New Investigator Biographies 2013

 

Alison Urton is the Group Administrator at the Canadian Cancer Trials Group and has been with the group since 2003. As the Group Administrator, Alison is responsible for providing administrative leadership and direction for the Group’s operations, both internally at Queen’s University and in the broader national and international clinical trials communities. Alison facilitates the development and implementation of the of the Group’s strategic direction as a key resource for the Director. This includes aligning compliance and trial conduct aspects with applicable regulations, guidelines, and standard operating procedures.

 

Bingshu Chen joined the Canadian Cancer Trials Group as senior biostatistician and assistant professor in the Department of Community Health and Epidemiology, Queen's University in July 2008. Dr. Chen completed his Ph. D. in biostatistics at the University of Waterloo, then spent four years at the United States National Cancer Institute in the Biostatistics Branch, Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, first as a Postdoctoral Fellow and then as a Research Fellow. He was an Assistant Professor in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at Concordia University from 2007 to 2008. His research interests are survival analysis, statistics computation, design and analysis of clinical trials and cancer epidemiology

 

Candice obtained her degree in Cell Biology and Genetics at the University of British Columbia, in Vancouver, Canada, and has worked in federal regulation since 1999. Candice began her career in the Public Service in Vancouver, BC with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency as a food microbiologist, prior to joining Health Canada in 2005, where she worked in the Medical Device, Drug Investigation, and Good Clinical Practices programmes as an inspector in the Western Region. In 2009, Candice took a position with the Inspectorate’s headquarters in Ottawa, shortly afterward assuming the position of Manager of the national Good Clinical Practices Compliance Program. Here, her role is to lead the delivery of Canada’s national inspection, compliance verification, and investigation program for clinical trials of drugs for human use.

 

Dr. O'Callaghan received his Doctorate in Veterinary Medicine and MSc and PhD degrees in Epidemiology from the University of Guelph, based on work conducted on the epidemiology of infections of livestock while a Medical Research Council of Canada Fellow at the International Livestock Research Institute in Nairobi, Kenya. He continued his research and training in infectious diseases epidemiology as a Wellcome Trust Senior Research Fellow at the University of Warwick. In 2001 he joined the Canadian Cancer Trials Group where he continues to oversee the Gastrointestinal and Brain Site Committees as Senior Investigator. He is also a Professor in the Department of Public Health Sciences. His research interests are diverse and include clinical trials design and methodology and infectious disease epidemiology.

 

Dr. Tu is a Senior Biostatistician in the Canadian Cancer Trials Group with appointments in both the Departments of Community Health & Epidemiology, and Mathematics & Statistics. He came to Queen's in 1996 from the Therapeutic Products Directorate of Health Canada. His primary responsibilities are the design, management and analysis of the cancer clinical trials. He is also interested in the methodological research on the development and evaluation of statistical procedures for the design and analysis of cancer clinical trials and maintains an interest in the general mathematical theory of statistics.

 

Dr. Fei-Fei Liu is the Chief of the Radiation Medicine Program and Head of the Department of Radiation Oncology at the Princess Margaret Cancer Center, and also the Professor and Chair of the Department of Radiation Oncology at the University of Toronto. She is also a Senior Scientist at the Ontario Cancer Institute, and holds the University of Toronto/Princess Margaret Cancer Center Dr. Mariano Elia Endowed Chair in Head & Neck Cancer Oncology. Dr. Liu’s research program is focused on investigating and developing novel molecular therapeutic strategies for human malignancies, delivered in conjunction with radiation therapy, along with investigating molecular aberrancies for several human cancers including breast, cervix, and head/neck cancers. Dr. Liu has >130 peer-reviewed publications on these topics, and has filed three patents. She currently holds peer-reviewed research funding from agencies including the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), the Canadian Cancer Society Research Institute (CCSRI), and the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research (OICR). She is also the Director of a $1.9M CIHR/Terry Fox Foundation Research Training Initiative, entitled “Excellence in Radiation Research for the 21st Century (EIRR21)”, with the objective to train the next generation of trans-disciplinary scientists in Radiation Medicine.

 

After receiving a Master's Degree in Virology at the University of Quebec, Dr. Richardson received a PhD in Epidemiology & Biostatistics at McGill University, where she studied the natural history of human papillomavirus infections and cervical neoplasia. She completed her postdoctoral fellowship with Dr. Kristan Aronson (CCE Div.) in 2004, working on several projects devoted to assessing the relationship between exposure to suspected carcinogens (both environmental and occupational) and the risk of certain cancers, including breast and lung cancer. In 2004, she accepted a position as Assistant Professor in the Department of Community Health & Epidemiology and joined the Canadian Cancer Trials Group where she is a project coordinator for clinical trials designed to evaluate the role of selected agents in chemoprevention.

 

Dr. Shepherd is a Professor in the Department of Pathology & Molecular Medicine. She completed her medical school training at McGill and spent three years in England where her interest in hematology developed. She completed her training as a Hematopathologist at the University of Ottawa and came to Kingston in 1987. Dr. Shepherd is currently the Director of the Transfusion Medicine Service & Immunology at Kingston General Hospital. Since 1989, Dr. Shepherd has worked with the Canadian Cancer Trials Group as a Physician Coordinator. Her focus has been in Haematology and Breast Cancer as well as the development of the National Tumor/Tissue Repositiory associated with the Canadian Cancer Trials Group and correlative studies in clinical trials.

 

Dr. Michael Brundage is a professor of oncology and of community health and epidemiology at Queen’s University and is the Head of the Radiation Treatment Program at the Cancer Centre of Southeastern Ontario at Kingston General Hospital. He has a busy clinical practice, a post-graduate teaching portfolio, and research programs in medical decision-making, the design and analysis of clinical trials, and the use of quality of life outcome assessments. He trained in Radiation Oncology at Princess Margaret Hospital, and completed an M.Sc. in Community Health and Epidemiology at Queen’s University. Brundage joined the Department of Oncology at Queen’s in 1991 and became a founding member of the staff of the Radiation Oncology Research Unit (1992), now a division of the Queen’s Cancer Research Institute. Brundage co-directs the clinical decision making group of Research Unit and is co-chair of the Quality of Life Committee of Canadian Cancer Trials Group. He has over 200 published papers and abstracts in the peer-reviewed literature.

 

Natasha Leighl obtained her medical degree in 1994 from the University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario and obtained a master's degree in Clinical Epidemiology in 2001 from the University of Newcastle, Australia. She is a Medical Oncologist at the Princess Margaret Hospital, and an Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicine at the University of Toronto. Her main interests lie in the management of lung and breast cancers, and she is involved in clinical studies of novel agents for cancer therapy. She is a member of the Lung Disease Site Group Executive and Co-Chair of the Working Group on Economic Analyses of the Canadian Cancer Trials Group. She also serves on several committees including the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer Communications Committee, and currently chairs the Lung Cancer Canada Medical Advisory Committee as well as serving on the Board of Directors.

 

Penny Bradbury is a medical oncologist; Assistant Professor within the Department of Oncology at Queen’s University and holds a Cancer Care Ontario Research Chair in Experimental Therapeutics. She is a graduate of Cardiff University Medical School, UK. She undertook specialist medical oncology training at the MidCentral Regional Cancer Treatment Service in New Zealand, and at the Cancer Research UK Medical Oncology Department, Churchill Hospital, Oxford, UK, obtaining the FRACP in 2005. She undertook fellowship training in Thoracic Oncology at Princess Margaret Hospital, Toronto, and a one year Drug Development Fellowship with the Canadian Cancer Trials Group, as part of The Terry Fox Foundation Training Program in Transdisciplinary Cancer Research at Canadian Institutes of Health Research. She has a research interest in the evaluation of new therapies for the management of thoracic malignancies and clinical trial methodology. Within the Canadian Cancer Trials Group, she is the physician coordinator for the lung disease site and for National and International thoracic malignancy clinical trials.

 

Dr. Bedard is an Assistant Professor of Medicine at the University of Toronto. He is a Staff Medical Oncologist in the Division of Medical Oncology and the Fellowship Director for the Robert & Maggie Bras and Family New Drug Development Program at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre. He received his medical degree from the University of Toronto where he was awarded the Cody Academic Silver Medal. He completed his Internal Medicine and Medical Oncology specialty training at the University of Toronto. He received additional training in clinical and translational research at the Breast International Group (BIG). He was recognized with a 2012 Career Development Award by the Conquer Cancer Foundation of the American Society of Clinical Oncology. His clinical practice includes the treatment of patients with breast and testicular cancers. His research involves early phase clinical trials and the personalization of cancer treatment based upon the results of testing for DNA mutations within tumor cells.

 

Dr. Scott Laurie received his MD from the University of Ottawa in 1994, and is certified in Internal Medicine and Medical Oncology. He completed a fellowship in Thoracic Oncology at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York in 2000, and subsequently joined on staff at the Ottawa Hospital Cancer Centre. He is an Associate Professor at the University of Ottawa. His research interests are thoracic malignancies, salivary gland malignancies, and investigational new drugs.

 

Steve Atiyeh is a seasoned professional with close to 25 years of experience in the biopharmaceutical industry. He has been at Celgene Inc. and its wholly owned subsidiary Abraxis Bioscience since 2006 as Medical Liaison Manager. Previously Steve worked in medical and other capacities at Roche, Lilly and Lederle/Wyeth, in Canada & overseas, involved in the clinical study and the accessibility of molecules to treat a wide range of solid tumors as well as hematological diseases. A graduate from the University of LaVerne, California, Steve is an active member of ASCO and IASLC, and has recently co-founded the official Montreal fanclub of European soccer giants Bayern Munich

 

Dr. Dent is a Medical Oncologist at The Ottawa Hospital Cancer Centre and Associate Professor in the Department of Medicine at the University of Ottawa. She obtained her MD at McMaster University and completed her postgraduate training in Internal Medicine at the University of Ottawa. She continued her training in Medical Oncology in Ottawa, followed by a fellowship year in Clinical Research with the Canadian Cancer Trials Group. Presently, Dr. Dent is Vice Chair of the Patient Quality & Safety Committee, is a member of Cancer Care Ontario Breast Disease Site Group Practice Guidelines Committee, IND working group for the Breast Cancer Disease Site Committee of the Canadian Cancer Trials Group and Grant Review Panel for the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation and the Canadian Institute of Health Research. She is the founder of the Canadian Cardiac Oncology Network, an organization dedicated to improving our understanding of how cancer treatments impact cardiovascular health with the ultimate goal of preventing cardiotoxicity. Her areas of interest include breast cancer treatment toxicities and cardiotoxicity.

 

Wendy Parulekar is a graduate of the University of Ottawa Medical School where she also completed residency training in Internal Medicine and Medical Oncology (1996). This was followed by a fellowship in Clinical Pharmacology at the Toronto Sunnybrook Regional Cancer Centre. Since 1999, she has held a joint clinical/research position at Queen’s University. Within the Canadian Cancer Trials Group, she acts as Physician Coordinator for national and international studies in carcinoma of the breast, head and neck and genitourinary systems and is Chair of the Education Committee. In addition to her involvement in national and international scientific advisory committees, she is an active participant in the SPIRIT initiative whose goal is to define standard protocol items for randomized trials and is an associate editor for the journal Clinical Trials. In 2011, she was named a Fellow of the Society for Clinical Trials.
Her academic interests include the methodology of efficient clinical trial design and conduct from a non-statistician’s perspective and the art and science of mentoring in academic medicine.