Network names four outstanding early-career clinician-scientists as recipients of its 2024 MOHCCN Clinician-Scientist Awards

Four promising, early-career clinician-scientists from Alberta, Ontario and Quebec have been named recipients of the 2024 Clinician-Scientist Awards, funded by the Marathon of Hope Cancer Centres Network (MOHCCN). Each will receive $225,000 over the next three years to be matched by their host institutions for a total of $450,000 to support groundbreaking research in precision oncology. 

This new injection of funding totalling $1.8M will support research for prostate cancer, leukemia and liver cancer.

“We are delighted to support these outstanding early-career clinician-scientists and the important work they are doing in the clinic and the lab to accelerate precision medicine for cancer patients,” says Dr. André Veillette, MOHCCN executive director. “By supporting these projects, we are helping to train the next generation of experts in precision medicine, exemplifying our commitment to build human capacity across the country to position Canada as a world-leader in this field.”

“I am absolutely convinced that patients like me are alive today because of their involvement in research programs and, especially, their interaction with talented clinician-scientists,” says Denis Peticlerc, a survivor of prostate, skin and colon cancer from Sherbrooke, QC and member of the MOHCCN’s Patient Working Group. “That is why I applaud this investment in early-career clinician-scientists and their research. By supporting talented young professionals like this, we can ensure that cancer patients now and in the future benefit from precision medicine.”

The award recipients and their project titles are:

• Dr. Igor Novitzky-Basso, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, University Health Network (Toronto), for: Comprehensive deciphering of the genetic, epigenetic and immunogenetic mechanisms of post-allogeneic transplant relapse in acute myeloid leukemia
• Dr. Robert Vanner, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, University Health Network (Toronto), for: Targeting clonal hematopoiesis to prevent hepatocellular carcinoma
• Dr. April Rose, Jewish General Hospital, Segal Cancer Centre (Montreal), for: Developing a precision medicine platform for metastatic castration resistant prostate cancer
• Dr. Adam Kinnaird, University of Alberta (Edmonton), for: Creation of an advanced imaging, targeted biopsy, and genomic composite index to predict prostate cancer progression during active surveillance

About the award

The MOHCCN Clinician-Scientist Award provides outstanding early-career clinician-scientists with funding to support high-quality research in precision oncology. The award is designed to support early-career investigators as they develop their careers as independent clinician-scientists, in close collaboration and mentorship with established MOHCCN-funded teams.

In addition to new funding, the researchers will have access to expertise, data and resources generated by the Network. In turn, they will contribute knowledge from their projects to the Network, helping to accelerate the implementation of precision medicine for cancer in Canada.