Canada's research centre for military and Veteran mental health.
Built with and for the people who serve, the families who serve alongside them, and the clinicians who care for them.
Generate the evidence, tools, and people needed to improve mental health care for military members, Veterans, and their families.
A world where service-related mental health conditions are recognized early, understood deeply, and treated with care that fits the person.
Clinicians and scientists working with Veterans, families, and partner organizations across Canada and beyond. Research that reaches the clinic, the kitchen table, and the policy desk.
From a clinic to a national centre.
The MacDonald Franklin OSI Research Centre grew out of decades of frontline clinical work with Canadian Armed Forces members and Veterans living with operational stress injuries — PTSD, moral injury, chronic pain, and the conditions that travel alongside them.
Today the Centre is a partnership between Lawson Research Institute, St. Joseph's Health Care London, Western University, the Department of National Defence, and Veterans Affairs Canada. Our work is used by NATO and Five Eyes partners and by the people we exist to serve.
A commitment to Canada's heroes.
Named in honour of Captain Samuel A. MacDonald and Colonel William J. Franklin.
The Centre carries its name thanks to the generosity of Mrs. Kyle MacDonald and the late Mr. John Franklin. Both grew up in proud Canadian military families, and both wanted to honour the fathers who shaped them — Captain Samuel A. MacDonald of the Royal Canadian Regiment, who served in the Korean War, and Colonel William J. Franklin, whose 45-year career spanned both World Wars.
Their $1 million gift to St. Joseph's Health Care Foundation supports the care of Veterans at Parkwood Institute and funds research into operational stress injuries, including PTSD. In recognition, the space was proudly named the MacDonald Franklin OSI Research Centre — a daily reminder that this work exists because families like theirs refused to let service go unanswered.
We remember John Franklin with deep gratitude, and we continue this work in the spirit of the commitment he and Kyle made together.
We work across government, clinical, and academic sectors.
