The Princess Margaret is Canada’s most comprehensive and dedicated cancer research and treatment centres and one of the top five cancer research centres globally. Here’s why:
Size
18,127 new patients from all over the globe are treated every year.
Scope
200+ types of cancer treated including some of the rarest forms.
Education
Home to 324 residents and fellows and more than 360 health professional students.
Research
22% of patients are in clinical trials (vs. average of 8% in the US).
Partnerships
International partnerships with centres in Italy, Jordan, India, Spain, China, Kenya, Brazil and Germany.
Did you know The Princess Margaret is home to several world-firsts in cancer research and care, all because of your fundraising dollars?
2020: Researchers led by Dr. Faiyaz Notta discover new subtypes of advanced pancreatic cancer based on their molecular features, opening new opportunities for therapeutic development.
2020: Dr. Gelareh Zadeh and Dr. Daniel De Carvalho apply a newly developed non-invasive blood test to diagnose brain cancers, which sets the stage for its application in other solid tumours
2020: A team led by Dr. Naoto Hirano develop a comprehensive way to map the ability of cell surface molecules on cancer cells to serve as immunotherapy targets.
2010: Dr. Rama Khokha uncovers hormonal factors that impact adult mammary stem cells and cancer development.
2011: Leukemia researchers, led by Dr. Aaron Schimmer discover that AML cells have unique reliance on energy production by the mitochondria opening new treatment strategies for this disease
2012: The Princess Margaret is the first site in Canada to use a robot to produce chemotherapy doses for patients.
2014: Drs. John Cho and Marc de Perrot discover that radiation therapy prior to surgery can double survival rates in mesothelioma patients.
2015: Dr. Rodger Tiedemann discovers why patients with multiple myeloma relapse after treatment with proteasome inhibitors and highlights new treatments for these patients
2015: Stem-cell scientists, led by Dr. John Dick, identify a new view of how human blood is made. Different kinds of blood cells form quickly from the stem cell and not further downstream as traditionally thought.
2016: Prostate cancer researchers, led by Dr. Thomas Kislinger, develop a precise, non-invasive diagnostic tool that can address the worldwide clinical dilemma of over-treating low-risk prostate cancers that may never actually need to be treated.
2017: Dr. Daniel De Carvalho discovers a mechanism to mimic a virus and potentially trigger an immune response to fight colorectal cancer cells like an infection.
2017: Stem cell researchers led by Dr. John Dick identify the origin of relapse in acute myeloid leukemia.
2018: Drs. Gary Rodin, Madeline Li, Camilla Zimmermann and team develop Managing Cancer and Living Meaningfully (CALM) which shows it is an effective intervention that alleviates depressive symptoms in patients with advanced cancer. It becomes a care model to copy around the world.
2018: Scientists led by Dr. Daniel De Carvalho develop a highly sensitive blood test that can accurately detect and classify cancer at early stages. The test is based on chemically modified alterations in DNA, known as DNA methylation.
2018: Drs. Linda Penn and Brian Raught uncover the MYC protein interactome, which plays a role in cancer progression. Disrupting these interactions may be a new way to target and treat cancer.
2019: Dr. Steven Chan discovers a new drug combination that makes acute myeloid leukemia cells more sensitive to anti-cancer therapy.
2019: Drs. Danielle Rodin and Michael Milosevic reveal large health and economic benefits to scaling up radiotherapy for cervical cancer in low-income and middle-income countries, even with human papillomavirus vaccination.
2001: Dr. Malcolm Moore receives first Phase II clinical trials funding from the National Cancer Institute, the only cancer centre with this funding outside of the U.S.
2002: Researchers identify a gene that, when mutated, results in medulloblastoma, the most common brain tumour in children.
2002+: Dr. David Jaffray pioneers the integration of cone-beam computed tomography (CT) imaging into radiation treatment.
2005: Dr. Norman Boyd identifies breast density as a major risk factor for breast cancer, and later demonstrates that it is highly inheritable.
2006: Dr. John Dick identifies colon cancer stem cells.
2007+: Dr. Gordon Keller and his research team successfully develop strategies to produce heart cells, blood cells, pancreatic cells, liver cells and cartilage producing cells from pluripotent stem cells.
2008: Drs. Frances Shepherd, Ming Tsao, and Igor Jurisica identify gene ‘signature’ that predicts lung cancer patients’ response to chemotherapy in combination with surgery.
2008: Dr. Lillian Siu receives first Phase I clinical trials funding from the National Cancer Institute, the only cancer centre with this funding outside of the U.S.
1990's: Drs. Cheryl Arrowsmith Emil Pail, and Mitsu Ikura solve the 3D structure of cancer-causing proteins establishing Princess Margaret as a world leader in structural biology
1990: Drs. Richard Hill discovers that cancer cells thrive in conditions of low oxygen, opening a new research field
1994: Dr. John Dick makes the seminal discovery of leukemia stem cells—a discovery made possible by an assay he developed to study human hematopoiesis.
1999: First North American installation of full-field digital mammography enabling earlier diagnosis of breast cancer with less radiation.
1984: Dr. Tak Mak clones the T-cell receptor, pioneers work in the genetics of immunology
1985: Dr. Sam Benchimol discovers mutations in the gene p53 are an important driver of cancer
1988: Dr. Ian Tannock discovers important mechanism by which cancer cells become resistant to chemotherapy
1970s: The Princess Margaret designs and builds the Hemitron, a machine that delivers full- and half-body radiation.
1971: Dr. Victor Ling discovers the role of P-glycoprotein in the development of multi-drug resistance in cancer cells.
1976: Dr. Hans Messner performs first allogeneic bone marrow transplant at Princess Margaret, now one of the largest blood and marrow transplant programs in the world.
1961: Dr. Harold Johns develops the “cobalt bomb” for focused high-dose radiotherapy, making it possible to treat deep-seated tissues with radiation therapy.
1961: Drs. James Till and Ernest McCulloch discover stem cells and how they function, which changes the course of cancer research.