Student Research Day 2024, a great success!

The 19th Annual Department of Oncology Student Research Day was held in the Juravinski Hospital Auditorium on Wednesday, June 12, 2024. It was a great day and attendees were exposed to a truly inspiring array of excellent work from students representing a wide range of academic disciplines. 

Each year a number of awards are given to student presenters. These awards are provided through the Stuart Jay Cohen Memorial Fund, which is administered by the JCC Foundation on behalf of the Cohen family. This award program is intended to foster education and support the ongoing learning of students involved in cancer research.   

We are pleased to announce the winners of this year’s oral and poster presentations:  

Oral Presentations 

 1st Prize 

Lorin Dodbiba, Medical Oncology Fellow & Graduate Student, Health Research Methodology Program  

Clinical and Laboratory Characteristics that Influence Survival of Men with Metastatic Castrate Resistant Prostate Cancer Treated with Radium-223 

Supervisor: Greg Pond 

 2nd Prize 

Rod Parsa, Undergraduate Medical Program, Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine 

Evaluating Physician and Artificial Intelligence Chatbot Responses to Cancer Questions from an Online Social Media Forum 

Supervisor: Srinivas Raman 

 3rd Prize 

Emily Hartung, Graduate Student, Biochemistry and Biomedical Sciences 

Role of myeloid transcription factor networks in the response of normal and malignant stem cells to LSD1 inhibition 

Supervisor: Tobias Berg 

 …………….

Poster Presentations

1st Prize 

Kanwaldeep Singh, Post Doctoral Researcher, Department of Oncology 

LSD1 inhibition synergizes with Venetoclax in Acute Myeloid Leukemia by Targeting Cellular Metabolism 

Supervisor: Tobias Berg 

2nd Prize 

Siddaarth Varatharajan, Undergraduate Student, Biomedical Discovery & Commercialization, Health Sciences 

Inhibition of MAPK Pathway Induces Differentiation in Acute Myeloid Leukemia 

Supervisor: Dr. Tobias Berg 

2024 Teaching Awards  

We are delighted to share that the recipients of this year’s Department of Oncology Teaching Awards, as nominated by residents in the Divisions of Medical Oncology and Radiation Oncology are:  

 Medical Oncology Teaching Award, 2023-24 

Oren Levine, Associate Professor, Department of Oncology  

 Radiation Oncology Teaching Award, 2023-24 

Julianna Sienna, Assistant Professor, Department of Oncology   

 Special thanks to the following members in making the event a successful one:  

• Keynote Speaker: Tim Whelan, Associate Chair, Research, Department of Oncology  
• Abstract review committee: Mohammed Aljama, Amaris Balitsky, Gwyn Davies, Brandon Meyers, Greg Pond, Julianna Sienna.  
• Oral presentation judges: Yasmin Essaji, Rosalyn Juergens, Irwin Walker, Jim Wright 
• Poster presentation judges: Elysia Donovan, John Goffin, Adi Kartolo 
• Generous contributions from sponsors: Pfizer Canada Inc. and The Stuart Jay Cohen Memorial Fund  
• This event would not be possible without the tremendous efforts of the event team: Kelly Edge, Wanda Oldfield, Nicole Molinaro, Kyle McGowan, Ciara Blew, with oversight by the Director of Administration, Thi Ho.  

Congratulations once again to all award recipients! Many thanks to all for your participation.   

Please take a moment to provide us with feedback on the event by completing this brief survey https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/YZMCBF7 

 Dina Khalaf & Aly-Khan Lalani    

Student Research Day Co-Chairs 

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