November 5, 2025

Launching our Robotic Surgery Revolution Campaign

In May 2025, our Foundation publicly launched a $20 million fundraising campaign to fuel the next phase of our Hospital’s robotic surgery revolution. And thanks to donors and friends like you, we’re more than halfway towards our goal.

Robotic surgery at St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton is helping patients heal faster, with less pain, fewer complications, and a quicker return to their daily activities. After 13 years and more than 5,000 robotic procedures, St. Joe’s is an international leader in the field of robotic surgery, performing several firsts in Canada — the first robotic-assisted knee replacement, first lung resection, and the first fully robotic esophagectomy.

Dr. Bobby Shayegan, Chief of Surgery at St. Joe’s, has been called upon to help train other surgeons on how to use the da Vinci surgical robot. In his full-time role as a urologic surgeon, he performs the highest volume of robotic prostate cancer surgeries in the country.

While Ontario Health funds three types of robotic surgery for prostate, kidney and some uterine cancers, seven of the 10 robotic procedures St. Joe’s performs remain unfunded by OHIP. The Hospital is also responsible for the full costs of acquiring and maintaining its state-of-the-art surgical robots. This is where the power of philanthropy comes in, and how your gifts transform the way we’re caring for patients at our Hospital. Funds raised from the Robotic Surgery Revolution Campaign will bring another surgical robot to St. Joe’s to help double robotic surgery volumes, reduce wait times, advance robotic research, and train the next generation of surgeons.

This year, we received the largest campaign gift to date — a $2 million investment by long-time grateful patient and prolific Wendy’s franchisee, John Ribson, who spoke at a campaign launch event at the Hospital.

“As someone who’s been cared for here at St. Joe’s for the better part of my life, I have witnessed the innovation, the science, the compassion and the dedication of the care teams here. It’s a true pleasure for me to invest in making sure that the progress being made in robotic surgery at St. Joe’s continues, as it’s making a difference in the lives of so many patients,” said Mr. Ribson.

We’ve received campaign contributions of all sizes from our grateful patients, community members and supporters. In addition to John Ribson’s gift, wellknown local philanthropist and business leader, Teresa Cascioli made a gift of $1 million. An anonymous donor couple and a private family foundation each made gifts of $1 million, while another anonymous foundation provided $500,000. TD Bank Financial Group made a $450,000 investment through their TD Ready Commitment Fund to investigate the role artificial intelligence (AI) can play in supporting surgeries designed with each patient’s unique condition and anatomy in mind. The Hamilton chapter of the Order of the Sons and Daughters of Italy also gave $10,000 from the proceeds of their Golf Tournament.

The rest of our campaign tally was raised by participants and sponsors in our signature events including the 2024 St. Joe’s Gala, the 2025 Around the Bay Road Race and a private fundraising dinner at Edgewater Manor in spring 2025, hosted by Aldo DeSantis, Peter Cicchi, Scott Galbraith and Dave Lumsden.

“We’re closing in on raising $12 million to date thanks to the remarkable support of our community of donors, grateful patients, sponsors and friends,” says Sera Filice, President and CEO, St. Joseph’s Healthcare Foundation. “We still have $8 million to raise, but we know that robotic surgery is the future of surgical care. This campaign will allow our talented surgeons, nurses and researchers to develop new procedures, deliver a higher standard of care to our patients, and make conditions that were previously thought to be inoperable possible. That’s the power of robotic surgery.”

Learn how you can help fund the future of care here.