BC Women’s Health Foundation is honoured to announce a transformational $2 million donation from the Djavad Mowafaghian Foundation to fund the purchase and installation of a dedicated Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) MRI scanner at BC Women’s Hospital + Health Centre — the first NICU MRI scanner of its kind in British Columbia.
This state-of-the-art MRI technology will enable clinicians to capture detailed images of BC’s most premature and critically ill newborns, providing safer, faster and more accurate diagnoses that can guide life-saving treatments in real time.
“We at the Foundation are proud to bring this cutting-edge MRI technology to BC Women’s Hospital and we hope to give more newborns the chance to live full, healthy lives.” said Hamid Eshghi, President of the Djavad Mowafaghian Foundation, whose own granddaughter was recently born at BC Women’s. “We are proud to continue our Foundation’s mission of supporting children’s health.”
Beyond transforming care, this new MRI scanner will also have profound implications for neonatal research. By providing high-quality imaging of infants born at the BC Women’s NICU, it will empower researchers at BC Women’s Hospital + Health Centre and the Women’s Health Research Institute to better understand how early-life events affect long-term brain and organ development.
“We are deeply grateful to the Djavad Mowafaghian Foundation for this extraordinary gift, which represents a leap forward for neonatal care in our province,” said Cally Wesson, President + CEO of the BC Women’s Health Foundation. “This life-changing donation means our smallest and most vulnerable patients can receive the care they need faster, safely and with less stress for their families. It’s more than an investment in technology — it’s an investment in brighter beginnings for families across British Columbia.”
The installation of the BC Women’s NICU MRI scanner builds on BC Women’s Hospital + Health Centre’s reputation as a national leader in maternal and newborn health, advancing innovation and excellence in care for women, newborns and families across BC.