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- RI-MUHC cancer genetics expert honoured by UBC
null RI-MUHC cancer genetics expert honoured by UBC
Dr. William Foulkes receives the 2022 Dr. Chew Wei Memorial Prize in Cancer Research
Source: The University of British Columbia and RI-MUHC.
The University of British Columbia (UBC) Faculty of Medicine honoured leading Canadian researchers in cancer, heart and brain disorders this month. The recipient of the 2022 Dr. Chew Wei Memorial Prize in Cancer Research is Dr. William Foulkes, senior scientist in the Cancer Research Program at the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre (RI‑MUHC), professor in the departments of Medicine, Human Genetics and Oncology at McGill University and director of Program in Cancer Genetics in McGill’s departments of Oncology and Human Genetics. With laboratories at both the RI-MUHC and Lady Davis Institute for Medical Research, Dr. Foulkes has worked in the area of inherited susceptibility to cancer for over 25 years, transitioning his translational research from cancer gene mutation discovery to clinical applications.
Dr. Foulkes has made unique contributions and seminal discoveries in cancer genetics, such as describing the phenotype of BRCA1 related breast cancer, which formed the conceptual framework for treating BRCA1 cancers in a different way clinically. His lab discovered and characterized cancer predisposing founder mutations in Montreal populations and identified the relationship of genotype to phenotype in DICER1 syndrome, which provided molecular diagnoses for multiple childhood cancers. His discovery of mutations in SMARCA4 as the cause of inherited small cell ovarian cancer was also a critical contribution to his field of research.
Congratulations, Dr. Foulkes!
July 29, 2022