Our story is rich, impactful and rooted in research
Our co-founders, Winnipeg pediatricians Bruce Chown and John (Jack) Bowman, were revered clinician-scientists who are still admired around the globe.
Dr. Chown, honoured in 2020 by Canada Post dedicating a stamp to him, established the Rh Laboratory in Winnipeg in 1944 alongside newly graduated technologist, Marion Lewis, and a Manitoba Provincial Government Grant of $1,200. The lab quickly made monumental discoveries and developed blood-grouping techniques still used today around the world. In the 1950s, the lab developed a method to treat Rh hemolytic disease of the newborn. Rh disease occurs when an Rh negative mother carrying an Rh positive fetus produces antibodies to the Rh protein in the fetal blood, destroying fetal red blood cells. This can result in stillbirth or death of the baby soon after birth. In the 1940s the mortality rate was 50 per cent. Today, thanks to this lab, it is virtually zero in the developed world.
Dr. Bowman became the Medical Director of the Winnipeg Rh Lab in 1961. Together with Drs. Albert Friesen, and Alvin Zipursky, Dr. Bowman performed the first fetal blood transfusions in Canada and developed techniques to predict the Rh disease status of unborn babies.
Dr. Bowman’s discoveries saved thousands of lives and formed the basis of what is today one of Manitoba's largest corporate research and development organizations, Cangene Corporation. Dr. Bowman’s work exemplifies what is now known as translational research – moving new discoveries and cutting-edge research concepts from the lab bench into clinical practice worldwide.
An Enduring Success
In 1969 the Winnipeg Rh Institute was founded by Drs. Bowman, Bruce Chown, Professor Marion Lewis and David Bowles to continue the research begun by Dr. Chown, and later by Dr. Bowman, to address Rh hemolytic disease of the newborn. In the 1970s the Institute, with help from Drs. Jim Jamieson and Albert Friesen, developed the vaccine WinRho (“Win” for Winnipeg) to prevent Rh disease. Thanks to the use of WinRho, Rh disease is now exceedingly rare in Canada with a mortality rate that is essentially 0 per cent.In the early 1990s, the Institute was sold to Apotex and the Winnipeg Rh Institute Foundation was established with royalty funds from the sale. On January 17, 1992, the Foundation was incorporated as a private, non-profit charitable organization to support the advancement of knowledge in the sciences and humanities for the general benefit of the community. Dr. John Bowman, Harold Thompson, Reginald Ebbeling, and Terry Falconer were the first Board of Directors.
Today, the Winnipeg Rh Institute Foundation operates exclusively as a charitable foundation.
“[Dr. Chown] was one of Canada's greatest medical scientists. His personal and scholarly attributes, his warm personality, his scrupulous honesty, his penetrating scepticism, and his generosity made him respected and admired by all who knew him. The Rh Laboratory, with its international reputation, stands as a monument to his endeavours. To me he was a great teacher, colleague, and friend.”
— Dr. Jack Bowman
Leaving a Mark.
University of Manitoba alumnus Dr. Henry Bruce Chown and founder of the Winnipeg Rh Institute is one of six ground-breaking physicians and researchers celebrated in 2020 with a commemorative Canada Post stamp.