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2016 Report to Our Donors
Marking 20 years on
University Avenue,
and visualizing the
20 years ahead
November 2015 marked the 20th anniversary of
Princess Margaret Cancer Centre’s move from its
original location on Sherbourne Street to its current
location in the heart of Toronto’s Medical Discovery
District on University Avenue. It was an opportunity to
pay tribute to the progress made in the past 20 years
and open a dialogue about our aspirations and ideas
on how the care of cancer patients will change in the
next 20 years.
A number of esteemed speakers shared their
predictions about the future of cancer research and
healthcare systems in 2035, including Dr. Peter Pisters,
President and CEO of University Health Network, who
described his vision:
Harnessing technology to connect patients and their
healthcare team in efficient ways and managing the
overwhelming amount of data that will be produced
in patient care in the future are major
priorities for our healthcare system.
As part of University Health Network,
The Princess Margaret benefits from
technology development that is
taking place across the organization.
New ‘apps’ that help patients manage
their disease are being readied for
prime time.
As for The Princess Margaret’s
specific vision to Conquer Cancer
in Our Lifetime, we are optimistic.
For example, we are leading in the
application of new tools that allow us
to map the genome of each patient’s
tumor and understand the specific
driver mutations that are fueling
it. The days of treating all patients
with lung cancer or with colon cancer in the same way
are behind us. We are now in the age of Personalized
Cancer Medicine.
Virtually every week, we read something in the
news about the potential of our immune system
to recognize and eradicate cancer. We saw this
opportunity early and have built on historical strength
developed over the past 20 years through additional
recruitment and investment. As we translate our
research discoveries from the laboratory to the clinic,
we are playing an important role on the world stage in
developing and evaluating new approaches to utilize
our own immune system to seek out and target cancer.
We foresee the day when cancer will be treated as a
chronic disease like diabetes is treated today.
“We will facilitate a process where
there will be much more real-time
access to clinical decision support,
to data that’s required to manage
diseases in real time, and where
patients will become partners in
their care in a much different way
than they are engaged now.”