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Dr. Tak Mak’s Team
Researchers
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Dr. Tak Mak
Director, The Campbell Family Institute for Breast Cancer Research at Princess Margaret Hospital
Former Director, Advanced Medical Discovery Institute/Ontario Cancer Institute (AMDI/OCI)
Senior Scientist, Division of Stem Cell and Developmental Biology, AMDI/OCI
University Professor, University of Toronto, Medical Biophysics and Immunology
»See Bio |
Principal Investigators
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Dr. Norman Boyd
Senior Scientist |
Dr. Boyd's research focuses on developing breast cancer prevention strategies. He has pioneered research in the new area of breast density and its impact as a breast cancer risk factor. He is a graduate of Guy's Hospital Medical School, University of London and studied clinical epidemiology at Yale University. He is a Professor of Medicine at the University of Toronto. In 1999, Dr. Boyd obtained a Distinguished Scientist Award from the Medical Research Council of Canada.
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Dr. Mark Clemons
Head, Breast Medical Oncology
Princess Margaret Hospital |
Dr. Clemons has been with CFIBCR since 2006 and in his first year launched over 15 clinical trials evaluating a range of strategies to improve the management and treatment of breast cancer. Dr. Clemons is the clinician lead of two programs—one that specializes in the management of locally-advanced breast cancer, a particularly aggressive form of breast cancer, and the other focuses on the management of bone metastases.
Dr. Clemons received his early medical oncology training in the U.K. and Canada.
His doctoral studies focused on the ways that breast cancer resists chemotherapy, and the feasibility of suppressing DNA repair systems as a means of overcoming chemotherapy resistance.
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Dr. Mona Gauthier
Scientist
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Dr. Gauthier’s research focuses on understanding how different subpopulations of cells integrate the myriad extrinsic and intrinsic forms of cellular stress and how abrogation of a proper stress response drives early breast carcinogenesis. Drs. Gauthier and Berman have recently shown that molecular alterations that distinguish a normal response to cellular stress from a malignant response can predict subsequent tumor events among women diagnosed with ductal carcinoma in situ, a pre-malignant form of breast cancer. The laboratory is continuing to develop novel models that recapitulate the heterogeneity of pre-malignant disease with the goal of contributing additional biomarkers for risk assessment and potential therapeutic targets for intervention.
Dr. Gauthier received her PhD from the University of Toronto and completed her post-doctoral training at the University of California San Francisco.
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Dr. Lisa Martin
Scientist |
Dr. Martin's research seeks to understand the reasons behind and significance of change in breast tissue density, a strong risk factor for breast cancer. Understanding breast density and how it is related to breast cancer risk will improve the ability to identify women at high risk for breast cancer, and lead to the development of effective interventions. Dr. Martin obtained her PhD in Medical Science from the University of Toronto in 2005 under the supervision of Dr. Norman Boyd.
Dr. Martin has been with OCI since 1991, and is the recipient of the Canadian Institute for Health Research Postdoctoral Fellowship. In 2004 she was named the AACR-GlaxoSmithKline Outstanding Clinical Scholar.
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Dr. Pamela Sumiko Ohashi, FRSC
Senior Scientist
Department of Cellular & Molecular Biology
Ontario Cancer Institute |
Dr. Ohashi and her lab are examining the potential for immune surveillance and tumour immune therapy. Her work focuses on understanding the signaling pathways of T cells to help activate, direct and enhance anti-tumour responses in breast cancer. She was the first to show that T cells for tissue specific antigens remain ignorant of the tissue self-antigen. Dr. Ohashi, who trained under Nobel Laureate Rolf Zinkernagel, is a highly recognized scientist who has received several awards for her work in research, including the Pharmingen Investigator Award from the American Association of Immunology and a Canada Research Chair.
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Dr. Hitoshi Okada
Scientist
Division of Signaling Biology
Ontario Cancer Institute |
Dr. Okada's research focuses on understanding how cancer cells escape and overcome intrinsic selection pressures in tumour development, including the development of breast cancer, using genetic and biochemical approaches. His goal is to achieve a comprehensive understanding of the complex oncogenic signaling networks.
He completed his medical training and doctoral studies at Tohoku University in Japan. Dr. Okada has a long-standing interest in the molecular mechanisms of tumorigenesis in human cancer, which stems from his work at The Cancer Institute of the Japanese Foundation for Cancer Research (JFCR), Columbia University (NY, USA) and in Dr. Mak's laboratory.
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Dr. James G. Pan
Scientist |
Dr. Pan’s research focuses on understanding the underlying molecular mechanisms of tumorigenesis, and discovery and development of targeted anti-cancer therapies. Dr. Pan heads the drug discovery and development effort and employs a multidisciplinary approach to developing small molecule and antibody drugs that are safer and more effective for treating breast cancer. Dr. Pan is known for the discovery of TRAIL receptors and their therapeutic significance in developing anti-cancer agents.
Dr. Pan has been with CFIBCR since 2005 and previously held various research and management positions at Affinium Pharmaceuticals and Genentech, Inc. He is the author of numerous peer-reviewed scientific articles in the areas of oncology and immunology, and is co-inventor on over 60 patents. Dr. Pan is the recipient of a Leukemia Society of America Research Award and an MRC Fellowship.
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Dr. Michael Reedijk
Surgeon-Scientist |
Dr. Reedijk is a surgical oncologist with both clinical and research interests in breast cancer. He completed his doctoral and medical studies at the University of Toronto. His research examines the role of Notch family signaling molecules in human breast cancer. Dr. Reedijk’s findings indicate that the Notch gene is abnormally expressed in a significant proportion of breast cancers and that this correlates with poor outcome in patients. Current efforts in his laboratory are focused on determining whether Notch signaling genes can serve as therapeutic targets in breast cancer.
Dr. Reedijk has received several awards for his research including the James Ewing Oncology Fellowship Award for Basic Research and the Society of University Surgeons Junior Faculty Grant Award.
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Dr. Kala Sridhar
Medical Oncologist |
Dr. Sridhar’s research focuses on developing and testing new therapeutics in cancers of the breast and genitourinary (the organ system of all the reproductive organs and the urinary system). She is currently study chair and principal investigator on two U.S. National Cancer Institute-sponsored phase II clinical trials, and co-investigator on several others testing new targeted therapies.
She joined the CFIBCR in October 2006. She graduated from the University of Ottawa Medical School, where she also earned a masters in biochemistry studying genetic regulation of apoptosis. She finished her medical oncology training at the University of Toronto and then completed a drug development Fellowship through the Bras Family Drug Development Program.
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