I have been actively engaged in translational cancer research since my first research opportunity during the summer after grade 11. I spent five summers assisting translational projects, testing and validating imaging technology for cancer patients, before completing an undergraduate thesis project with the oncology arm of the Canadian Clinical Trials Group. My master’s thesis assessed the efficacy of a novel therapeutic, in combination with chemotherapy and radiation, in mouse models of lung cancer. I presented this work orally at the Annual AACR Meeting in 2019, and published the corresponding manuscript this year in Clinical Cancer Research. My greatest passion is clinical and translational research in the field of pediatric oncology, which I am currently pursuing in the MD/PhD program at the University of Toronto.
I am fascinated by the biological complexity of cancer predisposition syndromes, and the genetic drivers indicated in pediatric cancers. My PhD project focuses on using computational biology approaches to investigate germline variants in patients with pediatric cancers. I am particularly interested in characterizing the landscape of secondary findings and understanding their relevance to hard-to-treat pediatric cancer disease and management. My hope is that with a deeper understanding of secondary findings in pediatric oncology, I can contribute to health policy research and develop frameworks for how such findings are disclosed to patients and their families.
I am honored and excited to serve on the AMC. I seek to support the professional development of peers and early-career cancer scientists alike and foster meaningful relationships with communities underrepresented in science. I plan to leverage my unique perspective as a minority woman, MD/PhD trainee and mental health advocate to meaningfully inform programming.