Recognition Awards

Dr. Skamene is a medical oncology fellow at McGill University. She completed her MD (in 2010), internal medicine and hematology training (in 2015) at McGill University, followed by a 12-month clinical trials fellowship focusing on the design and conduct of phase II/III clinical trials at the Canadian Cancer Trials Group. During her fellowship, she completed a secondary analysis of the LY.12 randomized clinical trial evaluating outcomes of patients with peripheral T-cell lymphoma, which has been accepted for publication in Leukemia & Lymphoma. In addition, she received the John H. Crookston award by the Canadian Hematology Society and an American Society of Hematology Abstract achievement award in 2016 for her project on wait times for autologous stem cell transplantation in relapsed or refractory lymphoma. Her clinical area of interest is in hematologic malignancies and geriatric oncology.

Dr. Tang is a medical oncologist at the Tom Baker Cancer Centre. She completed her MD with Distinction and Honors in Research at the University of Alberta, oncology training at the University of Calgary, followed by an 18-month drug development fellowship focusing on design of early phase clinical trials and biomarker development at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, University of Toronto. She was awarded an ASCO Young Investigator Award in 2007. Currently, she is the Southern Alberta Gastrointestinal Tumor Group Leader, the Alberta Representative to 3CTN, as well as the Centre Representative for the

 

Dr. Cheung obtained his Medical Degree (1999) and also completed residency programs in Internal Medicine and Hematology (1999-2004) at the University of Toronto. In 2006, he obtained a Masters degree in Clinical Epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston. Dr. Cheung is currently on staff at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre as a Clinician-Investigator and Clinical Hematologist. He is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicine at the University of Toronto. He serves on the Hematology Disease Site Executive Committee for the Canadian Cancer Trials Group, the Committee for Economic Analysis, and is Co-Chair of the Hematology Cancer Disease Site Group of the Cancer Care Ontario Program in Evidence-Based Care. His research interests include pharmacoeconomic evaluation in hematologic malignancies, clinical trials in lymphoma and AIDS-related malignancies.

 

Dr. Hay is a graduate of the University of Dundee (UK).  She completed broad post-graduate medical training across Scotland, ultimately achieving Specialist Certification in Hematology in 2011.She has been a fellow with the Canadian Cancer Trials Group since 2012 and has been actively involved in phase I, II and III clinical trials and in many areas of trial conduct including protocol development, data review, and analysis. Her initial work with the Canadian Cancer Trials Group was a very ambitious individual patient data comparison of combined modality therapy and ABVD alone for patients with limited stage Hodgkin lymphoma. This involved close collaboration with the German Lymphoma Study Group and resulted in a publication in the Annals of Oncology and an oral presentation at the American Society of Hematology in 2012 for which she won an ASH Abstract Achievement Award, the John H. Crookson Award from the Canadian Hematology Society, and best poster at the Canadian Conference on Lymphoproliferative Disorders at Lake Louise in 2013.

Dr. Cescon is a breast Medical Oncologist and Clinician Scientist at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre in Toronto. His clinical interest is triple negative breast cancer and early phase trials, and his laboratory work is focused on the application of cell line and patient-derived breast cancer models for the evaluation of novel therapies. He is part of several large multidisciplinary projects, including the Terry Fox Triple Negative Breast Cancer Program Project and the Stand up to Cancer Canada/CBCF Breast Cancer Dream Team. A major emphasis of his work has been the non-clinical and IND development of two novel mitotic kinases inhibitors discovered by the UHN Therapeutics group (Campbell Family Institute for Breast Cancer Research), which will be tested in breast cancer trials in collaboration with CCTG’s IND Program as part of the Stand Up to Cancer project. Dr. Cescon is a graduate of the University of Waterloo (BSc) and University of Toronto (MD), and completed his Internal Medicine and Medical Oncology residencies at the University of Toronto. He subsequently completed a PhD under the supervision of Dr. Tak Mak and a Fellowship in Phase I Drug Development with Drs. Lillian Siu and Philippe Bedard prior to joining the breast group at Princess Margaret in 2014.

 

Dr. Goodwin completed her internal medicine and medical oncology residency at the University of Ottawa. She then went on to complete a two-year Investigational New Drug Development Fellowship under the mentorship of Dr. Elizabeth Eisenhauer at CCTG. She is an Assistant Professor in Medical Oncology at the University of Ottawa. Her clinical interests include gastrointestinal cancers and phase I/II clinical trials. Dr. Goodwin is CCTG Centre Representative for Ottawa, and an active member of the IND and GI Disease Site groups.

 

Dr. Pitz is a Medical Oncologist at CancerCare Manitoba and Assistant Professor at the University of Manitoba. His clinical focus is on Brain Tumours and Breast Cancer. He is the Chief Medical Information Officer at CancerCare Manitoba where he has been working to develop the use of clinical and administrative data for research purposes. He currently leads two investigator-initiated clinical trials at CancerCare Manitoba and is involved in multiple epidemiological and clinical outcomes studies. Within the Brain Disease Site and the IND Program he seeks to test new compounds and strategies in the treatment of malignant glioma and other tumours of the central nervous system.

 

Dr. Bradbury is a medical oncologist, Associate Professor, Department of Medicine, University of Toronto, and adjunct Associate 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 worked as a senior investigator for the thoracic oncology disease site, sarcoma disease site and investigational new drugs program within the Canadian Cancer Trials Group from 2010-2014 gaining experience in the conduct of phase I-III National and International clinical trials. She is currently working as a staff physician at Princess Margaret Cancer Centre in lung and sarcoma, She has a research interest in the evaluation of new therapies for the management of thoracic malignancies and clinical trial methodology.

 

Dr. Renouf is a medical oncologist at the British Columbia Cancer Agency, Vancouver Centre, an Assistant Professor at the University of British Columbia, Department of Medicine, and is the Co-Director of Pancreas Centre BC. He received his Doctor of Medicine from the University of Alberta and completed his internal medicine and medical oncology training at the University of British Columbia and British Columbia Cancer Agency. He undertook further training in early drug development and gastrointestinal oncology at Princess Margaret Cancer Centre and the University of Toronto, and obtained a Masters of Public Health from Harvard University. Dr. Renouf has played a role in a number of Canadian Cancer Trials Group trials and projects, including Canadian Cancer Trials Group IND.173 and Canadian Cancer Trials Group PA.3. He is the local PI for the Canadian Cancer Trials Group PA.6 study and has been actively accruing patients to several trials including, PA.6, GA.2, CO.21, CO.23, and IND.210.

 

This year's recipient is Dr. Jose Monzon, a medical oncologist at the Tom Baker Cancer Centre in Calgary, Alberta. Dr. Monzon completed his postgraduate medical oncology residency training at the University of British Columbia and translational fellowship training at the Canadian Cancer Trials Group. He has also completed a PhD focusing on melanoma genetics at the University of Toronto. His current research interests include pharmacogenomics and early phase clinical trials in cutaneous and gastrointestinal malignancies.

Dr. Tsao is a Staff Consultant Thoracic Pathologist and Senior Scientist and holds the M. Qasim Choksi Chair in Lung Cancer Translational Research at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre in Toronto. He is a Professor of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology, and Professor of Medical Biophysics at the University of Toronto. Dr. Tsao has served as co-chair of CCTG’s Correlative Science and Tumour Biology Committee since 2006, and is a member of CCTG’s Lung Disease Site Executive Committee. He pioneered the establishment of a prospective snap-frozen, paraffin tumour bank as part of CCTG’s BR.10 trial and subsequently used the banked tumour samples from BR.10 to develop one of the first prognostic gene signatures for non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Dr. Tsao also led the biomarker correlative studies for the BR.21 trial, which was the pivotal trial that led to the approval of erlotinib in advanced NSCLC patients. Dr. Tsao is internationally known for his expertise in lung cancer pathology, research in prognostic and predictive biomarkers, and translational lung cancer research. In 2011, Dr. Tsao received the O. Harold Warwick Award from the Canadian Cancer Society, and more recently received the Mary Matthew Pathology Award at the 16th World Conference on Lung Cancer. He has served as a mentor and role model to numerous Canadian and international pathologists, medical oncologists, and surgeons and has improved the outcomes of Canadians with lung cancer through his dedication to lung cancer research.

 

Dr. Pritchard is one of Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre’s best-known academic physicians. She received her MD from Queen’s University before going on to train at the University of Toronto’s Program in General Internal Medicine. She then spent two years in the University of Toronto Medical Oncology Program and two years as a Research Fellow, first in tumour immunology and melanoma, and subsequently in clinical trials in breast cancer. From 1984-2007, she was Chair/co-Chair of CCTG’s Breast Disease Site Committee and continues to be active on that Committee. In 2005, Dr. Pritchard was awarded the O. Harold Warwick Prize for Cancer Control in Canada by CCS. In June 2011, Dr. Pritchard was awarded the ASCO Statesman Award, an award that recognizes ASCO members for their extraordinary volunteer service, dedication, and commitment to ASCO. In 2015, Dr. Pritchard was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award by the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation and named a Woman of Action by the Israel Cancer Research Foundation. Dr. Pritchard's research interest include multi-centre clinical trials, design, conduct and analysis; adjuvant therapy for breast cancer, correlative and translational research in breast cancer, tumor/tissue/serum/data banking, predictive and prognostic factors in breast cancer, endocrine therapy for breast cancer, career development for medical oncologists.

 

Dr. Brundage received post-graduate training in radiation oncology at the Princess Margaret Hospital and University of Toronto, and in Community Health and Epidemiology at Queen’s University. He is currently a Senior Radiation Oncologist at the Cancer Clinic of Southeast Ontario / Kingston General Hospital and is a Professor in the Departments of Oncology and Public Health Sciences at Queen’s. He holds a clinician scientist award from Cancer Care Ontario and MOHLTC and is the Director of the Division of Cancer Care and Epidemiology at the Queen’s Cancer Research Institute. Dr. Brundage has longstanding research interests in quality of life evaluation and communication, and in quality of care and other aspects of health services research. He has had the privilege of co-chairing the Canadian Cancer Trials Group Quality of Life endpoint committee, and as such has been involved with steering the evaluation and reporting of quality of life outcomes in clinical trials both nationally and internationally. In this capacity, his research has contributed to developing international standards for the analysis of quality of life outcomes, the reporting of these outcomes, and the incorporation of these outcomes into routine clinical practice. He has received several international research awards in this domain, including twice winning the International Society for Quality of Life Research “article of the year” research excellence award. He has chaired an international task force charged with developing CONSORT reporting standards for quality of life outcomes, and has served on several national and international research advisory boards, including the Canadian Cancer Society Research Institute Advisory Committee on Research and the ISOQOL Board of Directors. He has mentored numerous undergraduate, postgraduate, and research fellows, and in 2005 was awarded a provincial clinical teaching award from PAIRO. He holds numerous research grants in support of improving knowledge translation of quality of life outcomes into clinical practice, in addition to other health services research projects. He has published over 150 peer-reviewed full publications and book chapters.

 

Frances A. Shepherd received her MD from the University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and is currently a Senior Staff Physician at Princess Margaret Hospital in Toronto, where she holds the Scott Taylor Chair in Lung Cancer Research. She is a Full Professor of Medicine at the University of Toronto and served as the University Division Director for Medical Oncology from 1997 to 2003. Dr Shepherd has been recognized for her many contributions in the field of lung cancer research, most notably her long-standing international leadership in the development of innovative therapies for this indication. In 2001 she was named the Scott Taylor Chair in Lung Cancer Research, becoming the first holder of this esteemed research position with a primary goal of investigating new treatments for lung cancer. Dr Shepherd served as Chair of the Lung Cancer Site Committee of the Canadian Cancer Trials Group for 19 years and was President of the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer from 2003 to 2005 and a member of the Board of Directors of the American Society of Clinical Oncology from 2010-14. Currently, she sits on the Board of Directors European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer, and also is Chair of the EORTC Protocol Review Committee. Dr Shepherd has served as Chair of the American Society of Clinical Oncology Membership and Publications Committees. She was the recipient of the Jacqueline Seroussi Memorial Foundation for Cancer Research Award in 2004; the National Cancer Institute of Canada 0. Harold Warwick Award for Research Excellence in 2006; the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer Research Award in 2007; the Ontario Premier’s Summit Award for Research in 2009, and a Boehringer-Ingelheim Innovation Award in 2010. In recognition of her contributions to cancer research and treatment, she received the Order of Ontario in 2007. In 2012, she won the British Thoracic Oncology Group International Award for Contributions to Lung Cancer Research, the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada Whiteman Award and Visiting Professorship and a Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee medal. Dr Shepherd has designed and led more than 100 clinical trials over the past three decades, and her studies have changed treatment and outcomes for lung cancer patients at a global level. She sits on numerous national and international lung cancer advisory boards, and chairs and/or sits on several data and safety monitoring boards for international lung cancer trials. She has mentored more than 30 post-doctoral research fellows from around the world, many of whom now hold senior academic positions in their home countries. She has authored or co-authored more than 450 peer reviewed publications and 35 book chapters.

Dr. Bramwell has chaired the Sarcoma DSC since 1985, and is one of the longest serving site chairs with the Canadian Cancer Trials Group. Through Dr. Bramwell's exemplary leadership, the Committee has made important contributions to many clinical trials which have changed practice for Canadian patients diagnosed with sarcoma, including SRC.1, an international trial evaluating imatinib for the management of gastrointestinal stromal tumours and Canadian Cancer Trials Group SR.2, an Canadian Cancer Trials Group-led trial evaluating the timing and long-term toxicity of radiation for patients with surgically resectable soft tissue sarcoma. She has been a leader in developing national and international linkages with other sarcoma groups, which have enabled the successful work of the Canadian Cancer Trials Group including the Canadian Sarcoma Group, the EORTC Soft Tissue and Bone Sarcoma Group, US cooperative groups and, more recently, with the Sarcoma Alliance for Research Through Collaboration (SARC). This collaboration with SARC has culminated in the activation of SR.6, a new clinical trial evaluating a novel agent for patients with high grade soft tissue sarcoma. She has been a mentor to numerous young investigators, many of whom have subsequently assumed leadership roles as Canadian Cancer Trials Group study and committee chairs.

IND.226 Team - Ottawa Hospital Research Institute

Caroline Lalonde, Deborah Keller, Nancy Drummond-Ivars, Sopear Tep, Saren Roeun, Kathy Lebreux, Natascha Parisien, Caroline Dean, Maria Lalonde, Louiselle Godbout, Lise Thaw, Alison Sutherland, Lena McAleer, Emma Webster, Femina Kanji, Elina Iordanidi, Lisa MacMullin, Jennifer Knudson, Sharon Kelly, Marie-Claude Reeves

 

IND.214 Team - Ottawa Hospital Research Institute

Julie Wells, Saara Ali, Kaitlyn Chambers, Sara Richardson, Kathy Lebreux, Natascha Parisien, Caroline Dean, Maria Lalonde, Louiselle Godbout, Lise Thaw, Alison Sutherland, Lena McAleer, Emma Webster, Lisa Turriff, Amy Henderson, Elina Iordanidi, Lisa MacMullin, Ruth Simpson, Sharon Kelly, Marie-Claude Reeves

 

PR.17 Team - Cross Cancer Institute, Edmonton

Scott North, Naveen Basappa, Michael Kolinsky, Carlie Smith, Beverly Larson, Monika Lang, Leni Santiago Garcia, Margo Miller, Daphne Willan, Nirmal Joshi, Candra Williams

 

SC.24 Team - Odette Cancer Centre at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, Toronto

Arjun Saghal, Lori Holden, Delareese Mackenzie, Maurice Zakhem, Marko Cadonic, Joe Presutti, Collins Yeboah, Mark Ruschin, Brige Chugh, Mikki Campbell, Young Lee, Sten Myrehaug, Eric Tseng, Michelle Gianotti, Elizabeth Lui, Hany Soliman, Hyla Okorofsky

 

 

IND.226 Team Juravinski Cancer Centre at Hamilton Health Sciences

Andrew Arnold, Denise Charbonneau, Ing Collins, Kathy Cowan, Diane DeRosa, Robin Eady, Peter Ellis, John Goffin, Shirley-Ann Hahn, Hal Hirte, Sebastien Hotte, Rosalyn Juergens, Yvonne Kinrade, Brenda Kowaleski, Anne Laughlin, Elaine McWhirter, Elisa Shore, Jeanette Van Norden

 

IND.226 Team Tom Baker Cancer Centre, Calgary

Aaron Baumgarten, Gwyn Bebb, Florizel Bernardo, Anna Giulione, Desiree Hao, Lydian Hare, Klara Lavoie, Michelle Mills

 

CO.21 Team Cross Cancer Institute, Edmonton

Neil Chua, Anthony Fields, Amelie Fontaine, Leni Santiago Garcia, Julie Price Hiller, Maria Ho, Karen King, Sheryl Koski, Monika Lang, Beverly Larson, Karen Mulder, Michael Sawyer, Carlie Smith, Andrew Scarfe, Jennifer Spratlin, Candra Williams, Xiaofu Zhu

 

MAC.15 Team BCCA, Vancouver Cancer Centre

Eden Blumenauer, Cheryl Carrasco, Adelaide Dede, Janice Pope, Rosanne Serpanchy, Wendy Won, Carleen Yu

 

IND.211 and IND.215 Teams Ottawa Hospital Research Institute

Kendra Christink, Michelle McWilliam, Matt Fish, Lisa Turriff, Amy Henderson, Lisa MacMullin, Femina Kanji, Nancy Drummond-Ivars, Kathy Lebreux, Maria Lalonde, Lise Thaw, Ruth Simpson, Lena McAleer, Emma Webster, Sharon Kelly, Garth Nicholas

 

NEC.3 Team Dr. Léon-Richard Oncology Centre

Gisèle Bernard, Bernise Gaudet, Karine Morin, Joanne Rockburn, Brigitte Sonier-Ferguson, Nicholas Finn, Ali Benjelloun, Skander Ghedira, Eve St-Hilaire, Pierre Whitlock, Nancy Hallé & Pharmacy Team

 

BL.12 Team Princess Margaret Cancer Centre

Jill Sheedy, Mary Beth Zavitz, Laurie Adams, Soo Chin, Maria Schlag, Nanthini Tharahan, Leslie Duncan & Pharmacy Team, Vanessa Speers & Correlative Team, Sujata Pokhrel, Anna Malik, Srikala Sridhar, Jennifer Knox, Anthony Joshua, Aaron Hansen

 

IND.211 Team at CHUM Hôpital Notre-Dame

Isabelle Lacas, Mariejo Simard, Sarnia Jean-Baptiste

 

IND.210 Team at Ottawa Hospital Research Institute

Saara Ali, Carla Kinden, Deborah Keller, Diane Lister, Caryn Boheimer, Joanne Roach, Patti Spencer, Roxanne Ward, Lise Thaw, Lena McAleer, Maria Crutchley, Ruth Simpson, Emma Webster, Amy Henderson, Valerie Bourada, Mary Spearman, Lisa MacMullin, Nancy Drummond-Ivars, Kathy Lebreux, Maria Lalonde

 

MA.32 Vancouver Centre – BC Cancer Agency

Adelaide Dede, Rosanne Serpanchy, Wendy Won, Linda Wong. Sophie Sun, Karen Gelmon, PIs

 

BR.26 Princess Margaret Cancer Centre

Nicole Perera-Low, Nazanin Nouriany, Andrea Foster, Dianne Zawisza, Devalben Patel, Miriam Mirshams, Jeffrey Doi, Belling Leung, Kendra Ross, Vicky Gillman, Nashreen Leila, David Laurence, Kathryn Sabate, Maria Schlag, Fion Tang, Elham Absiye, Stephanie Zantinge, Cody Connolly, Vanessa Speers. Geoffrey Liu, PI

 

IND.205 Team at the British Columbia Cancer Agency (BCCA) Vancouver Cancer Centre

The 2013 team award was presented to the IND.205 Team at the British Columbia Cancer Agency (BCCA) Vancouver Cancer Centre -- Ms. Rongrong Karim, Mr. Shane Brown, and Mr. Wilfred Hui.