Barbara Vanderhyden completed her Ph.D. in Reproductive Physiology at the University of Western Ontario, and then did postdoctoral studies at The Jackson Laboratory in Maine, where she learned to climb mountains, both literally and scientifically. For more than 30 years, she has been a Professor at the University of Ottawa and a Senior Scientist at the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute.

Dr. Vanderhyden is also the inaugural Corinne Boyer Chair in Ovarian Cancer Research and spends most of her time leading a cancer research program and developing networks and resources to increase ovarian cancer research across Canada. Her current research program focuses on developing and improving models of ovarian cancer and using those models to design and test novel treatments, including immunotherapies.

Dr. Vanderhyden serves on the Board of Directors of Ovarian Cancer Canada and chairs the OvCAN Governing Council. In her spare time, she established two science outreach programs: Let’s Talk Science, which makes science fun for students in local schools, and Science Travels, which sends teams of graduate students to deliver science workshops in remote northern communities. She has received many awards for her research and mentorship of young scientists. Her passions are chocolate and science, and she most enjoys the thrill of discovery.

Dr. Boudreau is an associate professor of Medicine at Dalhousie University and the Scientific Director of the Beatrice Hunter Cancer Research Institute. Her highly-collaborative research program focuses on developing natural killer-cell based immunotherapies for cancers, and focuses on understanding how NK cells and other immune cells interact within tumor microenvironments.

Mark Nachtigal is an Associate Professor in the Departments of Biochemistry & Medical Genetics, and Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Sciences at the University of Manitoba, and a Senior Scientist in the Paul Albrechtsen Cancer Research Institute, CancerCare Manitoba. In 1998 Dr. Nachtigal was recruited to Dalhousie University as the Rossetti Scholar for Cancer Research to study human epithelial ovarian cancer, and was recruited back to Manitoba in 2010 to continue his research on human ovarian cancer. His preclinical and translational research has investigated methods for culturing primary human ovarian cancer cells, testing novel therapeutics in ovarian cancer models, and evaluated the clinical journey and health outcomes of Manitoba patients.

Alison joined Ovarian Cancer Canada in 2021 as Director, Knowledge Mobilization. In this role, Alison works closely with her colleagues across Canada to ensure that the disease and treatment information shared with our community is of the highest quality and sophistication.  She also plays a key role in the planning, development, implementation and evaluation of patient education and outreach strategies, and provides direct support to those diagnosed with ovarian cancer.  Alison has 13 years of professional experience in higher education. She is a Professor and Academic Coordinator in the Centre for Health Sciences at George Brown College and holds a PhD in Health Studies from McMaster University. Her research work centralizes insights from diverse patient communities to inform the development of medical programming and to advance patient-focused strategies. Alison’s first experience in the cancer care community was as a Research Associate in the clinical Cancer Survivorship Program at the University Health Network.

Dr. Robin Urquhart is an Associate Professor and the Canadian Cancer Society (Nova Scotia Division) Endowed Chair in Population Cancer Research in the Department of Community Health and Epidemiology, with cross-appointments in the Department of Surgery and Division of Medical Education, at Dalhousie University. She is a Senior Scientist with the Beatrice Hunter Cancer Research Institute and an Affiliate Scientist at Nova Scotia Health. Dr. Urquhart is also the Nova Scotia Lead of the Atlantic Cancer Consortium and Scientific Director of the Atlantic Partnership for Tomorrow’s Health (Atlantic PATH). Dr. Urquhart is a health services researcher and implementation scientist. Spanning the entire cancer continuum, from primary prevention to survivorship and end-of-life care, her research examines issues related to access, quality, equity, and effectiveness in cancer care and control, and investigates ways to improve care delivery and resultant patient, family, population, and health system outcomes.

Dr Yvette Drew is a Medical Oncologist and Associate Professor at BC Cancer Centre Vancouver and the University of British Columbia. She specializes in the care and management of patients with gynecological cancers and the development and delivery of early phase clinical trials. Dr Drew joined the team in Vancouver in 2021. Prior to this she worked as a Senior Lecturer and Medical Oncologist in the UK and was the translational gyne cancer lead and the deputy lead of the Experimental Medicines Centre in Newcastle. She undertook specialist medical oncology training at the Beatson West of Scotland cancer centre, Glasgow and the Northern Centre for Cancer Care, Newcastle. During this time, she was awarded a Cancer Research UK funded PhD fellowship investigating the role of PARP inhibitors in homologous recombination deficient ovarian cancer. During her PhD she won a merit award for her research from the American Society of Clinical Oncology and was awarded the Medical Sciences doctoral prize. Since coming to Vancouver, she has been awarded clinical trial research funding from Ovarian Cancer Canada and was recently awarded a Michael Smith Health Professional Investigator award. She is an active member of the GYN and Phase 1 clinical trials groups within Vancouver and the Canadian Clinical Trials Group. Dr Drew is the new chair of the Gynecologic Cancer Initiative clinical trials group. She has been principal investigator of multiple early phase studies and is a co-chair of the IND-243 study. Research interests are the targeting of DNA repair pathways as treatment for cancer and novel therapies in gynaecological malignancies.

Alicia joined the Ovarian Cancer Canada team as Scientific Advisor in May 2019, and became OvCAN Project Manager the following November. Her deep well of experience in the ovarian cancer field includes a Ph. D. in ovarian cancer biology from the University of Toronto, postdoctoral studies in ovarian cancer genomics at B.C. Cancer Agency, and more than seven years as Scientific Associate in the Division of Gynecologic Oncology at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre.

Donna Pepin was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2006 and began her volunteer work in 2008 with Ovarian Cancer Canada. Since 2008 she has worked as a volunteer educator and public speaker in various community settings: universities, public libraries, senior centres, medical clinics, corporate offices and fundraising events, sharing medical facts about ovarian cancer and her own experience, in an effort to humanize the disease and build awareness.

She is actively involved in sharing her experiences and insights through the Odette Cancer Center Education Series, Ovarian Cancer Canada’s “Survivors Teaching Students” (STS) program and the “Patients as Teachers” (PAT) program at The University of Toronto’s Faculty of Medicine.

Alongside her fellow ovarian cancer patients, Donna played a crucial role in successfully lobbying the Provincial Government of Ontario and the Federal Government of Canada to invest in ovarian cancer research, culminating in the Federal Government of Canada awarding $10 million to Ovarian Cancer Canada for the OvCAN research initiative.

Donna now serves as Patient Advisor on the OvCAN Governing Council that is overseeing the dissemination of these funds for basic research, pre-clinical research and clinical trials. She is also the Co-Lead of OvCAN’s Patient Partners in Research team, providing leadership to those new to the realm of research.

Shannon was diagnosed with Ovarian Cancer in 2019 at the age of 40, before learning of her familial hereditary cancer genetics as a carrier of a BRCA1 mutation. She immediately connected and began volunteering with Ovarian Cancer Canada. She has worked as a volunteer, educator, and fierce advocate in a variety of public and health care settings to spread awareness and provide input from a patient’s perspective about Ovarian Cancer and hereditary and familial cancer genetics. She assists those newly diagnosed in properly advocating for themselves and connecting with support services while navigating the ovarian cancer landscape. She also contributes and provides her lived experience input to many different projects and events in a variety of private, research, clinical and public areas including AstraZeneca, University of Ottawa, University of British Columbia, Abbey Retreat Centre, OCC’s Survivors Teaching Students (STS) program, social media, print and radio platforms.