Sheila Kussner

In 1981, she founded Hope & Cope, an innovative psychosocial support program designed to meet the complex emotional and practical needs of cancer patients and their caregivers at every stage of the disease. What made Hope & Cope innovative was that Sheila Kussner, a cancer survivor herself, passionately believed that cancer-experienced volunteers, guided by professionals, could provide credible support to fellow cancer patients. Hope & Cope has become a model for cancer centres in Canada and around the world.

In the late 1980s, she noted that cancer patients suffered from fragmented care throughout the various departments of the McGill University hospital network. An outstanding fundraiser, she spearheaded the development of oncology as a separate discipline in the Faculty of Medicine at McGill University, raising $30 million to establish the Department of Oncology. She also played a lead role in securing funding for the Jewish General Hospital’s Palliative Care Unit.

In 2007, another milestone was reached with the opening of the Hope & Cope Wellness Centre – the first hospital-affiliated free-standing cancer wellness centre in Montreal.  The Wellness Centre is a true oasis offering a multiplicity of programs helping cancer patients live well with and beyond their cancer. Recognizing that research and evidence must underpin all our activities, Sheila Kussner helped establish the Christine and Herschel Victor – Hope & Cope Chair in Psychosocial Oncology – the first such research chair in Quebec and the third of its kind in Canada.

As a result of her exceptional commitment to the welfare of cancer patients, Sheila Kussner has earned numerous accolades and awards. She is an Officer of the Order of Canada, Officer of the Order of Quebec, Governor Emerita of McGill University, which awarded her an LL.D. (honoris causa) in 1990.

Sheila Kussner also holds an honorary doctorate from the Université de Montréal Faculty of Nursing and has received many other honours and tributes. These include, to name a few, the Robert Fisher Fellowship Award (Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City), the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal and the Outstanding Volunteer of the Year Award (Association of Fundraising Professionals – Québec section).