Queen’s oncologist to head Canada’s top cancer research organization

Thursday July 13, 2006, KINGSTON, Ont. – Queen’s University Oncology Professor Elizabeth Eisenhauer has been appointed president of the National Cancer Institute of Canada (NCIC).

One of Canada’s leading researchers in cancer clinical trials, Dr. Eisenhauer is an internationally-recognized oncologist. As president, she will chair the Institute’s board of directors, steer it in its mission to reduce the incidence, suffering and mortality from cancer, and play a critical leadership role in determining how the Board will distribute more than $60 million per year to fund the top cancer researchers in Canada.

“We are closer than ever to understanding, treating and controlling the many diseases called cancer,” says Dr. Eisenhauer. “I am very excited and honoured to be taking on this new role at the NCIC, an incredible organization with a profound commitment to funding some of the best and highest impact cancer research in the world.”

Since 1982, Dr. Eisenhauer has been director of the Investigational New Drug Program at the Queen’s-based NCIC Clinical Trials Group, where she has made significant inroads into the identification of new anti-cancer drugs and the development of clinical trials to test them. She has coordinated more than 150 clinical trials carried out in institutions across Canada, the U.S. and Europe. In addition to her research position, Dr. Eisenhauer also maintains a practice in medical oncology at the Kingston Regional Cancer Centre.

“We are delighted to welcome Dr. Eisenhauer as our new president,” says Dr. Michael Wosnick, executive director of the NCIC. “I have worked with her for many years in various capacities and cannot help but be hugely impressed, not only by her wealth of knowledge and experience and her bold vision for the future, but also her integrity, her passion and her commitment to beat this disease. She is most definitely the right person to have at the helm as the NCIC continues to implement its new strategic plan.”

In taking on the two-year position as NCIC president, Dr. Eisenhauer succeeds Dr. Gerald Johnston, associate dean of research in the Faculty of Medicine at Dalhousie University in Halifax. Dr. Eisenhauer has been vice-president of the NCIC since 2004.

Funded by the Canadian Cancer Society and The Terry Fox Foundation, the National Cancer Institute of Canada is the country’s premier research organization dedicated to supporting outstanding cancer research and advancing cancer control. Last year, the Institute provided $67 million to support excellent cancer research and related programs across the country.

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Sarah Withrow

Queen’s News & Media Services

Queen’s University

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