OICR supports four new studies seeking cancer insights from existing patient samples and data

CATALYST will speed progress toward better detection, diagnosis and treatment for patients.

May 13, 2026, ONTARIO — Four new research studies funded by the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research (OICR) will deliver cutting-edge innovations by maximizing the impact of existing research and making the most out of patient contributions.

OICR is supporting the studies through CATALYST, a new funding stream for research that leverages available patient data and donated samples to advance new insights about detecting, diagnosing and treating cancer.

Led by top Ontario researchers, the first four CATALYST studies explore a range of groundbreaking approaches, from a blood test that could predict the chances of head and neck cancers returning, to evaluating whether a common diabetes medication can help prevent blood cancers. All four make use of available datasets, building off existing research to take the next step toward transforming clinical practice.

“It’s important we maximize every opportunity to push new discoveries past the finish line so they can make an impact on the lives of people with cancer,” says Dr. David Cescon, Scientific Director of OICR’s Clinical Translation research theme. “CATALYST was designed to do just that, while also honouring the patients who make research possible.”

Cancer patients are critical partners in cancer research, generously donating their time, insights and samples to enable new innovations.

“Patients who take part in research want to know that their participation is making a difference for the future of cancer care, and these studies are doing justice to their contributions,” says Vivian Simbul Sim, a cancer survivor and patient partner with Clinical Translation who helped review patient partnership plans for the CATALYST projects.

The first four CATALYST research studies include:

Dr. Neil Fleshner of University Health Network’s (UHN) Princess Margaret Cancer Centre exploring if a common diabetes medication can slow the progression of clonal hematopoiesis, a condition that dramatically increases the risk of blood cancers. Fleshner and others recently showed that a drug called metformin impedes the growth of cells that have a genetic mutation that causes clonal hematopoiesis. The new study will use genetic testing to further explore metformin’s potential to prevent blood cancers and other disease.
Dr. Hon Leong of Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre and Dr. Lillian Siu of UHN’s Princess Margaret Cancer Centre are studying whether a new blood test can predict which cancer patients will benefit most from immunotherapy. In a previous study, patients whose tumours had high amounts of genetic material called ‘endogenous retrotransposable elements’ (ERE) responded better to immune checkpoint inhibitors. Now, Leong and Siu will use the same cohort of patient samples to see if measuring EREs in blood can also predict treatment response.
Dr. Enrique Sanz Garcia and Dr. Scott Bratman of UHN’sPrincess Margaret Cancer Centre are exploring if a blood test can help identify patients whose head and neck cancer has a high risk of returning after treatment. The study will build on earlier research by applying more advanced genomic sequencing technology to look for tiny fragments of tumour DNA in blood samples and see whether the presence of those tumour fragments is associated with cancer recurrence.
Dr. Vikas Gupta of UHN’s Princess Margaret Cancer and Dr. James Kennedy of Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre are developing a system to predict how patients with rare blood cancer will respond to therapy. Bone marrow transplant is the only curative treatment for myelofibrosis, but it has serious side effects and is only used for high-risk patients. Having already developed a risk scoring tool for myelofibrosis, the research team will reanalyze the data to see if the score can identify which patients are suitable for transplant and at what time during treatment they will benefit most from it.

Each of these projects were rigorously evaluated through an iterative process, and they are poised to rapidly deliver on the study objectives.

“By reanalyzing samples and data that have already been collected using new and innovative methods, these studies are maximizing research efficiency and narrowing the gap between science and clinical practice,” says Dr. Lincoln Stein, OICR’s Acting Scientific Director. “Their work will make Ontario healthier and make the most of every dollar invested in our province’s world class research ecosystem.”

“In order to save and improve lives, we need to stay one step ahead of cancer,” says Nolan Quinn, Minister of Colleges, Universities, Research Excellence and Security. “Our government is proud to support the Ontario Institute of Cancer Research and commend their CATALYST program that will drive life-saving discoveries in cancer detection, diagnosis, and treatments.”

OICR is funded by the Government of Ontario. As the province’s cancer research institute, we take on the biggest challenges in cancer research and deliver real-world solutions to find cancer earlier and treat it more effectively. We are committed to helping people living with cancer, as well as future generations, live longer and healthier lives. For more information visit http://www.oicr.on.ca.

The views expressed are those of OICR and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Province of Ontario.

Imaging tech to minimize nerve damage during surgery wins FACIT award

NerView Surgical took home the $100,000 Ernsting Entrepreneurship Award at FACIT’s 2026 Falcons’ Fortunes pitch competition for its real-time nerve visualization technology.

There is a lot for patients to consider as they prepare to have cancer surgery.

Will the surgery successfully remove their tumour? How will they feel afterward? Are there long-term risks?

NerView Surgical founder and CEO Mann Parikh — who recently won top prize at FACIT’s 2026 Falcons’ Fortunes pitch competition — hopes his company’s innovative technology can help reduce surgical risks, ease patients’ minds and spare them from potentially life-changing side effects.

NerView has developed NerveSense™, a handheld imaging tool that allows surgeons to visualize nerves in real time during cancer surgeries and other ‘open’ surgeries involving large incisions. Having a clearer view of nearby nerves — often obscured or distorted by other tissues — could help surgeons avoid accidentally damaging one, which is one of the biggest risks for post-operative complications. The technology could also help improve operating room efficiency.

“We want patients to have peace of mind when they’re going into a surgery,” Parikh says. “We’re trying to bring the risk of nerve damage as close to zero as possible by supporting surgeons with an effective, streamlined tool to visualize nerves.”

Parikh started developing his nerve visualization technology as an undergraduate at McMaster University, where he studied Biomedical Discovery and Commercialization, and then launched NerView Surgical in August 2023.

He was one of six Ontario entrepreneurs selected to pitch their innovations to an expert panel of judges at this year’s Falcons’ Fortunes competition, a sold-out event held in Toronto in April. Now in its 13^th year, Falcons’ Fortunes is FACIT’s premier annual event for cancer innovators.

As the winning pitch, Parikh will receive the $100,000 Ernsting Entrepreneurship Award. He will also get access to FACIT’s continuum of funds and support as he continues to advance his innovation.

We asked Parikh about NerView and how FACIT’s support will help him take the next steps.

How did the idea for NerView come about?

During my undergraduate studies, I took a health ventures course that was essentially an accelerated version of the Stanford Biodesign process. It pushed us to get out of the classroom, cold email stakeholders, speak directly with users and understand the problems they faced before trying to build a solution.

I chose to focus on surgeons to understand the challenges they encounter in the operating room. After speaking with surgeons across North America, I started to notice a recurring pattern around the difficulty of identifying nerves during open surgery. Nerves are thin, white structures that can be mistaken for fat or fascia. Without an objective way to distinguish nerve tissue from surrounding tissue, surgeons often have to rely on experience and visual judgment alone. Some described it as operating in the dark.

How did you go about designing a technology to address this need?

I read a paper about using polarized light on a microscopic level to visualize white brain matter during neurosurgery, and I thought, “Why can’t the same technology be applied to visualizing peripheral nerves?” I don’t have a technical background, so I’m largely self-taught. I built the first prototypes by myself in my dorm room. After seeing some early validation on a chicken we bought from the grocery store, I brought on an engineer, and we started building higher fidelity prototypes.

What makes your technology a useful tool for cancer and other surgeries?

Identifying nerves during surgery is critical for preserving function and avoiding complications. NerveSense gives surgeons direct visual identification of nerves in real time, right in the surgical field. That clarity is critical in cancer surgeries, where tumours and treatments can distort normal anatomy and make nerves harder to identify. The system is label-free and contact-free, giving surgeons continuous visual feedback as they dissect. That’s especially valuable in head and neck, thyroid, and other oncologic procedures where preserving nerve function directly affects voice, swallowing, facial movement, and quality of life.

What stage is the technology at right now?

We’ve had some promising early validation results in various pre-clinical models in terms of sensitivity and specificity, and we are currently working on our sixth-generation prototype. We tested our earlier prototypes with mouse models and cadavers, and we’re hoping to do some early human testing soon.

How will this award from FACIT help you achieve your goals?

The opportunity to access this kind of capital is critical as an early-stage medtech start-up. We will most likely put the investment toward important pilot studies and validation work. It will also help us bring in more support on the software side as we continue developing our prototypes and prepare for manufacturing. We are also fortunate to get access to FACIT’s network and commercialization expertise as we continue to grow NerView.

What impact do you hope your work will have for patients?

I’ve been to a lot of conferences over the past few years. At almost every single conference, a patient comes up to me and tells me they had some kind of nerve injury from surgery. That really puts the potential impact into perspective. Our work is ultimately about providing patients with peace of mind, providing surgeons with an effective tool to make informed decisions during surgery, and avoiding unnecessary post-operative side effects.

Ontario collaboration aims to predict and prevent cancer recurrence before it happens

OICR is leading a province-wide initiative to advance molecular residual disease (MRD) research and bring tests to patients.

“Did you get it all?”

It’s often the first question a patient asks after cancer treatment, and one of the toughest questions for their doctors to answer.

While first-line cancer treatments like surgery, radiation and standard drug-based therapies aim to eradicate tumours, they can sometimes leave behind a small number of cancer cells. These cells are called molecular residual disease (MRD) — sometimes referred to as minimal residual disease — and they form the seeds of future recurrence.

MRD is linked with a high risk of cancer recurrence, but it is by definition impossible to detect with traditional scans, and present without any symptoms while a patient is in clinical remission.

But scientists have recently developed blood tests that can detect MRD by finding tiny fragments of tumour DNA circulating in the bloodstream. OICR has been at the forefront of this research, and now the institute is spearheading an Ontario-wide network to help bring these cutting-edge tests to the clinic, where they can help predict cancer recurrence before it happens.

Dr. David Cescon

Led by OICR’s Clinical Translation team, the network officially launched with a meeting in February. The meeting brought together scientists, clinicians and stakeholders from Hamilton, Ottawa, London, Sudbury, Thunder Bay and Toronto, who discussed the latest innovations in MRD testing and what needs to happen for these tests to make it into the Ontario healthcare system.

Dr. David Cescon is Scientific Director of Clinical Translation at OICR and a leading MRD researcher based at Princess Margaret Cancer Centre (University Health Network). We asked him about MRD testing and how this new network can unlock its potential.

What’s the current state of MRD research, and how close are MRD tests to influencing treatment for Ontarians with cancer?

Over the last few years, scientists have established that we can accurately detect MRD in blood samples. We have also shown that a positive MRD test after initial treatment means an extremely high risk of cancer recurring. However, we still haven’t proven that acting on MRD test results by changing a patient’s treatment plan actually improves their outcomes. That’s the next critical step toward implementing MRD tests in the healthcare system.

If MRD testing can be rolled out on a large scale, what could it mean for cancer patients and their treatment?

At the moment, there is often no way of knowing if first-line cancer treatments are working. Patients identified as high-risk at diagnosis are sometimes given additional treatment to help prevent recurrence, but there’s nothing to measure after treatment to know if there are still traces of cancer left. MRD testing could allow for a much more personalized and precise approach to treatment, sparing patients from unnecessary therapies and providing a second chance to cure a patient’s cancer even if initial treatments don’t work as expected.

How will the MRD Network help realize that potential?

The types of studies needed to bring MRD testing to the clinic require collaboration across institutions and disciplines to identify key questions and harmonize approaches. With a diverse population united under a single healthcare system, Ontario is ideally suited to this type of clinical investigation. The MRD Network will provide the links, infrastructure and support needed to take the next steps toward clinical implementation and allow Ontario to lead the field globally.

Why is OICR well-placed to lead this network?

OICR has already made a major impact in the MRD field, including by supporting groundbreaking research through the CATA, pre-CATA and CATALYST funding programs. As the province’s cancer research institute, OICR also works closely with Ontario Health to identify health system priorities and deliver much-needed technologies to Ontarians. I’m excited that we can lead this important effort through Clinical Translation.

To find out more about the MRD Network please contact Clinical Translation Project Manager Sonja Givetash at sgivetash@oicr.on.ca

Promising research could offer less toxic treatment to stop deadly childhood brain cancer

OICR Drug Discovery is teaming up with Dr. Sheila Singh to develop a potentially game-changing new treatment option for the most aggressive form of medulloblastoma.

A newly launched OICR study is hoping to develop a first-in-class drug against group 3 medulloblastoma, which could help more children survive the disease with fewer long-term side effects.

Medulloblastoma is the most common childhood brain tumour, and group 3 tumours are its most aggressive subtype.

The current standard of care treatment is a gruelling combination of high-risk surgery and intensive chemotherapy. The 70 per cent of children who survive often suffer from lifelong cognitive and developmental side effects. The other 30 per cent will not survive because their cancer relapses and becomes resistant to treatment.

“It’s a very difficult disease with a high risk of recurrence,” says Dr. David Uehling, Interim Scientific Lead of Therapeutic Innovation and Drug Discovery and one of the co-principal investigators for the study. “We need better, more durable therapeutic options and we need them to be safer, so they don’t affect children for the rest of their lives.”

The study builds on research by Dr. Sheila Singh of McMaster University, who recently discovered that medulloblastoma cells produce a specific type of fat and use it as fuel. Singh and colleagues found that blocking that fat production can stop tumour cells from recurring without damaging healthy brain cells.

It’s a promising target for new therapeutics — but to be effective, a new drug will need to cross the blood-brain barrier. So Singh is teaming up with Uehling and OICR Drug Discovery researchers to develop blood-brain penetrating compounds to target medulloblastoma fat production.

“OICR is a great partner in this research because their team has diverse talents and multiple platforms to tackle difficult scientific problems like this,” says Singh, Professor in the Department of Surgery and Biochemistry at McMaster, Head of the School of Cancer and Pharmaceutical Sciences at King’s College London (UK), and the study’s other co-principal investigator.

With an award from OICR’s Cancer Therapeutics Innovation Pipeline (CTIP) and the science already progressing, the study team could be on their way to a groundbreaking innovation that makes the future brighter for children with this common brain tumour.

“There’s an exciting potential here to offer more a more targeted treatment that prevents medulloblastoma recurrence, overcomes resistance, and spares children from potentially devastating side effects,” Singh says.

OICR-supported research to help immunocompromised cancer patients get vaccinated

The Waterloo-based study will advance the use of a vaccine decision tool for healthcare professionals tailored to cancer patients’ needs.

A research team at the University of Waterloo School of Pharmacy is advancing cancer care with support from OICR’s Innovation to Implementation (I2I) Awards.

Cancer and its treatments can often impact a person’s immune system, leaving patients vulnerable to vaccine-preventable diseases. Researchers have found that many healthcare professionals find it challenging to implement a thorough vaccine review into practice due to the complexities in eligibility and access.

OICR support will be used to expand the VaxCheck program, a clinical decision tool that helps healthcare professionals identify vaccines that patients may benefit from, considering this population’s risk of vaccine-preventable diseases and the optimal timing and use of vaccines alongside treatments for cancer.

“We hope that this research will result in a VaxCheck program that is ready for use by various health professionals and that supports the unique needs of people with cancer,” says Dr. Sherilyn Houle, Associate Professor in the University of Waterloo School of Pharmacy.

Extend Pharmacy in Ottawa, a University of Waterloo partner that specializes in oncology care, will pilot the updated VaxCheck tool. Their pharmacists will refine the VaxCheck program and apply it to real-world situations to test its usability and effectiveness at identifying and offering vaccines their patients may benefit from and providing patient education on vaccination that is compassionate, personalized, and easy to understand. The data collected will inform future updates and best practices for other pharmacies who wish to incorporate the program into their care process.

The researchers also aim to learn about the factors that people with cancer consider when making decisions around vaccination, to support the development of resources to answer these questions and support their decision-making. They are also aiming to make the program more widely available to other settings and health professionals who provide care for people with cancer.

This story was originally published by the University of Waterloo School of Pharmacy and has been reposted with permission. The original post can be viewed at: https://uwaterloo.ca/pharmacy/news/oicr-funding-supports-waterloo-pharmacy-vaccination-research

Streak of discoveries highlights bright future of liquid biopsy

OICR’s Dr. Trevor Pugh is helping realize the enormous potential of blood tests for cancer.

Blood tests might be the future of cancer detection, and that future might be closer than you think.

OICR’s Dr. Trevor Pugh and his lab are behind several major publications over the past few months that describe innovations in blood-based tools to detect and monitor cancer.

Often called ‘liquid biopsies’, these tools measure tiny fragments of cancer DNA circulating in the bloodstream. The DNA fragments — known as cell-free DNA (cfDNA) or circulating tumour DNA (ctDNA) — are often present in blood before a tumour shows up on a scan, so they can be a critical marker of cancer at its earliest stages. Liquid biopsy samples can also be collected with a simple blood draw, making testing easier on patients than traditional tissue biopsies.

Liquid biopsy is a priority area for OICR, as part of our emphasis on early detection, and we support ctDNA and cfDNA studies within the institute and across Ontario. During Pugh’s streak of papers in high-impact journals like Nature Cancer, Genome Medicine, Clinical Cancer Research, he collaborated across OICR and with colleagues at Princess Margaret and other leading Ontario institutions.

“The last year has seen an explosion of exciting cfDNA developments across all types of cancer and all manner of medical interventions,” says Pugh, who is Senior Investigator and Director of Genomics at OICR, Senior Scientist at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre (University Health Network), and Professor of Medical Biophysics at the University of Toronto. “Our string of papers alone covers 12 types of cancer treated with organ transplant, surgical resection, multiple immunotherapies, radiotherapy and more.”

The breadth of Pugh’s recent innovations underscores liquid biopsies’ diverse potential. There’s a blood test to detect liver cancer both before and after resection surgery, a tool to predict how head and neck cancers will respond to immunotherapy, blood-based monitoring of melanoma during treatment, and the groundbreaking CHARM2 clinical trial that is exploring blood tests to revolutionize cancer screening for high-risk populations

Pugh and colleagues across Canada also created a game-changing database of liquid biopsy samples that will drive new innovations for years to come.

“The challenge now is marshalling all of these exciting findings into a cohesive clinical laboratory strategy that can be implemented in our healthcare system,” Pugh says. “To do this, prospective clinical utility studies are needed to show how these findings hold up in practice and will improve patient outcomes.”

Remembering Emily McIntosh

Our friend and colleague Emily McIntosh passed away in February at her family home near Cornwall, Ontario.

Emily was a founding member of OICR’s Patient and Family Advisory Council (PFAC), and helped build our patient partnership program into the success it is today. She also worked closely with the Window-of-Opportunity (WOO) Network, where her insights and honesty helped the program balance scientific objectives with the lived realities of patients.

Over five years collaborating with OICR, Emily made an indelible mark on this organization, our research, and perhaps most importantly, on the people around her. Generous with her time and deeply empathetic, Emily went out of her way to counsel and advocate for her fellow patients. She was the first to ask how you and your family were doing, despite navigating her own significant health challenges.

Diagnosed with brain cancer nine years ago, Emily approached every day, and every setback, with grace and humour. She was determined not to let cancer keep her from the things she loved, whether that was flying to the UK to see Oasis or spending quality time with her nieces, nephews and her corgi, Monty.

Emily brought that same determination to a wide range of patient advocacy work beyond OICR. She was an engagement ambassador with Brain Cancer Canada, and collaborated in various capacities with the Canadian Cancer Society and Clinical Trials Ontario. Emily was also a researcher herself, with a PhD in Human Health and Nutrition Sciences (Biomechanics), numerous published manuscripts, and a profound love of science. That she was able to complete her PhD and have a successful research career in the years since her cancer diagnosis is a testament to Emily’s tenacity.

We will remember Emily for her strength and her spirit. She was brilliant, funny and wise beyond her years. We will miss her, and our hearts go out to her family, friends and everyone who loved her.

World Cancer Day: People-centred care starts with people-centred research

OICR Acting President Dr. Christine Williams discusses the rise of patient partnership in cancer research and how it can ensure cancer care meets the needs of patients.

World Cancer Day has me reflecting on one of the most important changes I’ve seen during my career in cancer research and the unprecedented opportunity it has created.

The theme for this year’s event is “United by Unique” and it’s part of a three-year campaign calling for more people-centred cancer care, where each patient’s unique needs and experiences shape the care they receive.

As a scientist and research leader, this reminded me of the scientific community’s journey to bring the voice of patients into the research process. Thanks to the vision and determination of patient advocates, we’ve made major strides to involve patients and caregivers in the planning and execution of cancer research, and the impact has been transformative.

And so for World Cancer Day, with the global cancer community focused on making cancer care more person-centred, I’m excited about the role that person-centred research can play in achieving that goal.

While research sometimes has a reputation of being disconnected from the patient — ‘the lab’ is often seen as distant from ‘the bedside’ — people have always been the heart of cancer research. This is especially true in clinical trials, where participants receive a new tool or treatment as part of their care, and their experiences and feedback help shape the future of that intervention.

Yet there’s a difference between participating in research and doing research. To be truly patient-centred, research needs to be designed and carried out alongside the people it ultimately aims to help. Cancer research should be with patients, and not merely about them.

The formalized involvement of patients in research has its origins in the UK in the mid 1990s, following decades of advocacy from patients demanding a seat at the table. Pioneering organizations like the Canadian Cancer Society started integrating patients into research processes shortly thereafter, and the 2011 publication of CIHR’s Canada’s Strategy for Patient-Oriented Research set the tone for greater partnership between researchers and patients in Canada.

At OICR, patient partnership has become a fundamental part of our research prioritization, design and delivery processes. We now have patients and their family members contributing at all levels of the organization, providing insights that go far beyond what can be learned with a tissue sample and test tube. I’m proud to say that OICR’s new Strategic Plan 2026-2031 was created alongside cancer patients and their families, and I believe it sets us on a path to person-centred research.

But our efforts to be more person-centred in our research won’t mean much if those innovations don’t reach the healthcare system. One of the pillars of our new Strategic Plan is to tighten the connection between cancer discovery and patient care in Ontario. By working with Ontario Health to identify joint priorities across the province’s research and health systems, we will ensure the day-to-day experiences of patients feed directly into the research we do. In turn, that will help us to deliver innovations that meet patients’ individual needs.

With the direct involvement of patients and a close partnership with the health system, we have a tremendous opportunity to make cancer care more person-centred. As one of our amazing patient partners, Carla-Bossart Pletzer, put it:

“Future generations may well look back on this moment as the turning point when research became truly for everyone, by everyone,” she told a meeting of OICR’s scientific leadership last year.

Now it’s on us as a cancer research community to capitalize on this moment and honour the lived experiences of patients like Carla by engaging them as our partners in research, leading to better science and better outcomes.

Finding safer ways to treat childhood leukemia

OICR-supported research is exploring how chemotherapy impacts brain development in the hopes of reducing side effects for children.

Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is the most common cancer in children. It is also one of the most treatable, with a five-year survival rate of about 94 per cent.

But the multi-phased course of chemotherapy used to treat children with ALL may have a negative impact on their brain development and put kids at risk of long-term cognitive or behavioural problems.

Through research supported by OICR and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), Dr. Brian Nieman of The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) is exploring how chemotherapy affects childhood brain development to find safer ways to treat children with ALL.

In Nieman’s latest published study, he and colleagues at SickKids and the University of Toronto showed that chemotherapy administered intrathecally (through the spine) is less harmful to brain development in mice than when it’s administered intravenously.

Now, he and colleagues are conducting two related studies: one to observe children treated for ALL with chemotherapy to better understand its impact on their brain development, and another to identify genetic factors that might put children at higher risk of side effects impacting brain development — known as ‘neurotoxicity’.

“Our goal is to identify which kids are most likely to experience neurotoxicity before it happens,” says Nieman, whose research was supported by an OICR Investigator Award. “Then ultimately, we hope those children can receive modified treatment or additional support that reduces their risk of life-altering side effects.”

OICR celebrates 20 years of changing lives at anniversary celebration

Scientists, health professionals, patients and leaders in academia, government and industry from across Ontario gathered to mark the 20th anniversary of OICR’s founding.

Ontario’s cancer research community recently came together to celebrate two decades of life-changing impact at OICR’s 20th anniversary celebration.

Held Dec. 11, 2025 in Toronto, the celebration marked the anniversary of OICR’s founding, which was first announced by the Government of Ontario in December 2005.

Key figures from OICR’s past and present gathered at the celebration to commemorate all the institute had achieved for Ontario’s health and economic prosperity over the past two decades, and look ahead to new innovations that will transform cancer care and life sciences for generations to come.

The celebration kicked off with remarks from the Hon. Nolan Quinn, Minister of Colleges, University, Research Excellence and Security, and a special video message from Premier Doug Ford. Other speakers included Chair of OICR’s Board of Directors Susan Fitzpatrick, OICR’s Acting President Dr. Christine Williams, OICR’s Acting Scientific Director Dr. Lincoln Stein, and Ambuj Srivastava of OICR’s Patient and Family Advisory Council.

OICR also honoured the first class of OICR Luminaries — a group of five leaders who played an essential role in building the institute. The inaugural Luminaries are John Evans, Tom Hudson, Michele Noble, Bob Phillips and Cal Stiller.

Later in the celebration, OICR announced the winner of InterConnections, a special art competition for images created as part of cancer research projects. First prize went to “The Meeting Point”, submitted by researchers Megan Hopkins and Dr. Melanie Spears.

The event’s MC Dr. Robert Campos, OICR’s Senior Director of Research Operations and Therapeutic Innovation, wrapped up the successful celebration by acknowledging the event planning team and the event’s sponsor organizations, which included Gold Sponsors Illumina and Fasken. He also thanked everyone in attendance and all members of the OICR community for their efforts to help people affected by cancer live longer, healthier lives.

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