Category: cancer

Dr. Mark Clemons

Dr. Mark Clemons’ keen sense of humour and sharp wit have earned him an enduring and respected reputation among cancer patients at The Ottawa Hospital, where he is a medical oncologist. His patients regularly comment on the positive difference his unique approach has made in their care.

Born, raised, and educated in the UK, Ottawa was fortunate to entice Dr. Clemons to join our team in 2009.

In addition to his work with cancer patients, he is also a medical oncologist and scientist at The Ottawa Hospital and led the creation of REaCT (Rethinking Clinical Trials), which helps remove barriers for patients participating in clinical trials.

Staying true to his unique personality, Dr. Clemons did not disappoint when he competed onstage in front of a sold-out crowd of 800+ to win the coveted Medicine Ball Trophy during Dancing with the Docs in 2017.

Q: When did you realize you wanted to become a doctor, and why oncology?

A: There wasn’t an epiphany moment, and looking back on 30 years of clinical practice, I don’t think I could have done anything else. I think the beauty of medicine is that it allows you an amazing opportunity to sample multiple subjects from basic science, physiology, psychology, through to global healthcare disparities. In addition, oncology also offers frequent and often raw exposure to the challenges we all face as human beings. Quite simply, joy, suffering, and death surround us all the time. Oncology has given me an amazing opportunity to learn about and experience the whole smorgasbord of human existence.

Q: You’re from the UK originally, why did you choose to work at The Ottawa Hospital?

A: I had finished my doctorate and had what my boss described as “the best job in the world” lined up in the UK, and I realized I didn’t want what someone else perceived as “the best job in the world.” One afternoon I saw an advert that said, “do you want to come to Canada and research breast cancer?” I think life is about serendipity and taking opportunities to travel when they come. Too many people spend their lives in one city, but life is about getting experiences in different places. So, off I went to Toronto for a couple years. Then the unexpected and unplanned scenario of (English) boy meets (Canadian) girl occurred. Canadian girl then explained that English boy’s life would be much better and much more straight forward if he simply did whatever she told him to do. After subsequent jobs in the UK and back in Toronto, the tremendous opportunity to come to Ottawa appeared.

Q: Your patients regularly comment on how your personality and humour help them through difficult times. Can you tell us a little about your approach with patients?

A: I think personality and humour are not the same thing. My wife and kids will certainly tell you that I am not funny. Not all patients want humour, but most people want to be treated as real human beings. The reality is, life on the whole can be quite funny, and we’re all in this game of life together. As so many patients have said to me over the years, “if you don’t laugh, you’ll cry.” My philosophy is not to be terrified of cancer, but to treat the cancer with respect it deserves so you can help the patient and their family make their own personal way through a very challenging journey.

Q: If someone has just been diagnosed with cancer, what advice would you give them?

A: Despite the feeling of your world turning upside down, try not to panic, and try to get information from a reputable source. Once you have the fundamentals of information, you’re in a much better place for decision making.

Dr. Mark Clemons is a medical oncologist and clinical investigator at The Ottawa Hospital.

Q: As an oncologist, what is the most exciting advancement you have seen in recent years in the field of cancer care?

A: Treatment options are night and day compared with when I started – they’re less toxic and more effective. I’ve been in practice for over 30 years, and what is fascinating is how much longer, and indeed how much better, people are living. A lot of these advances were driven by public health and family medicine working on such broad topics as cigarette smoking cessation, vaccinations, blood pressure, and cardiovascular risk management, to name but a few examples. The increasing average age of our patients presents itself with new challenges as we try to manage cancer patients with increasing non-cancer related health issues. This is likely where my interest in reducing the toxicities of so many of our treatments comes from.

Q: You’ve treated Alison Hughes, who was first diagnosed with breast cancer at 37. What has defined her case?

I think Alison is an amazing woman. She is young and has such enthusiasm for life — something her breast cancer is trying to rob her of. We have the availability of clinical trials, which she has been involved with, including REaCT (REthinking Clinical Trials). The REaCT program is Canada’s largest practical trials program, which time and time again shows we can treat patients with more personalized therapies with significantly less cost to the patient and the healthcare system. REaCT has received amazing funding from The Ottawa Hospital Academic Medical Organization (TOMAMO).

Q: What led to the creation of REthinking Clinical Trials (REaCT) at The Ottawa Hospital?

A: It was the realization that, despite cancer now being the most common global cause of premature death, the amount of practical and applicable research being done is less and less. Also, the highly preselected patients entered into clinical trials don’t usually reflect the reality of patients we see in clinical practice. This is, in part, because the rules of entry to traditional clinical trial select towards younger, richer, fitter patients than we’re seeing in clinical practice. We realized that by involving our patients and their families in the types of studies they want performed, we could do research that actually impacts patient care. Then, by designing trials that had less restrictive eligibility criteria through the REaCT program, we could actually perform true practice-changing research. Ottawa has been the ideal place to lead such a program as we serve a large patient population and have great clinical trials infrastructure, knowledge synthesis, and the Ottawa Methods Centre’s resources in place to enable such studies to be performed. REaCT is one of those ways we’re challenging dogma, we’re saying, “Why did we do that? What is the evidence?”

Q: In addition to treating cancer patients, you are involved in what has been described as an “eclectic” range of research, touching on things like retirement planning and oncologists’ quality of life. Can you describe your research work at the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute?

A: I think it reflects my personality, which is one of a broad interest in many topics, as well being very aware of the realities of life. If there is one overarching thing we can learn from the COVID pandemic, it is a reminder of the foibles of the “human condition.” For me these include the facts that we all have a limited time to live, our period of life with good health is variable, and ultimately it is our friends and family that add the greatest qualities to our lives. To paraphrase far greater minds than mine, “no one on their deathbed wished they’d spent more time at work.” I constantly question dogma and find it abhorrent to do things a certain way just because it’s always the way we’ve done them. For me, choosing to take the easy path isn’t something I’m interested in. I would rather be able to say to a patient, “I really don’t know the answer to your question, I’ll try to find it.” Too many people still find the inability to live with doubt far too uncomfortable. Perhaps this should be added to my list of human foibles?

“As soon as he walked in the room, he made me laugh. He takes away the fear. He’s incredible.”

— Gina Mertikas-Lavictoire, REaCT trial participant says of her first meeting with Dr. Clemons

Q: How does support from the community help advance cancer research?

A: There are so many great ideas going on here, but without the funding, they won’t go forward. Philanthropy, in its broadest definition of the desire to promote the welfare of others, is quite simply an essential component of the human condition.

Dr. Meshach Asare-Werehene has come a long way to get to where he is today. Literally — moving from Ghana to the U.K. and then Canada as well as spending some time in Japan. It came as no surprise to Dr. Asare-Werehene’s parents that their son would pursue medical research; as a young boy, he carried around a briefcase instead of a backpack (earning him the nickname “headmaster” — he just didn’t like how backpacks jumbled his books and papers) and asked for insects and lasers instead of toys and dolls. He was known for asking his teachers so many questions they thought he was mocking them and for refusing to go to library sessions with his class until they got more science books.

Today, Dr. Asare-Werehene — an expert in gynaecological cancer diagnosis and therapeutics, a part-time academic staff at the Interdisciplinary School of Health Sciences at the University of Ottawa, and Cancer Program Lead at the Tsang Laboratory, Ottawa Hospital Research Institute (OHRI) — is still asking questions. Recently, he received the Worton Researcher in Training Award for his cutting-edge discoveries, extraordinary leadership, and for one of the answers he found during his PhD. He discovered chemo-resistant ovarian cancer cells produce large amounts of a protein called plasma gelsolin, which prevents cancer-killing immune cells from doing their job. This finding could help improve both the detection and treatment of ovarian cancers.

When Dr. Asare-Werehene isn’t busy with his work, he can often be found enjoying nature with his family. His wife, Dr. Afrakoma Afriyie-Asante, is also a brilliant cancer and infectious disease immunologist, and they welcomed their first son in August 2021. He describes cooking as his therapy, whipping up international dishes with a Ghanaian spin, and he finds fellowship at his church, keeping Philippians 4:13 (New King James Version), in mind throughout it all: “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”

Dr. Asare-Werehene and Dr. Afrakoma Afriyie-Asante
Dr. Asare-Werehene with his wife, Dr. Afrakoma Afriyie-Asante.

Read on to learn more about Dr. Asare-Werehene and what drives his passion for changing the course of cancer diagnosis and treatment in Canada and beyond.

Dr. Meshach Asare-Werehene, as a child, with his briefcase.

Q: Is there a specific moment you can pinpoint that made you decide to pursue medicine?

A: Growing up in Ghana, I never took no for an answer. When I was seven, I heard a conversation going on between my parents and one of our uncles, and I heard my uncle say that our auntie died of cancer because there was no treatment for her. I was like, “Why is there no treatment? Is it a money issue? Or did we have to transfer the drug from one clinic to the other?” My parents nearly punished me for interrupting a senior discussion; in Ghana you don’t interrupt high-level conversation. But my uncle calmed them down and said, “All the treatments weren’t working for your auntie, so there was nothing that could help her.”

I never knew that could happen. What my uncle said ignited my passion. Since then, I made a promise to myself that I was going to pursue this; I was going to help patients like that get better, and I was going to understand why some patients don’t respond to chemo.

Q: Why did you move from Ghana to the U.K, then to Ottawa? And what was that like?”

A: I was fortunate because I graduated from my undergraduate in Ghana with a first-class ranking (I was one of only two), and I was the second best in my class. Interestingly, my wife (then my classmate) was the best and the valedictorian for the entire college of health sciences! We both had a similar type of scholarship to go to the University of Nottingham in the U.K. I pursued cancer immunology, and it was there I got exposed to the various dimensions of investigating cancer. When I graduated from that program, I was the best in my program and received the gold certificate for my outstanding academic and leadership performances — my wife was studying microbiology and immunology and emerged as one of the best in her program. I got to know about The Ottawa Hospital and how they integrated research into patient care, and the immigration policies here were more favourable to me. In Canada, I could stay longer after I finished schooling to pursue opportunities. Professionally, it was the best decision I ever made.

Meshach receiving the Gold Certificate from Dr. Judith Ramage at The University of Nottingham, UK (2014).
Dr. Meshach Asare-Werehene, receiving the Gold Certificate, and Dr. Judith Ramage at The University of Nottingham, UK (2014).

Personally, it’s been tough, because I left my family behind to pursue my career interests. Also, until I left Ghana, I didn’t know I was Black. It was when I began to travel that I experienced racism, from being policed around high-end shops to being discredited for my own work to being asked to go back to my own country.

Q: Can you tell us a bit about your discovery and what receiving the Worton Researcher-in-Training Award means to you?

A: For the past 30 years, the survival rate for ovarian cancer has not gotten that much better, compared to other cancers. It’s still around 45%, which means when a patient is diagnosed today, the probability of living to see the next five years is 45%, which is super low. And this is mainly due to late diagnosis as well as the fact that most patients do not respond to the conventional treatments. So, to find a reason why patients could be resistant to treatment, as well as finding ways to energize their immune system, was exciting and fulfilling. This will be like your immune cells being taken to the gym so they become powerful and kill the cancer cells. My curiosity in life has always been to find the problem, so this is what I’ve always dreamt about.

“The award tells me the hospital and entire community has confidence in my work. It inspires me to continually push the boundaries and develop excellent international research.”

— Dr. Meshach Asare-Werehene

The award tells me the hospital and entire community has confidence in my work. It inspires me to continually push the boundaries and develop excellent international research. I’m also the fifteenth recipient and the first Black person, for me this is huge. It’s difficult to become something when there’s no one to look up to. I’m excited that generations coming after me will see the path created and can say “Meshach was there hence we can also be there”; this is not only for me, but also for my family, my mentors, and so the Black community has someone to look up to.

Q: What do you see for the future of The Ottawa Hospital?

A: I think the future is super bright for The Ottawa Hospital. I look forward to it becoming a world leader in patient care and groundbreaking research, and a world-leading centre in training the next generation of clinicians and researchers and allied health professionals. With the New Campus Development being built, there will be a major boost to all of this. I will also look forward to seeing more diversity at every level involved in patient care, decision making, research discoveries, as well as management. This I see happening in the next few years, so I’m super confident.

Q: What’s next for you personally and professionally?

A: I look for advancing my clinical and research careers to the stage where my findings will be translated into the clinic to give patients a second chance, to have more time with their families. And personally, I look forward to having more quality time to spend with my family, especially my son. Also, I’d like to finish my second book and pick up a new skill, like sewing or advancing my cooking skills. Finally, I’m interested in politics, so I hope to translate my studies onto the political scene to benefit my whole community.

“I’m excited that generations coming after me will see the path created and can say ‘Meshach was there hence we can also be there’; this is not only for me, but also for my family, my mentors, and so the Black community has someone to look up to.”

— Dr. Meshach Asare-Werehene
Dr. Meshach Asare-Werehene cooking at home.
Dr. Meshach Asare-Werehene cooking.

In this four-part series, Dr. Asare-Werehene discusses what drives his research, his hopes for the future of cancer treatment, and the importance of representation in the research and medical field.

Dr. Natasha Kekre is a hematologist and associate scientist at The Ottawa Hospital.

When Dr. Natasha Kekre isn’t taking home the Medicine Ball trophy at our Dancing with the Docs fundraiser, she’s balancing her three different roles at The Ottawa Hospital. In September 2023, she was named the Research Chair in Advanced Stem Cell Therapy in addition to being a hematologist and scientist. She is also an associate professor at the University of Ottawa. Her research focusses primarily on blood cancers, and specifically on early phase clinical trials, oncolytic virus therapy (in which viruses are used to infect and destroy cancer cells), and building a Canadian CAR T-cell platform (chimeric antigen receptor T-cells are immune cells engineered to kill cancer cells).

Q: What is something unusual or surprising about the field of hematology?

A: Hematology is unique because we get to work with a lab as well as with patients. The diagnostics for hematology rely on our expertise in the lab, and this is different than other specialties. I can actually go to the lab and make a diagnosis by looking at a patient’s blood under the microscope.

Q: How have the treatment options for blood cancers changed since you first started?

A: Treatments called immune therapies are now giving us more arsenal against blood cancers. Therapies like checkpoint inhibitors and CAR T-cells have helped us improve outcomes for patients with blood cancers.

Q: What is The Ottawa Hospital doing in hematology research that is exciting or groundbreaking?

A: We are the one facility in the country that can make clinical-grade viruses for trials. This allows us to be a leader in the field of CAR-T therapy, which relies on this virus manufacturing to provide the genetic material needed for T-cell coding.

Dr. Natasha Kekre and Owen Snider. Owen was treated for lymphoma at TOH as part of a CAR-T clinical trial.

Read about the Canadian-first CAR-T therapy clinical trial led by Dr. Kekre.

Read More

Q: As a hematologist, why did you choose to work at The Ottawa Hospital?

A: There are phenomenal scientists in Ottawa who made me choose this hospital for my career. Dr. Harold Atkins for example, world leader in stem cell transplant for multiple sclerosis, and Dr. John Bell, world leader in virus research and manufacturing, have been two of my mentors and collaborators. It is this collaborative approach to clinical trials and research that motivated me to join The Ottawa Hospital.

Q: How does having the most technologically advanced facility make a difference to your work at The Ottawa Hospital?

A: I would not be able to lead and run CAR-T clinical trials in Ottawa if we did not have the ability to make these clinical-grade viruses. Very few people in Canada get to run clinical trials early in their career, trials that actually have the potential to save lives, but the technology here in Ottawa has given me that opportunity.

Q: You worked on Owen Snider’s case. What made that case challenging or unique?

A: Owen, like some of my patients, was out of options for his cancer. This is unfortunate and always leads to very difficult conversations with patients and their families. What was unique here was that I had a clinical trial that could benefit someone like Owen, and thankfully he was able to get CAR T-cells on the trial.

Owen and Judith Snider. Owen was treated by Dr. Kekre for his lymphoma.
Owen and Judith Snider.

Q: How does community support for research ultimately help patients?

A: Trials like CAR T-cells are highly expensive and complicated to run, and they require significant funding for infrastructure and manufacturing — aspects of a trial that are generally not well-funded. This is why we rely so heavily on community support to help us actually reach our goal of opening trials and treating patients.

Q: What would we find you doing when you aren’t at the hospital?

A: You would find me cooking or baking with my daughter. We love to cook and make fancy meals and desserts, that’s how I occupy my weekends when I’m not working!

The Ottawa Hospital is a leading academic health, research, and learning hospital proudly affiliated with the University of Ottawa.

Dr. Carolyn Nessim is a Surgical Oncologist at The Ottawa Hospital, as well as a Clinician Investigator at the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute (OHRI).

Before arriving at our hospital in 2013, her training took her from Montreal to Toronto and even as far as Melbourne, Australia. While she specializes in soft tissue sarcoma, melanoma, and gastric cancer, her expertise is wide-ranging as she collaborates with other researchers in addition to treating patients.

Dr. Nessim also has rhythm. In 2018, she was one of a handful of physicians who competed on the dance floor in front of a sold-out crowd of 800 for Dancing with the Docs, a fundraising event that raises funds for patient care and research at our hospital.

Q: When did you realize you wanted to become a doctor? How did you end up in oncology? 

A: I have wanted to be a doctor since I was seven years old — it’s as if it was a calling. In my 20s I had a personal health scare, and the nicest doctor took all my fears away with a simple conversation. I remember thinking, “I want to do that for people too.” By my second year of surgical residency, I knew I wanted to specialize in oncology.  I was fascinated by the complex tumours and surgeries and new therapies that were changing the face of cancers, but more importantly, I was moved by the relationship that develops with patients and how rewarding the work is. I’m often asked why I chose cancer because people assume it must be so sad. But on the contrary — it is a privilege. To cut is a chance to cure and patients unconditionally trust us to take care of them.

Q: What is the most interesting thing you have learned during your time as a surgical oncologist?

A: For patients we cannot cure we still provide support and empathy through a difficult journey, so I believe we still help in those cases as well. No one lives forever, but how we live our journey is what will make the difference, so I believe in hope and positive thinking.

Q: What innovations have you seen in the field of oncology since you started?

A: The role of immunotherapy in cancer is revolutionary. It’s a type of treatment that boosts your immune system to fight off the cancer. Although it does not work in all cancers, for others it has turned metastatic patients that used to die within six months to now live for 5-10 years and beyond. It has taken decades to perfect and in 2018, it won the Nobel Prize.

Q: What is The Ottawa Hospital doing in oncology that is exciting or groundbreaking?  

A: I have done some translational clinical research with Michele Ardolino, Jean-Simon Diallo, and Luc Sabourin at the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute to better understand the genetics and biology of both melanoma and sarcoma and how they respond to oncolytic viruses or why they resist to immunotherapy. It’s very exciting work.

Q: You helped uncover Bryde Fresque’s diagnosis of a rare pheochromocytoma, why was this diagnosis a challenge?

A: In Bryde’s case, he had a spontaneous rupture which led to a large hematoma that hid the underlying tumour on imaging. Also, most pheos release adrenaline which you can detect in a 24-hour urinary test, but Bryde’s was non-functional making the urine tests negative. These factors made the diagnosis more difficult to make. Eventually we could see a mass on the imaging, and it was clear the only next best step was to remove it.

Q: The surgery he needed to save his life was incredibly complex, lasting 12 hours. Explain why. 

A: The tumour was quite large —over 20cm — and very inflamed because of the bleeding. His tumour was also attached to several organs which required what we call a multi-visceral resection en bloc (removal of organs that are touching). This takes time as it involves very careful dissection of large vessels that we do not want to injure. We removed Bryde’s tumour en bloc with the kidney, adrenal, spleen, distal pancreas, colon and diaphragm and then reconstructed the diaphragm and colon. Most sarcoma surgeries take anywhere from 5-24 hours. Some can take even longer — over 48 – hours.

Q: What makes rare cancers, like pheochromocytomas such a challenge to diagnose and treat? 

A: The reason rare cancers are hard to treat and diagnose is because we need more investment in research.  Also, the rarer the cancer the less we are able to run large randomized clinical trials, because there are so few patients. We need more international collaboration for rare cancers to increase the number of patients to better understand these diseases and how to manage them. In the last ten years, we have created an international research collaboration for sarcoma called the Trans-Atlantic Australasian Retroperitoneal Sarcoma Working group of which I am the Chair of the Research Evaluation Committee. This has made a huge difference in sarcoma research. It includes experts from around the world designing research studies and clinical trials and it will change the face of sarcoma research.

Q: What is the most gratifying part of your role as a surgical oncologist at The Ottawa Hospital? 

A: My relationship with my patients. It is the best thing ever. I am inspired by their strength, motivation, and humility. Being even just a small part of their journey is the most fulfilling and gratifying part of my job and pushes me out of bed every morning to come to work.

Q: In your opinion, how important is support from the community in advancing cancer research?

It is very important. If there were more awareness and more community support, we could expand our research and study more about diseases like rare cancers.

The Ottawa Hospital was fortunate to welcome renowned neurosurgeon Dr. John Sinclair back to Ottawa 2005, following two fellowships at Stanford University in California. As the Director of Neurosurgical Oncology and the Director of Cerebrovascular Surgery, he is an expert resource for our patients facing brain tumours, including glioblastoma multifome.

Dr. Sinclair is an innovator and always on the lookout for the latest treatment options for our patients. It was this drive that helped bring the CyberKnife, Advanced Awake Craniotomy techniques and most recently Fluorescence-Guided Surgery to our hospital. With tools like these at their disposal, Dr. Sinclair and his colleagues have increased survival rates for our brain tumour patients.

Q: Why did you choose to work at The Ottawa Hospital?

A: I grew up in Ottawa. The sense of community here is strong. I wanted to be a part of that community. I felt that I could make a difference by helping to develop outstanding care for our patients in the community and beyond. I have treated a number of patients who I have known from my years growing up in Ottawa. There is a bond that builds trust and hope in patients when you have a common connection. Ottawa is that connection for me.

Q: As the Director of Neurosurgical Oncology what, in your opinion, sets The Ottawa Hospital apart from other hospitals?

A: The thing that sets us apart is the incorporation of awake surgery and advanced mapping for the resection of most brain tumours and more recently Fluorescence Guided Surgery. These innovations place us alongside our Ottawa Hospital colleagues in cancer treatment and research within the complementary specialties of neuro-oncology, neuroradiology, neuropathology, neurophysiology and neurological oncology. These two advances in particular have allowed a wider scope of a patient centered focus as we collaborate closely through all aspects of care and treatment.

Q: You were instrumental in bringing the community-supported fluorescence-guided microscope to our hospital. This microscope illuminates malignant brain tumours during surgery allowing you to successfully remove more of the tumour. How has this microscope impacted our patients with brain cancer?

A: Without this microscope, we would not be able to do Fluorescence Guided Surgery (FSG). FSG allows for maximal safe resection of malignant tumours which in research has proven to increase length of time to recurrence and overall survival rates. Without a doubt, this offers our patients a better chance to fight against brain cancer.

Q: Another piece of equipment made possible thanks to donor support is the CyberKnife. How has the CyberKnife technology helped patients of The Ottawa Hospital over the past decade?

A: Over the past decade, we have been able to treat thousands of patients using CyberKnife. It allows for a targeted approach to radiation treatment resulting in decreased side effects and decreased risk to the patients. This precision treatment also typically allows for shorter treatment time resulting in viewer visits to the hospital.

Q: You removed Stefanie Scrivens’ grade 2 oligodendroglioma brain tumour through a successful awake surgery, and she didn’t need chemo or radiation. What made this incredible outcome possible?

A: Using advanced subcortical mapping during Stefanie’s surgery allowed us to provide maximal resection of the tumour, taking a rim of “normal” tissue where the tumour had been. This was done in hopes of removing any microscopic tumour cells that extended beyond the tumour. By doing so we were able to indefinitely postpone radiation and chemotherapy.

Q: The Ottawa Hospital has incorporated Canada’s advanced brain mapping techniques to help during awake brain surgery. How does this mapping system help brain surgeons?

A: Traditional approaches to awake craniotomy deal with basic brain function; speech and movement. In many cases this is sufficient. Advanced cortical and subcortical mapping allows testing of advanced brain function that can impact higher brain function, such as cognition, personality and visual perception. The ability to map these functions allows us to safely preserve brain function; improving outcomes and the quality of life for patients. With basic mapping it is often necessary to leave a portion of tumour behind rather than continuing surgery in these eloquent areas.

Q: The Ottawa Hospital is currently working towards the creation of a new, state-of-the-art health and research centre to replace the aging Civic Campus. What will this new hospital campus, which will be the most technologically advanced facility in Canada, mean for your patients?

A: The new hospital campus will allow us to build from our strong foundation, a centre that will provide our patients with multidisciplinary care that will bring together all facets of healthcare. A centre like this will attract world-class physicians and care teams. It will help to advance treatment and research within our community. In doing so we will be able to provide a centre of excellence. This is a perfect opportunity to really bring patient care to the highest level.

Q: What message do you want to convey to your patients with brain tumours?

A: Quoted statistics often reflect dated technology and treatment protocols and new advances in treatment are always occurring and evolving. Our patients need to keep that hope and our community must foster that through continued support of The Ottawa Hospital in order for this to become a reality in the years to come.

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