Foundation Donors Support New Regional Cancer Research Group

“Exciting” CANCARE NWO Opens Up Research to All Healthcare Professionals and Educators in the Region

The Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Foundation has funded cancer research in Northwestern Ontario since the early days of the Northern Cancer Research Fund (NCRF) 30 years ago. Today, cancer diagnosis and treatment has improved immeasurably thanks to research breakthroughs. Most importantly, more people are living with cancer rather than dying from it. That’s thanks in part to the Foundation’s generous donors who have supported local cancer research all these years.

That legacy lives on through the Cancer Therapeutic and Diagnostic Research Northwestern Ontario research collaborative, or CANCARE NWO. The Health Sciences Foundation provided funding to this important – and exciting – research initiative.

“CANCARE NWO is a group that combines physicians and scientists,” said Dr. Mohammed Ibrahim, a medical oncologist at the Cancer Centre and the group’s founder. “It’s a platform for conducting cancer research in all its types including clinical and pre-clinical (lab) research. It’s the first group of its kind in Northwestern Ontario.”

Many physicians and other healthcare professionals have research ideas. However, the steps required to set up a research project including finding grants, applying for research approvals, securing lab equipment and resources, and simple paperwork are not single-person tasks.

CANCARE NWO makes it easier. One full-time research assistant, sponsored by the Health Sciences Foundation, and support from Thunder Bay Regional Health Research Institute (TBRHRI) services can help with all these steps and more. Plus, having the name of a research group behind you can open doors because it lends automatic credibility to the researcher that they may not have on their own.

“This gives us more opportunity,” Dr. Ibrahim said. “Your voice rings louder as part of a group than as a single individual.”

CANCARE NWO is relatively new, formed earlier this year with like-minded clinicians and researchers, and is developing into a formal collective with a set direction and goals. Members of the group are affiliated with several institutions including the TBRHRI and the Regional Cancer Centre at the Hospital as well as Lakehead University and NOSM University. Further, the group has access to the research lab within the TBRHRI and other resources through affiliated institutions. It is open to clinicians, professors, and scientists in the region who want to do research. These studies should also offer opportunities for NWO residents to participate and will help support medical students and residents who are interested in basic science and clinical trial research.

CANCARE NWO will make it easier to collaborate with other cancer research centres as well, including participating in larger clinical trials or research projects. The idea comes from Dr. Ibrahim’s PhD work at Dublin City University in Ireland.

“My dream is to extend our research to international groups,” he said. “I also hope that in the very near future that we can set up a student exchange with Dublin City University and University College Dublin.”

A number of studies Dr. Ibrahim already has underway will fold into the program. The initial group of seven researchers, professors, and physicians is actively looking for other healthcare professionals who want to do research. A new CANCARE NWO website will be launching soon.

“We have the assets including lab access and administrative support,” Dr. Ibrahim said. “Everyone can come with their own research ideas.”