May 13, 2025

With a new $1 million donation to robotic surgery Teresa Cascioli helps St. Joe’s not only to provide care, but advance it

Teresa Cascioli is a household name in Hamilton. She was the savvy entrepreneur behind Lakeport Brewing’s remarkable rebound from bankruptcy. The Women’s Executive Network has named her one of Canada’s Top 100 Most Powerful Women no less than three times. She’s a recipient of the province’s highest honour for civilians, the Order of Ontario, and she recently completed her Executive MBA from
Oxford University’s Said School of Business.

Amidst all of these accomplishments, Teresa says the one that’s most important to her, the one that has brought her the most joy, has been her philanthropic work supporting her hometown organizations in need.

“Giving to causes that benefit the health of the citizens of the City of Hamilton is very meaningful for me,” says Cascioli who was born at St. Joe’s, grew up in Hamilton, and attended McMaster University before working for the City of Hamilton early in her career. “I like to know that my gifts will have an impact on the lives of others in our community and giving to healthcare really allows for that.”

Recently, Teresa decided to make a $1 million donation to St. Joe’s to support the robotic surgery revolution campaign underway at the Hospital. Her early support is helping to bring an additional da Vinci surgical robot to the Hospital so that oncologic robotic surgery volumes can increase two-fold from 370 to 740 procedures annually.

“As an entrepreneur, robotic surgery speaks to me,” says Teresa. “It’s a program that has been almost entirely funded by philanthropy since its inception. In the beginning, it was new – and perhaps unproven in Canada, yet surgeons like Dr. Anthony Adili and Dr. Bobby Shayegan knew from the outset that this technology had the power to change and improve the lives of patients…and they were right. Giving to robotic surgery is an investment that is seeing tremendous dividends in the health of our community.”

One of the new patient populations benefitting from the increased surgical volumes at St. Joe’s will be women living with uterine cancers. While St. Joe’s has not yet ventured into using the robot on gynecologic surgeries, plans are underway to conduct the first robotic surgery for uterine cancer in the fall of 2024.

“Teresa has always been laser-focused on making donations that have a tangible impact on the patients we serve at St. Joe’s,” says Sera Filice, President & CEO, St. Joseph’s Healthcare Foundation. “Whether she’s helping to build our surgical centre or investing in women’s health research, Teresa applies a keen business acumen to her philanthropy and challenges us not only to provide care, but to advance it. And that’s exactly what our robotic surgery revolution is all about. We’re grateful to Teresa for being one of the earliest supporters of this campaign.”