Director: Gerald Batist MD
Professor, Medicine & Oncology Helen & Sam Steinberg Career Scientist in Oncology McGill University & Director, Experimental Pharmacology Program Lady Davis Institute for Medical Research

Dr. Batist is a Medical Oncologist on staff at both the Jewish General Hospital. He coordinates Phase I studies in Oncology throughout the McGill University hospital network, and is also a member of the Department of Pharmacology & Therapeutics, McGill and also of the Departement de Pharmacologie at Université de Montréal. He runs a very active research laboratory, which examines the molecular pharmacology of carcinogenesis and of chemotherapy resistance, and novel approaches to gene-targeted pharmacotherapy.

Moulay Alaoui-Jamali PhD
Assistant Professor, Medicine & Oncology McGill University & Project Director, Lady Davis Institute for Medical Research

Dr. Jamali is an expert in pharmacology and toxicology. His research is focused on studying mechanisms of DNA repair, and he has particularly examined lung and breast cancer, having established primary cultures of clinically derived specimens to ensure the relevance of his work. He has developed a panel of both in-vitro and in-vivo models that are used in mechanism-based screening of novel cancer therapeutics.

Lesley Alpert MD, PhD
Associate Professor of Pathology McGill University & Associate Physician, Department of Pathology Sir Mortimer B. Davis-Jewish General Hospital

Dr. Alpert is an expert in immunohistochemical analysis of tissue, and has a wide range of clinical and laboratory collaborations. She is coordinator of the Centre's tissue bank, in which specimens are prepared for a variety of research used and catalogued for orderly acquisition. She chairs the Tissue Bank Committee.

Mark Bernstein MD
Associate Professor, Pediatrics & Oncology, Gestionnaire medical Hematologie/ Oncologie, Immunologie/Rheumatologie, Hopital Ste. Justine

Dr. Bernstein is the Director of the New Agents & Pharmacology Committee of the Pediatric Oncology Group, and is the Principal Investigator of the Pediatric Oncology Group Phase I contract with the NCI (USA).

Walter Edward Clarke Bradley, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Dept. of Medicine, Université de Montréal, Project Investigator, Institut du Cancer de Montréal/ Centre de Recherche Louis-Charles Simard, Associate Professor, Dept. of Oncology, McGill University.

Dr. Bradley is an expert on beta receptors of retinoic acid which has resulted in a chemoprevention trial with an innovative twist. Very recently, his basic research has revealed what one of the mechanisms whereby RAR beta exerts its suppressive effect may be, and is in the initial stages of testing the resulting hypothesis with clinical material.

Pnina Brodt, PhD
Professor, Surgery & Oncology McGill University & Senior Scientist Department of Surgery, Royal Victoria Hospital

Dr. Brodt is widely recognized for her research in tumor metastasis. She has developed experimental models to explore this process in a number for different cancers, and has recently identified novel molecular factors involved that can be targeted in therapy.

Denis Cournoyer MD
Associate Professor Medicine & Oncology, McGill University & Associate Physician, Divisions of Hematology and Medical Genetics, Montreal General Hospital

Dr. Cournoyer was involved in the initial gene therapy trials in the United States, and at McGill he is actively developing an approach to confer resistance to chemotherapy to normal bone marrow cells of cancer patients.

Louis A. Gaboury, MD, PhD
Associate Professor, Department of Pathology and Cellular Biology, Université de Montréal, Head, Department of Pathology, C.H.U.M.

Dr. Gaboury is the Chairman of the Department of Pathology (C.H.U.M.). His clinical interest relates mainly to molecular diagnosis of leukemias and lymphomas. In addition, he is involved in a collaborative research project supported by FRSQ on the identification and characterization of point mutations arising in genes related to predisposition to human cancers. In collaboration with his team, he has developed novel photosynthesizers to be used in the context of photodynamic therapy (PDT)-based stem cell purging of leukemias and solid tumors.

Jacques Galipeau MD
Assistant Professor, Departments of Medicine & Oncology, McGill University & Project Director, Lady Davis Institute for Medical Research

Dr. Galipeau is actively involved in development of tumor targeted suicide gene delivery, as well as therapeutic gene transfer into normal hematopoietic cells.

Parviz Ghadirian, PhD
Director, Epidemiology Research Unit Research Center, C.H.U.M., Pavillon Hotel-Dieu, Associate Professor, Department of Nutrition, Faculty of Medicine, University of Montreal

Dr. Ghadirian is a nutritionist-cancer epidemiologist. He is WHO consultant on nutrition, cancer and methodology since 1976. At Hotel-Dieu he has several on-going studies on nutrition and cancer as well as other chronic diseases. His main recent activity is genetic epidemiology of cancer, particularly breast and pancreas cancer. He is also coordinator of the Quebec Familial Cancer Network.

John Hiscott PhD
Professor, Medicine & Microbiology McGill University & Director, Terry Fox Molecular Oncology Group Lady Davis Institute for Medical Research

Dr. Hiscott is internationally known for his work on gene transcription regulation, particularly as it relates to Interferon. He is an active member of the Division of Microbiology & Immunology at McGill, and collaborates broadly within the University.

Jacques Jolivet, M.D.
Service d'hématologie oncologie médicale CHUM - Campus Hôtel-Dieu

Dr. Jolivet has been interested in the human enzyme methenyltetrahydrofolate synthetase and has studied it from the protein to the gene. He is now examining the consequences of its overexpression on 5-fluorouacil/Leucovorin cytotoxicity in tumor cells using viral vectors.

Pierre Laneuville MD
Associate Professor, Medicine & Oncology McGill University & Director, Division of Hematology Royal Victoria Hospital

Dr. Laneuville is an expert in molecular characterization of leukemia, in both clinical and experimental conditions. He is developing approaches to the identification and treatment of minimal residual disease.

Shirley Lehnert PhD
Professor, Radiation Oncology McGill University Senior Investigator, Montreal General Hospital

Dr. Lehnert is an expert in the radiobiology of tumors cells, particularly in those previously exposed and rendered resistant to chemotherapy. She is studying mechanisms of DNA repair of radiation damage, and also approaches to biochemical modulation to sensitize tumors to radiotherapy.

Sylvie Mader PhD
Associate Professor, Biochemistry Department, Universite de Montreal

Dr. Mader has extensive experience studying nuclear receptors, including retinoid and estrogen receptors, and interactions with transcriptional enhancers such as AP-1. She has developed a novel technology of "reporter cells" that permit rapid screening for interaction of novel agents with these and other receptors. She is currently collaborating with Dr. Miller.

Richard Margolese MD
Herbert Black Professor of Surgical Oncology Director, Division of Clinical Oncology Department of Oncology McGill University & Director, Department of Oncology, Sir Mortimer B. Davis-Jewish General Hospital

Dr. Margolese has played a key role in all of the significant studies on the primary treatment of breast cancer by the National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project (NSABP) during the past 25 years. He is Chair of the breast committee at NSABP, and serves on National and International Advisory and Research Committees. He is an active breast surgeon and clinical investigator, and past president of the National Cancer Institute of Canada.

David Melnychuk MD
Assistant Professor of Oncology McGill University & Senior Research Physician, Clinical Research Unit, Associate Member of Centre for Community Epidemiology, Lady Davis Institute for Medical Research

Dr. Melnychuk has trained in both epidemiology and radiotherapy. He plays a key role in the Clinical Research Unit, and also is funded by the FRSQ in epidemiologic research. He has recently initiated the development of an entirely novel phase II clinical trial design for cancer therapy, in collaboration with the National Cancer Institute of Canada.

Wilson Miller MD
Professor, Medicine & Oncology McGill University & Director of Molecular Diagnostics Laboratory and the Clinical Research Unit, Project Director, Lady Davis Institute for Medical Research

Dr. Miller's expertise is in the study of retinoids, which are under investigation as mediators of differentiation of cancer cells. He has helped define critical molecular pathways in retinoid action, and is working to define and optimize the role of these agents in the therapy of a number of different cancers. He is the Director of the Clinical Research Unit.

Richard Momparler PhD
Professor of Pharmacology, Université de Montréal Senior Scientist, Hôpital Ste. Justine

Dr. Momparler is widely known for his work with the antimetabolite chemotherapy drug Cytosine Arabinoside, and he is currently developing a gene therapy approach to confer normal bone marrow cell resistance to this agent. This should permit higher therapeutic doses. His work also is in the area of retinoids and differentiation therapy.

Lawrence Panasci MD
Professor, Medicine & Oncology Gertrude & Stanley Vineberg Clinician Scientist Chair, Breast Cancer Committee, Department of Oncology McGill University & Associate Director, Department of Oncology Sir Mortimer B. Davis-Jewish General Hospital

Dr. Panasci coordinates clinical breast cancer protocols at McGill hospitals. He runs a research laboratory in which he has, in close collaboration with Montreal Neurologic Institute investigators, developed a novel drug which is currently being developed through the National Cancer Institute, USA. His area of particular interest is alkylating agent chemotherapy resistance.

Jerry Pelletier PhD
Associate Professor, Departments of Biochemistry and Oncology McGill University Medical Research Council Scientist

Dr. Pelletier is an expert on the molecular genetics of the childhood Wilm's tumor and the basic mechanisms of gene expression.

Michael Norbert Pollak MD
Professor, Medicine & Oncology Janine Riesman Career Scientist in Oncology Chairman, Endocrine & Biologics Committee, Department of Oncology, McGill University & Project Director, Lady Davis Institute for Medical Research

Dr. Pollak studies the role and mechanisms of action of growth factors and hormones in both the development and treatment of breast cancer. He has active collaborations with endocrinologists throughout McGill University. His work in the laboratory has led to the development of clinical studies which are currently ongoing in both Canada and the United States, and he is responsible for the laboratory investigations associated with these. He is Director of the Cancer Prevention Research Unit at the Jewish General Hospital.

Uri Saragovi PhD
Associate Professor Department of Pharmacology & Therapeutics, McGill University

Dr. Saragovi focuses his research on understanding structure-function relationships of macromolecules, particularly in receptor-ligand interactions. He uses protein mimicry technology to develop mimics of macromolecules including antibodies, cellular receptors, and polypeptide hormone ligands. Some of these have important effects on the proliferation of tumor cells, and may have potential clinical applications.

Daniel Sinnett, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Department of Pediatrics, Université de Montréal, Division of Hematology/Oncology Research Center, Hopital Sainte-Justine

Dr. Sinnett is an expert in the genotyping of children with acute lymphoblastoid leukemia and studies the frequent loss of heterozygosity at the DNA mismatch-repair loci hMLH1 and hMSH3 in sporadic breast cancer as well as a putative tumor suppressor gene localized in chromosome 12p12.3.

Moshe Szyf PhD
Associate Professor Department of Pharmacology & Therapeutics, McGill Member, Scientific Advisory Board MethylGene Inc., Montreal

Dr. Szyf's laboratory studies the regulation of DNA methyl transferase and its potential role in cancer, and is developing inhibitors of DNA methyl transferase as potential anticancer drugs. The company MethylGene was a direct spin-off of work generated in his laboratory.

Mark Trifiro, M.D.
Clinical Assistant and Assistant Professor, Dept. of Medicine, Jewish General Hospital and McGill University, Project Director, Lady Davis Institute for Medical Research

Dr. Mark Trifiro's laboratory studies trinucleotide repeats and genomic instability, particularly in the androgen receptor. Recently he has been working on both breast and prostate cancer.

Irving W. Wainer PhD
Professor & Director, Division of Pharmacokinetics Department of Oncology, McGill University Senior Scientist, Montreal General Hospital

Dr. Wainer is internationally recognized as a leader in cancer pharmacology, particularly relating to chirality of drugs. He is a member of the McGill Department of Pharmacology & Therapeutics, and collaborates as well with both clinical and fundamental scientists throughout the University.

Lolita Zamir PhD
Professor, Department of Applied Microbiology Universite de Quebec, Institut Armand-Frappier

Dr. Zamir is an analytical and synthetic chemist with a special interest in compounds derived from natural sources. She has active collaborations with Drs. Jamali and Batist who are studying the biologic aspects of novel compounds she has isolated and/or synthesized.