Imagine Lecture
Inspired by our patient and caregiver community who ask "what if there is another way" for patient care, the goal of the Imagine Lecture is to showcase a Trainee who has taken a patient-focused approach to their research in hopes of ultimately improving on the quality of life of cancer patients.
Guided by a senior BioCanRx network clinician and/or scientist, the successful candidate develops and presents a lecture that speaks to their experience with patients, focusing their talk on a topic that is relevant and accessible to all delegates. This lecture highlights the impact that patient or caregiver engagement has had on the trainee's current or future research or professional activities and touches on the perceived impact the engagement has had on the patient or caregiver.
Award
The recipient of the Imagine Lecture Award will be reimbursed for travel, meals and accommodations (as per the BioCanRx Travel Policy) and will have their Summit4CI registration fee covered. Additionally, the recipient will receive a monetary gift.
Eligibility
To be eligible for this award, you must be an undergraduate or graduate student, medical student or resident or postdoctoral fellow.
Congratulations to the 2023 Imagine Lecture Award Recipient!
Emma Gerber, PhD Candidate, Ottawa Hospital Research Institute
BioCanRx is pleased to announce the recipient of the 2023 Imagine Lecture Award. Congratulations to Emma Gerber, PhD Candidate, the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute!
Inspired by our patient and caregiver community who ask "what if there is another way" for patient care, the goal of the Imagine Lecture is to showcase a Trainee who has taken a patient-focused approach to their research in hopes of ultimately improving on the quality of life of cancer patients.
Emma will give the Imagine Lecture at the Summit for Cancer Immunotherapy on Monday, October 2nd at 3:45 pm. Her talk is titled: Navigating Uncharted Territory: A Case Study of Patient Engagement in Preclinical Ovarian Cancer Research.
Emma is supervised by Drs. Benjamin K. Tsang and Dylan Burger. Her work aims to investigate how small extracellular vesicles mediate chemoresistance and disease progression in ovarian cancer. She coordinates a biobank in the Tsang Lab that collects clinical samples from ovarian cancer patients at The Ottawa Hospital, allowing her to study candidate biomarkers. Emma is inspired by work in collaboration with ovarian cancer patient partners and hopes to inspire the next generation of cancer researchers through community outreach with elementary and high school students.
Previous Winners
Grace Fox, Master's Student, University of Ottawa
Grace Fox is a Master's student in the Epidemiology program at the University of Ottawa. Her research interests include patient engagement and understanding the best ways to recognize patient partners for their contributions to research.
Brittany Umer, PhD Student, University of Alberta
Brittany is a PhD student in the Medical Microbiology and Immunology program at the University of Alberta. Her research investigates methods of improving oncolytic vaccinia virus immunotherapy for breast cancer treatment. In addition to her studies, Brittany is a passionate advocate for patient engagement in research, and helped to develop the BioCanRx-Cancer Stakeholder Alliance Learning Institute. This initiative pairs cancer patients with early stage immuno-oncology researchers to create a bi-directional model of learning. By forming relationships between scientists and patients, Brittany hopes to help accelerate health research and better impact patient care.