Amina Zoubeidi | |
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Academic background | |
Education | Bsc, Mohammed V University M.Sc. Université du Québec à Montréal PhD, Université de Montréal |
Academic work | |
Institutions | University of British Columbia Vancouver Coastal Health |
Amina Zoubeidi is a Canadian research scientist and prostate cancer researcher. She's a scientist at the Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute and an associate professor in the Department of Urologic Sciences at the University of British Columbia. During her tenure at UBC,Zoubeidi and her research team developed the first drug that targets and blocks BRN2,thus stopping Neuroendocrine prostate cancer (NEPC) tumours and creating a possible treatment for the previously thought incurable disease. [1] [2]
Zoubeidi earned her Bachelor of Science degree from the Mohammed V University before moving to Montreal to earn her graduate degrees from the Universitédu Québec àMontréal and Universitéde Montréal. [3]
Zoubeidi joined the Department of Urologic Sciences at the University of British Columbia as an assistant professor in 2010. [4] In the same year,she was also the recipient of a Prostate Cancer Foundation Durden Foundation Young Investigator Award to fund her research on determining the function of Hsp27 in cancer treatment. [5] She continued her research into Hsp27 and received funding from the Michael Smith Career Investigator Award for her project Adaptive Stress Response Signaling Driving Treatment Resistance and Metastasis in Cancer. [6]
While serving in her role as an assistant professor,in collaboration with Vancouver Coastal Health,Zoubeidi continued to search for a cure for prostate cancer and led her research team to numerous discoveries. Zoubeidi and her research team designed a mouse model of Neuroendocrine Prostate Cancer (NEPC) to identify that BRN2 was essential for NEPC to develop. [7] She firstly used genome editing CRISPR technology to freeze the gene producing the protein driving the emergence of NPEC for the first time. [8] Following this discovery,she earned a three-year Translation Acceleration Grant from Prostate Cancer Canada and Movember to fund a project to develop blockers of BRN2,a gene linked to the growth of aggressive NPEC. [9] [10] She subsequently became the first female scientist to earn a Translation Acceleration Grant from Prostate Cancer Canada and Movember [11] and later earned the 2018 UBC Faculty of Medicine Distinguished Achievement Award. [12]
By 2019,Zoubeidi and her research team developed the first drug that targets and blocks BRN2,thus stopping NEPC tumours and creating a possible treatment for the previously thought incurable disease. They also modified the drug so it could be tested in clinical trials on humans. [11] [13] Similarly,her project The role of the lineage oncogene ASCL1 in treatment-induced neuroendocrine prostate cancer received funding from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. [14] She was eventually promoted to the rank of Full professor as a result of her "contributions within the UBC community and her outstanding research career to date." [15]
Movember is an annual event involving the growing of moustaches during the month of November to raise awareness of men's health issues,such as prostate cancer,testicular cancer,and men's suicide. It is a portmanteau of the Australian-English diminutive word for moustache,"mo",and "November". The Movember Foundation runs the Movember charity event,housed at Movember.com. The goal of Movember is to "change the face of men's health."
Ashutosh K. Tewari is the chairman of urology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City. He is a board certified American urologist,oncologist,and principal investigator. Before moving to the Icahn School of Medicine in 2013,he was the founding director of both the Center for Prostate Cancer at Weill Cornell Medical College and the LeFrak Center for Robotic Surgery at NewYork–Presbyterian Hospital. Dr. Tewari was the Ronald P. Lynch endowed Chair of Urologic Oncology and the hospital's Director of Robotic Prostatectomy,treating patients with prostate,urinary bladder and other urological cancers. He is the current President of the Society for Urologic Robotic Surgeons (SURS) and the Committee Chair of the Prostate Program. Dr. Tewari is a world leading urological surgeon,and has performed over 10,000 robotically assisted procedures using the da Vinci Surgical System. Academically,he is recognized as a world-renowned expert on urologic oncology with over 250 peer reviewed published papers to his credit;he is on such lists as America's Top Doctors,New York Magazine's Best Doctors,and Who's Who in the World. In 2012,he was given the American Urological Association Gold Cystoscope Award for "outstanding contributions to the field of urologic oncology,most notably the treatment of prostate cancer and the development of novel techniques to improve the outcomes of robotic prostatectomy."
The Prostate Cancer Foundation (PCF),headquartered in Santa Monica,California,funds research into the prevention and cure of prostate cancer.
Judy Illes,,PHD,FRSC,FCAHS,is Professor of Neurology and Distinguished University Scholar in Neuroethics at the University of British Columbia. She is Director of Neuroethics Canada at UBC,and faculty in the Brain Research Centre at UBC and at the Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute. She also holds affiliate appointments in the School of Population and Public Health and the School of Journalism at UBC,and in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of Washington in Seattle,WA. USA. She was appointed a member of the Order of Canada in 2017.
Michael R. Hayden,is a Killam Professor of Medical Genetics at the University of British Columbia,the highest honour UBC can confer on any faculty member. Only four such awards have ever been conferred in the Faculty of Medicine. Dr. Hayden is also Canada Research Chair in Human Genetics and Molecular Medicine. Hayden is best known for his research in Huntington disease (HD).
Riley Senft is a Canadian humanitarian,prostate cancer activist,and ultramarathon athlete.
The Vancouver Prostate Centre (VPC) is a prostate cancer translational research centre located in Vancouver,British Columbia. It is a UBC and VGH Centre of Excellence and a designated national Centre of Excellence for Commercialization and Research. The VPC is hosted by the Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute and the Department of Urologic Sciences,Faculty of Medicine,University of British Columbia.
Jonathan Hugh Waxman,founder and president of Prostate Cancer UK,is emeritus Professor of Oncology at Imperial College,London,and author of four novels including The Elephant in the Room. He is a clinician who has helped develop new treatments for cancer,which are now part of standard practice.
Rosetta Martiniello-Wilks is an Australian cancer researcher. She is a former senior lecturer at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) in Ultimo,Sydney,Australia. Martiniello-Wilks was a core member of the Centre for Health Technologies at UTS and head of the Translational Cancer Research Group in the School of Medical and Molecular Biosciences,Faculty of Science,UTS.
Professor Colleen Nelson is a scientist in prostate cancer research. Professor Nelson founded and directs the Australian Prostate Cancer Research Centre - Queensland (APCRC-Q). The Centre,based at the Translational Research Institute and the Princess Alexandra Hospital,spans the spectrum of discovery of new therapeutic targets and their preclinical and clinical development. Professor Nelson is also Chair of Prostate Cancer Research at Queensland University of Technology (QUT).
Nadine Rena Caron FACS,FRCSC,,is a Canadian surgeon. She is the first Canadian female general surgeon of First Nations descent (Ojibway),as well as the first female First Nations student to graduate from University of British Columbia's medical school.
Caroline M. Moore is the first woman to be made a professor of urology in the United Kingdom. She works in the diagnosis and treatment of prostate cancer at University College London.
Suzanne Kathleen Chambers,is a Professor and Dean of the Faculty of Health at Sydney's University of Technology. She specialises in psycho-oncology,and has received Queen's Birthday honours. Chambers has worked on psycho-oncology,prostate cancer,health economics and psychological interventions including the distress and adjustments after cancer.
Susan E. Quaggin is a Canadian nephrologist. She is the Charles Horace Mayo Professor of Medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine,Director of the Feinberg Cardiovascular Research Institute and chief of the Division of Nephrology.
Pamela Lyn Kunz is an American oncologist. She is the leader of the Gastrointestinal Cancers Program at Yale Cancer Center and Smilow Cancer Hospital and director of GI Medical Oncology within the Section of Medical Oncology. She was formerly the director of the Stanford Neuroendocrine Tumor Program before leaving,in part due to gender harassment.
Janice Jennifer Eng is a professor in the University of British Columbia's Department of Physical Therapy and Canada Research Chair in Neurological Rehabilitation.
Deborah M. Money is a Canadian obstetric and gynaecological infectious disease specialist. As a professor at the University of British Columbia,she was the first non-US President of the Infectious Diseases Society for Obstetrics and Gynecology from 2010 until 2012.
Gina Suzanne Ogilvie is a Canadian global and public health physician. She is a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Global Control of HPV Related Diseases and Cancer,and Professor at the University of British Columbia in the School of Population and Public Health,Faculty of Medicine.
Helen M. Burt is a British-Canadian pharmaceutical scientist who is the Angiotech Professor of Drug Delivery at the University of British Columbia. She serves as Associate Vice President of Research and Innovation at UBC. Her research considers novel therapeutics based on nanotechnology,including drug delivery systems for the treatment of bladder cancer and coronary artery disease.
Amanda E. Hargrove is a chemist and professor at Duke University. Hargrove is also the editor-in-chief of Medicinal Research Reviews,and a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of Arrakis Therapeutics. At Duke University,Hargrove directs an interdisciplinary research program in chemical biology that focuses on harnessing the specific interactions between small molecules and RNA,and using those RNA-small molecule interactions to probe the structure,and function of RNA. The long-term goal of the group's research is to identify specific molecule-RNA interactions that may have therapeutic potential in the treatment of viral infection and human disease. She has received numerous awards for her scientific research,teaching,and service in support of diversity,equity,and inclusion.