September 22 , 2011
Escarpment Cancer Research Institute established
Hamilton enhances its leadership role in health care research
Hamilton, Ont. September 22, 2011—A distinguished team of cancer researchers has joined forces to create the Escarpment Cancer Research Institute (ECRI).
Composed of 16 scientists from Hamilton Health Sciences and McMaster University, they include some of the most
distinguished cancer researchers in Canada.
They will work in three thematic areas that all focus on speeding up the application of research results to improvements in patient care:
· Clinical trials
· Quality health care and knowledge translation research
· Translational (bench to bedside) research.
“Our commitment is to generate results that will have a meaningful impact in a timely fashion,” says ECRI’s founding Scientific Director Dr. Mark Levine. “We also believe that breakthroughs and innovations come from taking a collaborative, coordinated approach that optimizes the combined skills and talents of a multidisciplinary team.”
“This is the right time to bring together the well-established and successful cancer research groups in Hamilton, as well as newly established ones, in order to embrace and grow the opportunities for synergies in research,” says Dr. John Kelton, vice president and dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences at McMaster University.
“The scientists joining this institute are amongst the best in their fields and each of them is already making a difference,” says President & CEO of Hamilton Health Sciences Murray Martin. “Together they will be able to build on their shared experience and expertise to achieve new goals across the cancer research spectrum.”
The Escarpment Cancer Research Institute scientists and their teams will be located at the Juravinski Hospital & Cancer Centre. In the past three years these 16 scientists have been awarded more than $45 million in research funding and they have 120 employees as associated research staff. The disciplines include medical and radiation oncology, pathology, nursing, biostatistics, clinical chemistry and social sciences.
The 16 ECRI scientists include founding Scientific Director Dr. Mark Levine with:
- Dr. Andrew Arnold
- Professor Jim Julian
- Dr. Anita Bane
- Dr. Peter Kavsak
- Dr. Melissa Brouwers
- Dr. Gregory Pond
- Dr. Denise Bryant-Lukosius
- Dr. Hsien Seow
- Dr. Laurie Elit
- Dr. Marko Simunovic
- Dr. Hal Hirte
- Dr. Jonathan Sussman
- Dr. Sebastien Hotte
- Dr. Timothy Whelan
- Dr. Rosalyn Juergens
Several of the scientists hold prestigious chair positions, including Levine, as the Buffett Taylor Chair in Breast Cancer
Research; Bane as the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research Scientist in Molecular Pathology; Juergens as Ontario
Institute for Cancer Research Scientist in Molecular Imaging; Seow as Cancer Care Ontario Research Chair in Health
Services Research and Whelan as Canada Research Chair in Breast Cancer Research.
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For more information contact:
Veronica McGuire
Media Relations
Faculty of Health Sciences
McMaster University
905-525-9140, ext. 22169
vmcguir@mcmaster.ca
Heather Pullen
Public Relations & Communications
Hamilton Health Sciences
Telephone: (905) 521-2100, ext. 75387
Pager: (905) 521-5030
pullenh@hhsc.ca