My Fellowship project was on characterizing caregivers of older adults with cancer admitted to hospital and understanding potential physical, social and psychological stressors affecting them. 

I did my Fellowship at City of Hope Comprehensive Cancer Centre in Duarte California USA under the mentorship of Dr. Arti Hurria.

This Fellowship was critical in helping me develop the research skills, as well as contacts within the field of geriatric oncology, that I continue to cultivate today. It has lead to a variety of research collaborations, but also invitations to be a part of international committees and panels and undoubtedly played a large part in being invited to speak at international conferences. 

I am staff physician medical oncologist in Ottawa. 

Tina Hsu, MD1; Matthew Loscalzo, LCSW2; Rupal Ramani, BS1; Stephen Forman, MD3; Leslie Popplewell, MD3; Karen Clark, MS4; Vani Katheria, MS1; Tao Feng, MS1; Rex Strowbridge, AA5,6; Redmond Rinehart, BS5; Dan Smith5; Keith Matthews, AS5; Jeff Dillehunt, AS5; and Arti Hurria, MD1 “Factors Associated With High Burden in Caregivers of Older Adults With Cancer” Cancer 2014;120:2927-35. VC 2014.

My initial project was a phase II trial of an angiogenesis inhibitor in the treatment of metastatic colon cancer, but unfortunately the study did not end up being funded, although I did learn a great deal regarding the design of phase II clinical trials. I subsequently completed and published a cost-effectiveness analysis dealing with treatments for metastatic pancreatic cancer and a national study examining oncology education in undergraduate and postgraduate family medicine and internal medicine programs in Canada. 

Sunnybrook Odette Cancer Centre, Toronto

My Fellowship training was in GI Medical Oncology, phase II trials and oncology education. I have put this training to good use and am currently treating GI cancers, extensively involved in undergraduate medical education (teaching and curriculum design) and am the local principal investigator for a number of phase II and III hepatobiliary cancer trials. 

I am a staff medical oncologist at the Tom Baker Cancer Centre / University of Calgary

1. Tam VC, Ko YJ, Mittmann N, Cheung MC, Kumar K, Hassan S, Chan KK. Cost-effectiveness of systemic therapies for metastatic pancreatic cancer. Curr Oncol. 2013 Apr;20(2):e90-e106.
2. Tam VC, Berry S, Hsu T, North S, Neville A, Chan K, Verma S. Oncology education in Canadian undergraduate and postgraduate medical programs: a survey of educators and learners. Curr Oncol. 2014 Feb;21(1):e75-88.
3. Lien K, Tam VC, Ko YJ, Mittmann N, Cheung MC, Chan KK. Impact of country-specific EQ-5D-3L tariffs on the economic value of systemic therapies used in the treatment of metastatic pancreatic cancer. Curr Oncol. 2015 Dec;22(6):e443-52.
   

My Fellowship project was a Phase IB Clinical Trial of Sorafenib in Combination with Transarterial Chemoembolization (TACE) in Patients with Unresectable Hepatocellular Carcinoma.

I did my Fellowship at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. 

My Fellowship was immensely important in my career. It provided me with specific research training and mentorship that wouldn’t have been possible as a junior staff oncologist. The clinical focus in GI and phase I clinical trials also allowed me to gain unique expertise.

I initially worked at the BC Cancer Agency Centre for the Southern Interior in Kelowna, and have recently relocated to the BC Cancer Agency Vancouver Centre.

Determinants of genomic risk in early-stage breast cancer

Institut Jules Bordet, Breast International Group, Brussels, Belgium

Through my CAMO fellowship, I gained experience in oncology clinical research, developed a network of worldwide contacts in breast cancer medicine, and catalyzed an interest in early stage drug development and clinical genomics that has shaped my early career development.

Staff Medical Oncologist, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, Associate Professor of Medicine, University of Toronto

1. Azim HA Jr, Michiels S, Bedard PL, Singhal SK, Criscitiello C, Ignatiadis M, Haibe-Kains B, Piccart MJ, Sotiriou C, Loi S. Elucidating prognosis and biology of breast cancer arising in young women using gene expression profiling. Clinical Cancer Research. 2012 Mar 1;18(5):1341-51. Impact Factor 7.742. Coauthor or Collaborator.
2. Bedard PL, Singhal SK, Ignatiadis M, Bradbury I, Haibe-Kains B, Desmedt C, Loi S, Evans DB, Michiels S, Dixon JM, Miller WR, Piccart MJ, Sotiriou C. Low residual proliferation after short-term letrozole therapy is an early predictive marker of response in high proliferative ER-positive breast cancer. Endocrine Related Cancer. 2011 Dec 1;18(6):721-30. Impact Factor 4.364. Principal Author.
3. Bedard PL, Cardoso F. Can some patients avoid adjuvant chemotherapy for early-stage breast cancer? Nature Reviews Clinical Oncology. 2011 May 1;8(5):272-9. Review. Impact Factor 11.963. Principal Author.
4. Bedard PL, Bernard-Marty C, Raimondi C and Cardoso F. The role of capecitabine in the management of breast cancer in elderly patients. Journal of Geriatric Oncology. 2011;2(1):72-81. Impact Factor 1.18. Principal Author. 
5. Toussaint J, Durbecq V, Altintas S, Doriath v, Rouas G, Paesmans M, Bedard B, Haibe-Kains B, Tjalma WA, Larsimont D, Piccart M, Sotiriou C. Low CD10 mRNA Expression Identifies High-Risk Ductal Carcinoma In Situ (DCIS). PLoS ONE. 5:pii:e12100, August 2010. Impact Factor 4.411. Coauthor or Collaborator.
6. Knauer M, Cardoso F, Wesseling J, Bedard PL, Linn SC, Rutgers EJ, van ‘t Veer LJ. Identification of a low-risk subgroup of HER-2- positive breast cancer by the 70-gene prognosis signature. British Journal of Cancer. 2010;103(12):1788-93. 2010 Nov 16. [Epub ahead of print]. Impact Factor 5.042. Coauthor or Collaborator. 
7. Bedard PL, Di Leo A, Piccart-Gebhart MJ. Taxanes: optimizing adjuvant chemotherapy for early-stage breast cancer. Nature Reviews Clinical Oncology. 2010;7(1):22-36. Review. Impact Factor 11.963. Principal Author. 8 WHERE ARE THEY NOW (past CAMO fellows)… Dr. Philippe Bedard
8. Tomasello G, Bedard PL, de Azambuja E, Lossignol D, Devriendt D, Piccart-Gebhart MJ. Brain metastases in HER2-positive breast cancer: the evolving role of lapatinib. Critical Reviews Oncology & Hematology. 2010;75(2):110-21. [Epub ahead of print]. Impact Factor 4.411. Coauthor or Collaborator.
9. Bedard PL, Piccart-Gebhart MJ. Progress in tailoring adjuvant endocrine therapy for postmenopausal women with early breast cancer. Curr Opin Oncol. 2009 Nov 1;21(6):491-8. Review. Impact Factor 4.1. Principal Author.
10. Bedard PL, Body J-J, and Piccart-Gebhart MJ. Sowing the Soil for Cure? The Evolving Adjuvant Bisphosphonate Story in Early Breast Cancer. J Clin Oncol. 2009 Aug 3;27:4043-4046. Editorial. Impact Factor 18.372. Principal Author.
11. Bedard PL, Mook S, Piccart-Gebhart MJ, Rutgers ET, Van’t Veer LJ, Cardoso F. MammaPrint 70-gene profile quantifies the likelihood of recurrence for early breast cancer. Expert Opin Med Diagn. 2009 Mar 1;3(2):193-205. Principal Author.
12. Snoj N, Bedard PL, de Azambuja E, Cardoso F, and Piccart M. Are we HER-ting for innovation in neoadjuvant clinical trial design? Br Cancer Res. 2009 Jan 16;11(1):201. Impact Factor 5.245. Coauthor or Collaborator.
13. Cardoso F, Bedard PL, Winer EP, Pagani O, Senkus-Konefka E, Fallowfield LJ, Kyriakides S, Costa A, Cufer T, Albain KS, ESO-MBC Task Force. International guidelines for management of metastatic breast cancer: combination vs sequential single-agent chemotherapy. J Natl Cancer Inst. 2009;101(17):1174-81. [Epub ahead of print] August 5, 2009. Impact Factor 13.757. Co-Principal Author. 
14. de Azambuja E, Bedard PL, Suter T, Piccart-Gebhart M. Cardiac toxicity with anti-HER-2 therapies: what have we learned so far? Target Oncol. 2009;4(2):77-88. Review. Impact Factor 2.76. Coauthor or Collaborator.
15. Bedard PL, Cardoso F, Piccart-Gebhart MJ. Stemming resistance to HER-2 targeted therapy. J Mammary Gland Biol Neoplasia. 2009;14(1):55-66. Review. Impact Factor 7.524. Principal Author. 
16. Bedard PL, Dinh P, Sotiriou C, and Piccart-Gebhart MJ. Aiming at the target: improved adjuvant medical therapy. Breast. 2009;Supp 3:S25-30. Impact Factor 1.97. Principal Author.
17. Snoj N, Bedard PL, de Azambuja E, Cardoso F, Piccart M. Are we HER-ting for innovation in neoadjuvant breast cancer trial design? Breast Cancer Res. 2009;11(1):201. Coauthor or Collaborator.
18. Bedard PL, de Azambuja E, Cardoso F. Beyond trastuzumab: overcoming resistance to targeted HER-2 therapy in breast cancer. Curr Cancer Drug Targets. 2009;9(2):148-62. Review. Impact Factor 4.33. Principal Author. 
19. Bedard PL, Cardoso F. Recent advances in adjuvant systemic therapy for early-stage breast cancer. Ann Oncol. 2008 Jul 1;19 Suppl 5:v122-7. Review. Impact Factor 6.425. Principal Author.
20. Bedard PL, Piccart-Gebhart MJ. Nonhormonal systemic therapy for advanced breast cancer: do the math! J Natl Cancer Inst. 2008;100(24):1745-7. Editorial. Impact Factor 13.757. Principal Author.
21. Bedard PL, Piccart-Gebhart MJ. Current paradigms for the use of HER2-targeted 

It was a phase II trial of sorafenib in kidney cancer. Interestingly, this trial never finished because the question was answered somewhere else later on in my Fellowship (ie we were scooped). However, it did allow me to embark on several other projects that have become very productive. 

Cleveland Clinic Taussig Cancer Institute

The CAMO Fellowship was extremely important to me as I was able to meet and network with world famous people and build bridges for research in Canada. There are so many opportunities in the US ripe for the picking by a Canadian Fellow that can be brought back to Canada. Without the CAMO Fellowship I would have not had the chance to go to Cleveland and meet my current mentors. I would not have been able to build/chair the International mRCC Database Consortium without this Fellowship. 

GU Tumor Group Chair, Tom Baker Cancer Center and University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta

My Fellowship project was (I believe) the first prospective study to assess change in tumour receptor status at the time of metastatic recurrence of breast cancer. We prospectively biopsied patients presenting with radiographic evidence of recurrence to determine if receptor status (ER/PR/Her2) changed with time. Previous studies in this area had relied on retrospective tumour banks which could have been subject to selection bias. This study received peer reviewed grant funding from CBCF as well, and I was given the opportunity to write and construct the grant application for this process. Publication from this project is below. Also was presented at ASCO and received an ASCO Merit award. Simmons CE, Miller N, Geddie W, Gianfelice D, Oldfield M, DranitsarisG, Clemons MJ. “Does confirmatory tumor biopsy alter the management of breast cancer patients with distant metastases?”. Ann Oncol. 2009 Sep:20(9):1499-504. Epub 2009 Mar 18. PubMed PMID: 19299408; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC2731014. 

Princess Margaret Hospital in Toronto 

Absolutely. My Fellowship gave me the opportunity to learn about the most effective ways of conducting research, gave me the opportunity to receive excellent mentorship from a variety of sources, and helped me to solidify my interests in research and teaching. 

I am staff physician medical oncologist at the BC Cancer Agency in Vancouver. I sub-specialize in breast cancer and sarcoma. I also am the Course Director for clinical skills in the undergraduate medical program at UBC, and founder and chair of a not-for-profit organization (Women in Cancer/All in Cancer) which focuses in improving mentorship connections across the country. So in these ways, I am truly “paying it forward” – the investment CAMO made in me I am continuously grateful for!