The Princess Margaret Cancer Centre is a scientific research centre and a teaching hospital in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, affiliated with the University of Toronto Faculty of Medicine as part of the University Health Network. The hospital now stands as the largest cancer centre in Canada and one of the five largest cancer centres in the world. Along with the Odette Cancer Centre, which is also associated with University of Toronto Faculty of Medicine and is independently the sixth largest cancer centre in North America, it forms one of the largest cluster of cancer hospitals in the world.
Louis Siminovitch was a Canadian molecular biologist. He was a pioneer in human genetics, researcher into the genetic basis of muscular dystrophy and cystic fibrosis, and helped establish Ontario programs exploring genetic roots of cancer.
Harold Elford Johns was a Canadian medical physicist, noted for his extensive contributions to the use of ionizing radiation to treat cancer.
Ernest Armstrong McCulloch was a University of Toronto cellular biologist, best known for demonstrating – with James Till – the existence of stem cells.
Tak Wah Mak, is a Canadian medical researcher, geneticist, oncologist, and biochemist. He first became widely known for his discovery of the T-cell receptor in 1983 and pioneering work in the genetics of immunology. In 1995, Mak published a landmark paper on the discovery of the function of the immune checkpoint protein CTLA-4, thus opening the path for immunotherapy/checkpoint inhibitors as a means of cancer treatment. Mak is also the founder of Agios Pharmaceuticals, whose lead compound, IDHIFA®, was approved by the FDA for acute myeloid leukemia in August 2017, becoming the first drug specifically targeting cancer metabolism to be used for cancer treatment. He has worked in a variety of areas including biochemistry, immunology, and cancer genetics.
James Milton Ham, was a Canadian engineer, university administrator and President of the University of Toronto.
Piers David Nash is an entrepreneur, cancer biology professor, data evangelist, writer and technology futurist. He is the son of academic Roger Nash.
John Edgar Dick is Canada Research Chair in Stem Cell Biology, Senior Scientist at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, University Health Network and Professor in the Department of Molecular Genetics at the University of Toronto in Canada. Dick is credited with first identifying cancer stem cells in certain types of human leukemia. His revolutionary findings highlighted the importance of understanding that not all cancer cells are the same and thus spawned a new direction in cancer research. Dick is also known for his demonstration of a blood stem cell's ability to replenish the blood system of a mouse, his development of a technique to enable an immune-deficient mouse to carry and produce human blood, and his creation of the world's first mouse with human leukemia.
Robert A. Phillips is a Canadian scientist, with a long-term interest in cancer research, and special interests in blood cell development and in retinoblastoma, an inherited eye tumour in children. His expertise has spanned the breadth of disciplines including radiation biology, cellular and molecular biology, immunology and molecular genetics.
Reza Moridi is a former politician in Ontario, Canada. He was a Liberal member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 2007 to 2018 who represented the riding of Richmond Hill. He served as a cabinet minister in the government of Kathleen Wynne. He was the first Iranian-Canadian elected to legislature and appointed as a Cabinet minister in Canada.
Monique Frize,, née Aubry is a Canadian biomedical engineer and professor, knowledgeable in medical instruments and decision support systems. Notably, her scientific research and outreach efforts led her to receive the prestigious distinction of Officer of the Order of Canada.
Alan Bernstein is president and CEO of CIFAR. He is recognized as a leader in health research, science policy, mentorship and organizational leadership.
Till & McCulloch are James Till and Ernest McCulloch who, while studying the effect of radiation on the bone marrow of mice at the Ontario Cancer Institute, in Toronto, demonstrated the existence of multipotent stem cells in 1961.
Colin J. Gillespie is a writer, physicist, lawyer and strategic analyst. He is the author of some 30 scientific research publications in quantum physics, biophysics, neurophysiology and radiation biology. He has also written on social planning, class actions, aboriginal law, environmental management and indigenous constitutions. He has 40 years of experience as a strategic analyst for business and aboriginal clients. He is an avid traveller, having spent time in more than 50 countries in all seven continents.
Zena Werb was a professor and the Vice Chair of Anatomy at the University of California, San Francisco. She was also the co-leader of the Cancer, Immunity, and Microenvironment Program at the Hellen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center and a member of the Executive Committee of the Sabre-Sandler Asthma Basic Research Center at UCSF. Her research focused on features of the microenvironment surrounding cells, with particular interest in the extracellular matrix and the role of its protease enzymes in cell signaling.
John Coleman Laidlaw, C.M., M.D., Ph.D., FRCPC, FRSC, FRCP (Lon), was a Canadian endocrinologist and the third Dean of Medicine at McMaster University Medical School.
Eugenia Kumacheva is a University Professor and Distinguished Professor of Chemistry at the University of Toronto. Her research interests span across the fields of fundamental and applied polymers science, nanotechnology, microfluidics, and interface chemistry. She was awarded the L'Oréal-UNESCO Awards for Women in Science in 2008 "for the design and development of new materials with many applications including targeted drug delivery for cancer treatments and materials for high density optical data storage". In 2011, she published a book on the Microfluidic Reactors for Polymer Particles co-authored with Piotr Garstecki. She is Canadian Research Chair in Advanced Polymer Materials. She is Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada (FRSC).
Gillian Elizabeth Wu is a Canadian Immunologist and the former Dean of Pure and Applied Science at York University. She is currently Professor Emerita in York University's Faculty of Science and Faculty of Health and also at the University of Toronto Faculty of Medicine.
