Funding period

2025-2027

Investment

$72,000

from Ovarian Cancer Canada

ABOUT THE PROJECT

This project is embedded within the Ovarian Cancer Observatory, co-led by Dr. Gillian Hanley and Dr. David Huntsman, which tracks the impact of opportunistic salpingectomy on the three most common types of ovarian cancer (high-grade serous, endometrioid and clear cell).

The partnership with Ovarian Cancer Canada aims to:

1) Reassess the uptake of opportunistic salpingectomy by Health Services Delivery Areas (HSDA) in BC using data between 2018-2021 to understand whether more rural HSDAs still have lower uptake than urban centers in BC.

2) Understand the barriers to uptake of opportunistic salpingectomy by directly communicating with surgeons in rural areas across Canada, through a short survey about knowledge of, and barriers to uptake of opportunistic salpingectomy.

3) Begin to form the partnerships with Indigenous communities to start discussions around opportunistic salpingectomy as a form of ovarian cancer prevention for Indigenous people*.

Impact

We aim to ensure that access to potentially life-saving prevention is not dependent on where you live in Canada. We aim to ensure that the Indigenous peoples in Canada are not excluded from this cancer prevention effort because of the history of oppression that has eroded trust between the Indigenous peoples and the medical community. Ultimately, we aim to ensure that barriers to uptake in both rural communities and the Metis community are removed. However, before we can remove these barriers, we need to better understand what is standing in the way of the high uptake rates for opportunistic salpingectomy. This project will fill those knowledge gaps and set in motion a program of research to ensure that Indigenous communities are not excluded from prevention opportunities.

*This work will complement a project led by Dr. Gillian Hanley and Dr. Brittany Bingham, which recently received funding from the Canadian Cancer Society (“Preventing ovarian cancer in rural and remote communities across Canada”; Health Equity Grant | 2025-2028 | $450,000)