IMPACT

 

The starting line of the RBC Race for the Kids at University of Chicago Medicine Comer Children’s Hospital is alive with chatter. Hundreds of runners and walkers line up eager to make it to the finish line on the University of Chicago’s campus in Hyde Park. Cheers from spectators fill the air as the signal sounds the start for each of the day’s events: the 5K, Kids’ Mile, and the Kids’ Dash.

The annual RBC Race for the Kids supports life-saving pediatric research and patient care programs at Comer Children’s Hospital. In 2024, the race generated over $430,000.

First begun in 2003 through the initiative of a patient’s family, the race has been hosted annually by the Comer Development Board. In 2013, the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC), one of North America’s leading financial services companies, became the race’s title sponsor. Since then, the race has become the largest community fundraiser for Comer Children’s, raising more than $4.2 million and attracting more than 19,000 participants in total.

“The impact of the funds raised by the RBC race has been substantial both to individual children and also for our goal of advancing our understanding of pediatric disease and caring for children with complex diseases such as leukemia, epilepsy, inflammatory bowel disease, and complex allergies,” said John Cunningham, MD, George M. Eisenberg Professor of Pediatrics at Comer Children’s.

Since RBC became the title sponsor, race proceeds have supported more than 30 pediatric research and patient care projects. In 2024, research projects supported by the race ranged from studies on the relationship between social environments, gene activity, and asthma, to understanding how the heart forms and what can go wrong to cause birth defects, to identifying physical and historical factors that can easily be identified in children when they present early with blunt trauma. The 2024 RBC Race for the Kids also supported staff training to ensure children with special needs receive the personalized care they need, as well as initiatives to foster increasingly therapeutic environments for our patients.

“I am deeply grateful for the RBC Race for the Kids. Thanks to our sponsors and community of supporters, we have been able to advance vital research focused on transforming food allergy diagnosis and care,” said Christina Ciaccio, MD, MSc, professor of pediatrics at Comer Children’s. "The generous support we’ve received from the RBC Race fuels our vision for sustained progress and our commitment to improve the quality of life for children and families.”

The race is part of RBC’s Race for the Kids Series, which includes over twenty-five events around the world—from New York to Singapore to Hong Kong to Montreal to London. All of RBC’s races support youth charities.