OVCARE researchers continue to lead the way in ovarian cancer research
September 26, 2013 - OVCARE researchers played a key role in last week's first-ever, four-day international conference on ovarian cancer hosted by the American Association of Cancer Research
Dr. David Huntsman, a genetic pathologist at the BC Cancer Agency and the Director and co-founder of OVCARE, co-chaired the AACR ovarian cancer conference. It also featured invited speaker and fellow researcher Dr. Sohrab Shah, OVCARE's bioinformatics leader.
This overall theme of the meeting was that subtype specific treatments will be needed if we are to improve outcomes for patients with ovarian cancer. This idea stems from the discovery by OVCARE in 2008 that ovarian cancer is not a single disease but is comprised of multiple, distinct subtypes. Now, as evidenced by the speakers and posters presented at the meeting, researchers around the world are now adoping this approach to studying ovarian cancer and for development of better management strategies for this disease.
Dr. Huntsman is now working with the planning committee to build on the success of this year's "from concept to clinic" theme to bring "ovarian cancer prevention" at the forefront for future AACR ovarian cancer meetings.
In 2010, OVCARE launched the world's first population based ovarian cancer prevention program based on the discovery that most ovarian cancers develop in the fallopian tube and not the ovary itself. OVCARE researchers hope that through their efforts and collaboration with other researchers, new knowledge from the study of a population-based ovarian cancer prevention program will assist the ovarian cancer clinical and research communities.
Founded 10 years ago by Dr. Huntsman and Drs. Dianne Miller and Blake Gilks, OVCARE has grown from a Vancouver-based group of researchers making individual contributions, to an internationally recognized team reshaping the way ovarian cancers are thought of in the research laboratory and clinics globally.
