Grant and Funding Programs Offered by Winnipeg RH Institute Foundation

The Winnipeg RH Institute Foundation is a private, non-profit charitable foundation created from the legacy of pioneering work on Rh hemolytic disease of the newborn in Winnipeg. Incorporated on 17 January 1992, it directs royalty and investment income to support the advancement of knowledge in the sciences and humanities for the benefit of the wider community, with a particular emphasis on child health.

The foundation collaborates closely with partners such as the University of Manitoba, the Children’s Hospital Research Institute of Manitoba, the University of Winnipeg and the Winnipeg Art Gallery. Through these partnerships it channels financial support to researchers, scholars and artists whose work has the potential to enrich communities and improve health outcomes for children.

The foundation’s primary mission is to support research and scholarship. It does this by sponsoring awards, scholarships, conferences and symposia, and by providing funding for specific research projects. Its secondary mission is to support the humanities, which includes an annual grant to the Winnipeg Art Gallery.

Among its best-known initiatives are the Rh Awards, established in 1973, which recognize and support early-career researchers at the University of Manitoba who show exceptional promise. The foundation also created a major award for outstanding senior researchers, which includes a research grant, a medal and a public lecture, later named in honour of Dr. John M. Bowman. In 2019, it donated $1 million to endow the Dr. John M. Bowman Chair in Pediatrics and Child Health, further strengthening clinical and translational research in child health.

Since 1992, the Winnipeg RH Institute Foundation has distributed at least $4.5 million to support projects in science and the humanities. Its funding primarily targets academic researchers, clinician-scientists, graduate trainees and artists connected to Manitoba institutions, with a strong focus on innovative ideas and excellence in research. By underwriting awards, research grants, and endowed positions, the foundation helps attract and retain talented investigators and supports discoveries that can be translated into better care and richer cultural life.

The foundation grew out of the Winnipeg Rh Institute and its Rh Laboratory, where Drs. Bruce Chown, John (Jack) Bowman and colleagues developed the WinRho vaccine, which has nearly eliminated Rh disease–related infant mortality in developed countries. When the institute was sold to Apotex in the early 1990s, royalty funds were used to establish the Winnipeg RH Institute Foundation. Today, the foundation operates exclusively as a charitable foundation, stewarding this legacy by investing in new generations of researchers and scholars.