Cancer Translational Research Horizons

Dr. Fallone is Professor & Director of Medical Physics, Founding Director of the CAMPEP Graduate, Certificate and Residency Programs, U of Alberta, and Medical Physics Director, Cross Cancer Institute. Received his PhD (Physics, McGill), was Assist Prof (U of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center), Assoc Prof (McGill), He has 650 peer reviewed-articles and abstracts, 40 issued patents, is Fellow of CCPM, AAPM and COMP, awarded the Inaugural Alberta Lifetime Contribution Award in Cancer Research; Knight and then Officer, Order of Merit, Italy; COMP Gold Medal Prize; Patterson Impact Prize, several Fedorak and several other best paper and cover awards. He was Secretary and President of COMP, Chief Examiner and President of CCPM. He pioneered the first integrated linac-MR system, which uses MRI imaging to guide, in real-time, radiation precisely to tumours while avoiding healthy tissues. He is Chair and co-founder of MagnetTx to commercialize it branded as Aurora-RT which received Canada CNSC Class II Certification, FDA(USA), CE Mark (Europe), etc.

Dr. Spyro Mousses is widely recognized as a leading scientist in the application of genomics, RNAi, systems biology, and machine learning to improve and accelerate cancer drug discovery and development. Dr. Mousses received his PhD in Molecular Pathogenesis and Genetics of Cancer from the University of Toronto. He has published more than 60 patents, scientific articles, and book chapters. He served as Director of the Pharmaceutical Genomics Division at the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen). As a successful entrepreneur, Dr. Mousses has previously founded several biotech and IT companies, including Systems Medicine (acquired by Cell Therapeutics), MedTrust Online (acquired by Annai Systems), and Systems Imagination, which offers advanced cognitive computing technology to translate big data into biomedical insights.

Dr. Fenster received his PhD in 1976 from the Department of Medical Biophysics of the University of Toronto. He began his academic career in 1979 at the University of Toronto's Department of Radiology and Medical Biophysics. In 1987, he moved to London, Canada, as the founding Director of Imaging Research Laboratories at Robarts Research Institute and a Professor at The University of Western Ontario (UWO). He founded the interdisciplinary Biomedical Engineering program at UWO and was its first Director. As Chair of the Basic Science Division in the Department of Medical Imaging, he leads a major imaging research community. Dr. Fenster is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and 8 other societies. He received the Order of Ontario for his contribution to the diagnosis and treatment of prostate cancer. He has 54 issued and pending patents and co-founded 4 companies. His team is focused on the development of 3D ultrasound imaging with diagnostic and therapeutic cancer, vascular, and musculoskeletal applications.

Dr. Karin Stephenson is the Director, Nuclear Research and Education Support for Nuclear Operations and Facilities at McMaster University. Dr. Stephenson graduated with her PhD in Chemistry from McMaster University and completed postdoctoral fellowships in Radiology at the University of Pennsylvania and at the PET Centre at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health/University of Toronto. She has more than 20 years of experience in nuclear research, radiochemistry, and radiopharmaceuticals. Before joining McMaster University, she was the Director of Discovery at the Centre for Probe Development and Commercialization, where she led research and discovery of new radiochemistry and radiopharmaceuticals with applications in oncology and neurology research.

Dr. Udunna Anazodo completed her doctoral degree in Medical Biophysics at Western University and was a MITACS Accelerate Fellow at The Lawson Health Research Institute. She is a William Dawson Scholar and Assistant Professor at McGill University's Montreal Neurological Institute, where she directs the Multimodal Imaging of Neurodegenerative Disease (MiND) Lab, focusing on PET and MRI neuroimaging techniques. As Chair of the ISMRM PET/MRI Study group, Dr. Anazodo is dedicated to improving diagnostic imaging access. She founded CAMERA, a network enhancing MRI access in Africa, and established Africa's first Medical AI Lab at Crestview Radiology Ltd in Lagos, Nigeria.

Ms. Cook holds a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from the University of British Columbia and a Master of Nursing from Athabasca University. She began her career with CIUSSS in 2017, as Clinical-Administrative Coordinator for Oncology and Cardiovascular Services, as well as Co-Director of the Segal Cancer Centre. She then held the position of Deputy Director of SAPA, Long-Term Care. Since 2021, Ms. Cook has been the Associate Director of DQTEVE&VC. Passionate, enthusiastic and innovative, Ms. Cook fosters a culture of continuous improvement, innovation and collaboration. She has worked actively on deploying the Hospital@Home program, as well as on developing, at the provincial level, the Virtual Care program adopted by the MSSS.

Barry D. Stein, B.Com., B.C.L., LL.B., graduated from McGill University and has been a member of the Bar of Quebec since 1981. Barry sits on the Board of Directors of several corporations, not-for-profit organizations and foundations including Colorectal Cancer Canada, Exactis Innovation, the Canadian Personalized Healthcare Innovation Network (CPHIN), Le Consortium de recherche en oncologie clinique du Québec (observer) (Q-CROC) and FT3- From Testing to Targeted Treatments. He is also on the governing council of CANTRAIN the Canadian Consortium of Clinical Trial Training platform and on the Board of Directors od DNA to RNA An inclusive Canadian Approach to Genomic-based RNA Therapeutics (D2R) based at McGill University Research Institute.

Dr. André Diamant is the CEO & founder of Gray Oncology Solutions, a Montreal-based startup developing software to optimize the flow of patients through a cancer center. Prior to founding Gray, he completed his MSc (2016) & PhD (2020) in Medical Physics at McGill University. Both degrees focused on predicting oncological outcomes using advanced machine learning algorithms to analyze pre-treatment medical data. Now, he is focused on translating this form of research directly into practice through Gray.

Dr. Ariane Gomes is the co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer of Baseimmune, a company she helped establish in late 2019. Dr. Gomes earned her PhD in Clinical Medicine from the University of Oxford in 2018, where she developed vaccines for HPV, Malaria, Melanoma, and Influenza. Following the completion of her PhD studies, Ariane worked as a Research Fellow at University College London, investigating protective humoral responses of vaccines against chronic viruses. At Baseimmune, Dr. Gomes leads scientific strategy and operations.

Jean-François Millau is the co-founder and CEO of TATUM Bioscience. He is a scientist-entrepreneur at heart who holds a PhD in Biotechnology and is a Grenoble Business School graduate. He has authored numerous research articles, holds several patents, and pioneered the development of the first biochip to measure DNA repair activities; now commercialized. Convinced that synthetic biology will revolutionize the immuno-oncology, he co-founded TATUM bioscience to develop radically new immunotherapies to outwit cancer.

Dr. Michel L. Tremblay completed his graduate studies at the Université de Sherbrooke (MSc) and McMaster University (Ph.D.). After his postdoctoral training at the NIH, he joined McGill University as an assistant professor. His research has led to significant discoveries, including the cloning of genes for several PTPs and the development of the first animal model of Gaucher disease using stem cells. Dr. Tremblay has received numerous awards and honors, including the "Discovery of the Year" award from Québec Science, the James McGill Chair, and the Jeanne and Jean Louis Lévesque Chair in Oncology. He also founded the Goodman Cancer Research Centre and served on the executive committee of the FRSQ. As a leading expert in his field, he has contributed significantly to our understanding of PTPs and their implications for cancer research. He continues to investigate this area at McGill University and has founded two biotechnology companies based on his discoveries.

Dr. Mahshid is Assistant Professor of Bioengineering at McGill University and Canada Research Chair in Nano/biosensing devices. She is an associate member of the Division of Experimental Medicine, Department of Biomedical Engineering, and various interdisciplinary initiatives at McGill, including the AMR Center, Mi4 and TISED. Her Lab combines expertise in nanomaterials based biosensing, nano/ microfluidics and molecular diagnostics with strong focus on translational applications in cancer and infectious diseases. Her work, comprising over 60 manuscripts and 8 patents, has attracted over 3070 citations and adaptations. Dr. Mahshid has received distinguished awards including “Pfizer-MI4 Early Career Investigator Award”, “William and Rhea Seath Awards in Engineering Innovation” and “MI4-CLIC Innovation Prize”. Her research has been featured by media outlets including Radio Canada, CTV News, Toronto Stars and MedScape.

Dr. Nathalie Johnson is an associate professor in the departments of Medicine and Oncology at McGill University. She performs translational and clinical research at the Jewish General Hospital (JGH) since 2010. She established a lymphoma tumor bank that she shares with other investigators to advance biomedical research in Quebec and Canada. Her translational research focuses on identifying mechanisms of therapeutic resistance to conventional and novel therapies, including immunotherapy. She is also the primary investigator of several clinical trials that test novel therapies in patients with newly diagnosed or relapsed lymphoma.

Dr. Alan Spatz is professor of Pathology and Oncology at McGill university, chief of the Department of Clinical laboratory medicine at the McGill University Health Center (MUHC), and medical director of Optilab Montreal-MUHC that is an integrated network of labs belonging to the McGill affiliated hospitals. He is also director of the molecular pathology center and of the “X chromosome and cancer” research lab at the Lady David Institute (LDI)/Jewish General Hospital of Montreal. Dr. Spatz received his medical education at the Sorbonne university, Paris, France, and worked at the Gustave Roussy cancer institute in Villejuif, France, from 1994 to 2008. He serves on the board and steering committee of several international and Canadian research organizations. Dr. Spatz’ research is focused on cancer biomarkers and on the role of the X chromosome-related haploinsufficency in cancer progression.

Dr. Elie Haddad is a clinician scientist in pediatric immunology, full professor (tenured) of the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Montreal where he performs basic and clinical research focusing on immune disorders, immunotherapy and precision health for rare disorders. Based at the CHU Sainte-Justine in Montreal, he is the head of Immunology and Rheumatology Division. He is currently President of the Clinical Immunology Society (CIS) and he is one of the three multi-PI of the Primary Immune Deficiency Treatment Consortium, an NIH-funded consortium of 49 North-American Centers. He published more than 220 articles both in clinical and basic research. The major activity of his fundamental research is on immunotherapy, mostly in the field of NK-cell and stem-cell based cellular therapy. Dr. Haddad has also set up a humanized mice platform to develop innovative preclinical models for the study of immunopathology and cancer immunotherapy.

Dr. April Rose is a clinician scientist and Assistant Professor within the Department of Oncology at McGill University. She is a staff Medical Oncologist at the Segal Cancer Centre of the Jewish General Hospital (CIUSSS West-Central Montreal) and a Principal Investigator at the Lady Davis Institute for Medical Research. Dr. Rose has clinical interests in melanoma and genitourinary cancers. Her research interests are in molecular and translational oncology as well as in the development of novel immunogenomic therapies for treatment resistant cancers.

Dr. Michel Bouvier obtained his Ph.D. in Neurological Sciences from the Université de Montréal in 1985. Following postdoctoral studies in the laboratory of Robert J. Leftkowitz at Duke University, he joined the Department of Biochemistry of the Université de Montréal in 1989 and became chairman of the Department between 1997 and 2005. In 2005, he joined IRIC where he has been Chief Executive Officer from 2014 to 2024. He published 376 research article in the field of molecular pharmacology and drug discovery that resulted in an h index of 116. Over the course of his career, he has contributed to the development of the drug discovery sector in Québec, notably by taking part in the creation of Institute for Research in Immunology and Cancer (IRICoR), the Groupe de recherche universitaire sur le médicament (GRUM) and the Réseau Québécois de recherche sur les médicaments (RQRM). Dr. Bouvier also held a Canada Research Chair in Cellular Signalling and Molecular Pharmacology between 2001 and 2022. His contributions were recognized by many awards including: the Julius Axelrod Award from the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics (2017), the Quebec Government Wilder Penfield award (2017) and the 2021 Killam Award from the Canada Council for the Arts. He is a fellow the Royal Society of Canada and a knight of the National Order of Quebec.