Mario Lemieux Foundation

In august 2022, the Mario Lemieux Foundation made a $5,000,000 pledge to upmc children's hospital of pittsburgh to establish the Mario Lemieux institute for pediatric cancer research. The opening was held in october 2023. This new institute will focus on supporting future research leaders who will help generate new scientific breakthroughs and cutting-edge clinical trials in pediatric cancer research and translate that research directly to patients.

The Foundation also supports blood cancer research in both the clinic and lab. In 2014, the Foundation established the Mario Lemieux center lymphoma center for children and young adults at children's hospital of pittsburgh of upmc. This center, the first of its kind, treats patients with difficult-to-treat and rare childhood lymphomas. The center has increased access to care and cutting-edge treatments for all childhood lymphomas, while also bringing together a critical volume of patients with rare lymphomas for research studies that can have had a global impact on care. The annual commitment to this $2.5 million project is $357,000. The Foundation also supports hodgkin's disease research and patient care by providing funding to the Mario Lemieux center for blood cancers, located at the upmc hillman cancer center. In november 2018, the Mario Lemieux Foundation pledged additional support to the upmc hillman cancer center in a $5m gift for groundbreaking immunotherapy research and treatment. The Mario Lemieux immunotherapy center will expand and enhance innovative immunotherapy treatments for patients with certain types of solid tumors, both through research and personalized patient care. The immuntherapy center opening was delayed because of the covid 19 pandemic. However, the center for blood cancers remained open and served patients.

Ms. Lemieux expanded the Foundation's scope in 2000 when she created austin's playrooms following a personal experience while caring for her premature infant son at magee-women's hospital. As she and & mr. Lemieux were tending to their son, there was no place to provide a comfortable calming environment and engage his siblings. It was then that ms. Lemieux devised this idea to someday raise funds for playrooms at area hospitals. Since inception, 38 playrooms, have been established, with an additional five planned. In this fiscal year, one playroom was opened (st. vincent hospital-erie). Playrooms were closed in march 2020 due to the covid-19 pandemic. However, because medical facilities were given a construction exemption, a full renovation of the sib center at chp was also accomplished (sept 20). Additionally other rooms were started with a december 2021 expected completion date. One playroom was opened in september 2021 at allegheny health network's wexford hospital. An additional room was opened in october 2021 at the watson institue, as well as a room at western psychiatric hospital (march 2022) and university hospitals rainbow babies and children's hospital in april 2022. A final room at naval hospital san diego was completed; however, awaiting the opening. Playrooms began re-opening in october 2022, and much of fiscal year 2023 was focused on maintenence and re-opening updates.the Foundation is committed to patient care and family support at the children's home of pittsburgh and Lemieux family center. The Lemieux family center is designed to be a home away from home where families are given the opportunity to spend one or more nights in a private bedroom with their child. While nesting, families can practice providing care on their own with guidance from the pediatric specialty hospital onsite. There is also an austin's playroom as well as several play spaces provided by the Foundation in this facility.

In september 2019, the Mario Lemieux Foundation made a $1 million gift, with matching funds from highmark health, to establish the Mario Lemieux research and innovation fund at allegheny health network's cardiovasvular institute's division of cardiac electrophysiology. This $2m investment will support medical research and the development of innovative therapies and technologies for heart rhythm disorders. The program continued during the covid 19 pandemic and made great strides in research.