The Hospital for Sick Children (Toronto)

The Hospital for Sick Children
University Avenue facade
Location in Toronto
Geography
Location555 University Avenue
Toronto, Ontario
M5G 1X8
Coordinates43°39′26″N 79°23′19″W / 43.6571°N 79.3885°W / 43.6571; -79.3885
Organisation
Care systemMedicare
TypeSpecialist
Affiliated universityUniversity of Toronto Faculty of Medicine
Services
Emergency departmentPediatric Level 1 Trauma Centre (Tertiary)
Beds453
SpecialityChildren's hospital
Helipads
HelipadTC LID: CNW8
History
Founded1875
Links
Websitewww.sickkids.ca

The Hospital for Sick Children, corporately branded as SickKids, is a major pediatric teaching hospital located on University Avenue in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is affiliated with the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Toronto. The hospital was founded by Elizabeth McMaster in 1875 in a rented room with eleven beds, and later expanded to become a formal hospital, known as the Victoria Hospital for Sick Children, in 1891. In 1951, the hospital moved to its present campus, with a nine-storey tower with 572 beds. The hospital's corporate and administrative services are located at the adjacent Patient Support Centre, a 22-storey tower on Elizabeth Street.

The hospital's Peter Gilgan Centre for Research and Learning on Bay Street is the largest pediatric research centre in the world by area; the skyscraper holds 69,677.28 square metres (750,000.0 sq ft). SickKids is credited with a number of inventions, including Pablum, a fortified children's cereal, in 1930. In 1968, the hospital opened North America's first pediatric intensive care unit. In 1989, the hospital discovered the gene responsible for cystic fibrosis. The hospital's research is primarily based in the fields of genetics and oncology. Several of Canada's first surgeries have been performed at SickKids, including the separation of conjoined twins, bone marrow transplantation, multi-organ transplantation, and in-utero cardiac surgery.

The hospital has been ranked as the top pediatric hospital in the world by Newsweek for 2021 and 2026, and has consistently ranked among the top-three in other rankings. As of 2025, SickKids has been embarking on several advancement projects using artificial intelligence, such as Precision Child Health and SickKids AI (SKAI). The hospital's Project Horizon plans for the construction of an additional outpatient services tower and the redevelopment of the current hospital.