On December 13, 2022 – The St. Mary’s Hospital Foundation, McGill Gerald Bronfman Department of Oncology, St. Mary’s Research Centre (SMHC) and St. Mary’s Oncology Department are proud to announce the inaugural recipient of the Oncology Career Development Award.
Positive Impact On Oncology Research
This award will provide funding to support the initial phase of career development for specialists in oncology with a confirmed position at St. Mary’s Hospital Centre. The focus of this award is to enhance research productivity among newly recruited health professionals at St. Mary’s. The award is accessible to new members of the St. Mary’s Oncology Department within their first five years of practice.
The Recipient
The selection committee is proud to announce that the recipient of the 2022 Oncology Career Development Award is Dr. Khashayar Esfahani. Dr. Esfahani is a well-established oncologist at the SMHC. He has founded one of Canada’s largest collaborative efforts to study immune-related adverse events (irAEs). This award will enable further study of irAEs through the iMmunotherapy and Immune-Related Adverse Events (MIRAE) project. This study aims at personalizing Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) to each patient and exploring novel biomarkers and treatments.
It will allow the creation of:
- A biobank
- A dedicated province-wide immunotherapy tumor board
- A Canadian-wide application platform to discuss cases and exchange ideas between specialists
The final goal is the integration SMHC under the umbrella of MIRAE, thus allowing cancer patients treated at our institution to benefit from these novel tools.
The funding of the Oncology Career Development Award is made possible by the St. Mary’s Hospital Foundation which is committed to supporting programs, projects and healthcare professionals for the advancement of St. Mary’s Hospital patient care, research and teaching.
