SHOW YOUR SUPPORT FOR THE OTTAWA HEART INSTITUTE — YOUR HEART WILL THANK YOU!
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