Unity Health Toronto and 13 other hospitals within the Toronto Academic Health Science Network (TAHSN) have signed the Master Collaboration Agreement (MCA), an important milestone in strengthening Canada’s largest unified health research network and one of the largest collaborative academic health research ecosystems in the world.
The agreement establishes a common legal and operational framework to accelerate research collaboration across the hospitals, all of which are affiliated with the University of Toronto. Ultimately, it aims to help discoveries move more quickly into improved patient care.
“In an increasingly competitive global environment, this agreement strengthens Canada’s ability to attract research investment, industry partnerships, and leading scientific talent while helping discoveries move more efficiently into patient care,” said Sarah Downey, Chair of TAHSN and President and CEO of the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH). “It demonstrates the power of Toronto’s academic hospitals and the University of Toronto working together to tackle complex health challenges that no single institution can solve alone.”
Launching a project across institutions can require teams to negotiate similar terms and navigate different processes each time. The MCA establishes a common framework for eligible research activities—one project, one shared framework—to reduce duplication and streamline administrative processes, while maintaining each organization’s requirements for ethics, privacy, security, and oversight.
Early implementation has already demonstrated measurable benefits. The MCA was first piloted as a bilateral agreement between CAMH and UHN in December 2024. In December 2025, Unity Health Toronto and Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre joined the pilot as early adopters, helping refine the agreement before its broader implementation across the network.
During this time, average research study activation timelines were reduced by more than 75 per cent—from 448 days to 109 days—enabling researchers to spend less time navigating administrative processes and more time advancing discovery.
One study enabled through the pilot brought together researchers from St. Michael’s Hospital at Unity Health and Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre to examine care patterns and outcomes for adults with traumatic brain injury across two of Canada’s busiest trauma centres. By combining data across institutions, the team is generating evidence that could help inform improvements in traumatic brain injury care across the health system.
“If we’re going to move the needle on big challenges, we need our strongest institutions and greatest minds to join forces. As an early adopter and pilot partner of this agreement, Unity Health has already seen what this new agreement can help us achieve,” said Altaf Stationwala, President and CEO of Unity Health. “By combining data from both organizations, we can generate a clearer picture of care patterns and build the evidence needed to inform better care for traumatic brain injury patients across the health system.”
Through the pilot, the MCA is already working to support 43 collaborative research studies in various stages of implementation, addressing some of today’s most complex health challenges, including cardiac health, cancer care and Alzheimer’s disease. These collaborations include multi-site clinical trials and research involving data sharing.
