How the Network is helping to transform cancer research and care in Kingston, ON

By Amber Simpson* 

Cancer is often called the great equalizer – but in reality, where you live can have a big impact on the treatment you receive and your chances of survival. Studies have shown that people who live near large cancer centres, or who can travel to one, are more likely to be diagnosed earlier, receive state-of-the-art treatments and participate in clinical trials, all of which increase their chances of survival. Meanwhile, those in remote or underserved areas, or without the means to travel, face serious barriers to timely, effective care, and often have worse outcomes than their urban counterparts. 

Thankfully, this is starting to change. In Canada, improvements in technology are driving down the cost of cutting-edge tests and are making advanced treatments more accessible to patients outside large centres. At the same time, new collaborations such as the Marathon of Hope Cancer Centres Network, are allowing data, resources and knowledge to be shared like never before, helping to build capacity in smaller centres to better study cancer and bring breakthrough tests and treatments to more cancer patients, regardless of who they are or where they live.  

As the Network’s institutional lead at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, I’ve seen firsthand how access to advanced tests and treatments like genomic sequencing is helping to transform how we study and treat cancers. Since joining the Network in 2022, we have transformed how we do cancer research and provide clinical cancer care here in Kingston, and I am honoured and proud to have played a role in helping to make this happen. 

One of the most notable changes has been a deepening of ties between the University and the Kingston Health Sciences Centre (KHSC). The Network has provided a shared framework that has increased dialogue between researchers, clinicians, and administrators, helping to align teams, break down silos, and foster new collaborations. These relationships are now yielding mutual benefits, from enhanced infrastructure to expanded clinical and research capabilities across both institutions. 

At the research level, Network funding has allowed us to generate high-quality data at a scale that was previously out of reach. Generating and analyzing these data have helped us optimize our technical and computational pipelines and build capacity to do more genomic research not only for cancer but across multiple research fields. 

One particularly notable outcome of increased research capacity and Network participation is our success in securing major peer-reviewed grants, including a New Frontiers Program Project Grant from the Terry Fox Research Institute (TFRI), a TFRI-MOHCCN Technology Development Award and a MOHCCN Health Informatics & Data Science Award, all awarded to research teams at Queen’s in 2024. Joining the Network gave our researchers access to biospecimens and data that helped us get these projects off the ground, and the preliminary research we did through Network projects highlighted the collaborative environment that really brought these projects to life. Our progress on Network projects is also laying the foundation to bring these innovations to the clinic, where they can more readily help the patients who need them. 

This work has not come without challenges. Implementing something like the prospective MOHCCN-Ontario (MOHCCN-O) study, where a patient’s genomic information is returned to their care team to help inform treatment decisions, requires substantial effort from teams across Queen’s and KHSC. I – and the entire Network team here in Kingston – have put in a great deal of effort to share the importance of being part of this initiative and highlight the benefits that it will bring not only to our institutions but, most importantly, to the patients we serve. Recognizing the value of this kind of initiative, staff across the university and hospital have stepped up, and we’ve successfully created the infrastructure for recruitment, consent and sample collection needed to participate in the study. I believe it is truly remarkable and a testament to the commitment that Terry Fox’s vision inspires that we’ve successfully opened this study in such a short time. 

In Kingston, our clinical catchment area extends well beyond the city to serve patients across southeastern Ontario and from remote Indigenous communities in northern Ontario. The improvements we are making at our relatively small centre are having outsized benefits to a broad and diverse group of patients, including those who have had historically limited access to the healthcare system. Our participation in the Network helps us move toward more equitable access to cutting-edge tests and advanced cancer care. 

All these advances work together to empower our university and healthcare centres, with the overarching goal to continue to improve the quality of the care provided to oncology patients. Being a member of the Marathon of Hope Cancer Centres Network has helped us optimize processes and technologies to conduct impactful research and translate those discoveries from the lab into real-world patient care. More broadly, the Network is helping to guarantee the best level of care across cancer centres throughout the country, ensuring that where someone lives is less of a barrier to quality care. We are proud that Kingston is contributing to this national effort and that our community is helping to lead the way in bringing these innovations to more cancer patients. 

*Dr. Amber Simpson is a Canada Research Chair in Biomedical Computing and Informatics and Associate Professor at Queen’s University, where she also leads the Centre for Health Innovation. An expert in biomedical data science and artificial intelligence, she develops computational tools to improve cancer care and patient outcomes. Her work has been published in top journals like Nature Communications and Cancer Research, and is supported by leading funding agencies including CIHR and NIH. Dr. Simpson also plays a key role in national initiatives such as the Terry Fox Marathon of Hope Cancer Centres Network and serves on several scientific advisory boards.