Dr. Janet Dancey returns to Canada to lead High Impact Clinical Trials Program
Dr. Janet Dancey
The Ontario Institute for Cancer Research (OICR) has appointed Dr. Janet Dancey to lead its High Impact Clinical Trials Program, a new initiative aimed at strengthening Ontario’s position as a leader in innovative cancer-related clinical trials.
Having spent nearly a decade in the United States, Dancey recently decided to return to Ontario to become Program Director of the High Impact Clinical Trials Program. Dancey has also been appointed a professor at Queen’s University and an oncologist at the Kingston Regional Cancer Centre. She will be based in Kingston and maintain an office at OICR in Toronto.
“We’re very happy to have Dr. Janet Dancey on board and are excited about moving forward with our High Impact Clinical Trials Program,” said Dr. Tom Hudson, President and Scientific Director of OICR. “Clinical trials are a vital step in getting our laboratory discoveries into the clinic and there are many opportunities for enhancing these trials to get as much knowledge as possible from each study. Dr. Dancey’s solid knowledge of oncology clinical trials and experience conducting large-scale trials make her the perfect person to lead this effort.”
Dancey completed degrees in medical science and medicine at the University of Ottawa and residency programs in internal medicine and medical oncology in Toronto. She completed postgraduate research fellowships at National Cancer Institute of Canada’s Clinical Trials Group under the supervision of Drs. Joseph Pater and Elizabeth Eisenhauer and at L’Institut Gustave Roussy in France with Dr. Thierry Le Chevalier.
Before joining OICR, Dancey was the Associate Branch Chief with the Investigational Drug Branch of the Cancer Therapy Evaluation Program at the National Cancer Institute (NCI) in Rockville, Maryland. Prior to this she served as a senior clinical investigator with the NCI for several years. She has authored more than 85 publications in peer-reviewed journals, chaired or co-chaired several international scientific meetings, given more than 75 presentations and published 15 book chapters.
Over the course of her career, Dancey has served as principal investigator of several clinical trials and quality of life studies. In her new role at OICR, Dancey will bring together clinical researchers involved in testing clinical products. The focus will be on “high impact” trials that try to obtain the maximum research value from clinical studies.
“I am very excited by the opportunity to support the clinical evaluation of scientific discoveries and innovative ideas of cancer researchers in Ontario,” Dancey says.”So often, lack of resources has prevented the testing of translational research questions in clinical trials. The High Impact Clinical Trials Program will be able to provide needed resources to support these important activities, accelerating our understanding of cancer biology and ability to improve outcomes for cancer patients.”
