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CRP  |  Cancer Research Program

Leadership and Management

The Cancer Research Program (CRP) Management Committee meets four times a year and is responsible for evaluating program performance and advising its leadership team on the program’s vision, mission, goals, recruitment strategy, activities and future orientations. 

 

Program leaders and manager

Program Leader

Peter Metrakos, MD CM, FACS, FRCSC, is Associate Professor of Surgery and Associate Professor in Anatomy and Cell Biology McGill University. As well, he is Director of the Multi-Organ Transplant Program and Director of Hepatopancreatobiliary Surgery at the McGill University Health Center. Dr. Metrakos graduated in General Surgery from McGill University Faculty of Medicine, where he also completed a three-year Basic Science Fellowship in the Department of Experimental Surgery focusing on the physiology of the pancreas and cellular transplantation. Additional Fellowships were carried out in London, Ontario, for liver, kidney and small bowel transplantation, and in Minnesota for whole organ pancreas and islet cell transplantation.

Dr. Metrakos runs a high-volume hepatopancreatobiliary and transplant surgery service. His research interests include the role and interaction of chemotherapy and liver resection in the management of colorectal cancer liver metastases: "The Effect of Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy on Liver Metastases" (Journal of Gastrointestinal Surgery 2006), "The pathology of liver nodules after neoadjuvant chemotherapy is associated with outcomes for colorectal cancer metastases" (HPB 2007), "A ‘New era' In the treatment of colorectal cancer liver metastasis: The gloves are off!" (Annals of Surgery. 2009), "Perioperative bevacizumab containing chemotherapy and liver resection for colorectal cancer liver metastasis" (HPB 2010), "Portal Vein Embolization stimulates tumour growth in patients with colorectal cancer liver metastases" (HPB Oxford 2012), and "Staged Hepatectomy for bilobar colorectal hepatic metastases" (HPB Oxford 2012). Other research interests are in Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), neuroendocrine tumours and targeted therapies, and include: SHARP Investigators Study Group. "Sorafenib in advanced hepatocellular carcinoma" (New England Journal of Medicine 2008)," Sunitinib Malate for the Treatment of Pancreatic Neuroendocrine Tumors" (New England Journal of Medicine 2011) and "eIF4E/4E-BP ratio predicts the efficacy of mTOR targeted therapies" (Cancer Res. 2012).

Dr. Metrakos also studies the role of ischemia/reperfusion of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease in liver transplantation and liver resections. This has been funded by a strategic Fonds de recherche du Québec — Santé systems medicine grant.
 

Associate Program Leader

Patricia Tonin, PhD, is a Professor in the Departments of Medicine and Human Genetics, and Associate Member in the Program for Cancer Genetics of the Department of Oncology and the Goodman Cancer Research Centre at McGill University. Dr. Tonin's research focuses on the identification of cancer-predisposing genes, such as BRCA1 and BRCA2, and their contribution to the hereditary form of breast and ovarian cancers. Her research has led to the development of genetic tests for identifying women at risk for cancer for management and prevention options. Her research also focuses on the biology of ovarian cancer through the study of the molecular genomic attributes of cancer specimens and cell line models. As a member of the Banque de tissus et de données (cancer du sein ou ovaire) of the Réseau de Recherche sur le Cancer du Fonds de recherche du Québec — Santé, she oversees the organization of DNA samples collected from familial cases of breast and ovarian cancer for researching hereditary cancer-predisposing genes. She co-chairs the study committee for the use of tissue samples in the COEUR (Canadian Experimental Unified Resource), the unique Ovarian Cancer Pan-Canadian Program of The Terry Fox Foundation Research Institute. A scholar of the Medical Research Council and Cancer Research Society, she is also a recipient of the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation award for the discovery of BRCA1. Dr. Tonin has received research funding from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Genome Canada, Cancer Research Society, FRQS, The Terry Fox Foundation and Ovarian Cancer Canada, and has published over 100 peer-reviewed articles on the genetics and molecular genetics attributes of breast and ovarian cancer.
 

Program Manager

Marie-Claude Gingras, PhD, holds a doctorate in molecular and cellular biology from Laval University and completed postdoctoral training in cancer biology at McGill University. She brings to the CRP more than 18 years of academic research experience in the cancer field, with extensive experience in grant application and scientific writing. As a research associate and project leader at McGill University, she acquired diversified expertise in project, collaboration, financial, human resources and event management.