Ruby Study

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The Research Team

The RUBY Study is a pan-Canadian, multidisciplinary team of researchers. Led by Dr. Steven Narod (MD, FRCPC, FRSC) and Dr. May Lynn Quan (MD, MSc, FRCSC), each of our collaborators has an extensive background in health care and breast cancer research.

Dr. Steven Narod

MD, PhD (hon), FRCPC, FRSC

Dr. Steven Narod is a Tier I Canada Research Chair in Breast Cancer, a University of Toronto professor in the Dalla Lana School of Public Health...

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Dr. Steven Narod

MD, PhD (hon), FRCPC, FRSC

(Co-Principal-Investigator)

Dr. Steven Narod is a Tier I Canada Research Chair in Breast Cancer, a University of Toronto professor in the Dalla Lana School of Public Health and the Department of Medicine, and a senior scientist at Women’s College Research Institute, where he leads the Familial Breast Cancer Research Unit. Dr. Steven Narod has a long-standing commitment to breast cancer research. He leads many collaborative research projects in breast cancer in the areas of prevention, screening, inherited breast cancer, public health applications of genetic technology and predictors of breast cancer mortality, in Canada and around the world.

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Dr. May Lynn Quan

MD, MSc, FRCSC

Dr. May Lynn Quan is a breast surgical oncologist and health services researcher focusing on quality and delivery of cancer care. She is a...

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Dr. May Lynn Quan

MD, MSc, FRCSC

(Co-Principal Investigator)

Dr. May Lynn Quan is a breast surgical oncologist and health services researcher focusing on quality and delivery of cancer care. She is a professor in the Department of Surgery and Oncology, University of Calgary, and is the scientific director of SPHERE Calgary. In her role as scientific director Dr. Quan leads a team that combines patient reported outcomes and large administrative datasets with a precision medicine focus to improve assessment, quality and delivery of cancer care in breast cancer. She has an MD from MacMaster University, MSc in Epidemiology from the University of Calgary, undertook her residency in Calgary and fellowship at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York.

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Dr. Nancy Baxter

MD, PhD, FRCSC, FACRS

Dr. Nancy Baxter is the Head of the Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, a Professor of Surgery in the Department of Surgery at...

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Dr. Nancy Baxter

MD, PhD, FRCSC, FACRS

Co-Investigator and Sub-Project Principal Investigator – Knowledge to Action: Improving local therapy for young women with breast cancer across Canada

Dr. Nancy Baxter is the Head of the Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, a Professor of Surgery in the Department of Surgery at University of Toronto and is an Affiliate Scientist in the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute at St. Michael’s Hospital. In addition, she is a senior scientist in the Cancer Theme Group at the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences. She is a clinical epidemiologist and health services researcher interested in the effectiveness of cancer screening, long-term cancer survivorship of cancer, and the quality of surgical care. She has extensive experience in the use of administrative data and cancer registry data to evaluate long-term consequences of cancer care for adults.

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Dr. Christine Friedenreich

PhD, FCAHS, FRSC

Dr. Christine Friedenreich is the scientific director of the Department of Cancer Epidemiology and Prevention Research at Alberta Health Services...

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Dr. Christine Friedenreich

PhD, FCAHS, FRSC

Co-Investigator and Sub-Project Principal Investigator – The impact of modifiable lifestyle factors in breast cancer survival in young women

Dr. Christine Friedenreich is the scientific director of the Department of Cancer Epidemiology and Prevention Research at Alberta Health Services and an Adjunct Professor and Division Head for Preventive Oncology at the University of Calgary. She is currently also the Interim Scientific Director for the O’Brien Institute of Public Health at the University of Calgary. Dr Friedenreich is a cancer epidemiologist with extensive experience in the design and conduct of large cohort studies and randomized controlled trials in physical activity and cancer control that include the lifestyle assessment and biomarkers.

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Dr. Kelly Metcalfe

RN, PhD

Dr. Kelly Metcalfe is a professor at the Lawrence S. Blomberg Faculty of Nursing, University of Toronto and a Senior Scientist at Women’s College...

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Dr. Kelly Metcalfe

RN, PhD

Co-Investigator and Sub-Project Principal Investigator – Expanded Genetic Testing in Women with Young Onset Breast Cancer

Dr. Kelly Metcalfe is a professor at the Lawrence S. Blomberg Faculty of Nursing, University of Toronto and a Senior Scientist at Women’s College Research Institute. She has expertise in the areas of delivery of cancer genetics services and treatment of BRCA-associated breast cancer. She has previously led studies examining the uptake of genetic testing in newly diagnosed ovarian cancer patients, satisfaction with genetic testing, and the treatment of hereditary breast cancer.

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Dr. Ellen Warner

MD, FRCPC, FACP, MSc

Dr. Ellen Warner is a medical oncologist at the Sunnybrook Regional Cancer Center and is the founder and director of PYNK, the only program in...

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Dr. Ellen Warner

MD, FRCPC, FACP, MSc

Co-Investigator and Sub-Project Principal Investigator – SPOKE & GYPSY: Studies to Encourage Early Fertility Preservation Referral and to Predict Effects of Treatment on Fertility of Young women with Breast Cancer

Dr. Ellen Warner is a medical oncologist at the Sunnybrook Regional Cancer Center and is the founder and director of PYNK, the only program in Canada for young women with breast cancer. She is an affiliate scientist at the Evaluative Clinical Sciences platform, Odette Cancer Research Program, and a professor at the Department of Medicine, University of Toronto. Dr. Ellen Warner has extensive experience leading inter-disciplinary research teams, most notably a study of breast MRI screening for BRCA mutation carriers that led to the establishment of the high-risk Ontario Breast Screening Program. She is a member of the Ontario Regional Advisory Program for adolescents and young adults and its oncofertility subcommittee. She also is a member of Fertile Future’s medical advisory board. SPOKE, a knowledge translation intervention to increase breast surgeon fertility preservation discussion and referrals of their young newly diagnosed breast cancer patients was completed with significant success and the results have were published in April 2020 in the Annals of Surgical Oncology.

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Dr. Ivo Olivotto

BSc, MD, FRCPC

Dr. Ivo Olivotto has had a productive clinical and research career with an emphasis on the conduct of clinical trials, outcomes research and...

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Dr. Ivo Olivotto

BSc, MD, FRCPC

Co-Investigator

Dr. Ivo Olivotto has had a productive clinical and research career with an emphasis on the conduct of clinical trials, outcomes research and technical innovations in breast cancer radiation therapy since the 1980s. Although he retired in 2018, he remains active as a scientific advisor to the RUBY cohort study.

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Dr. Mohammad R. Akbari

MD, PhD

Dr. Akbari is a molecular geneticist. He is an assistant professor at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto (U of T), and a...

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Dr. Mohammad R. Akbari

MD, PhD

Co-Investigator

Dr. Akbari is a molecular geneticist. He is an assistant professor at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto (U of T), and a scientist at Women’s College Research Institute (WCRI), Women’s College Hospital (WCH). He is also an adjunct faculty member at Institute of Medical Science, faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto and the director of the Molecular Genetics Research Laboratory at Women's College Hospital that hosts the RUBY study’s biobank. Dr. Akbari's research interest is in studying genetic susceptibility to cancers, including breast, ovarian, esophageal, Colon, pancreas and prostate cancers. This includes identifying new genes responsible for hereditary cancers, defining the role of known cancer genes, and individualizing cancer treatments for patients carrying a genetic mutation.

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Doris Howell

RN, PhD

Doris Howell is a senior scientist with the Division of Psychosocial Oncology and Palliative Care at the Ontario Cancer Institute, Adjunct...

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Doris Howell

RN, PhD

Co-Investigator

Doris Howell is a senior scientist with the Division of Psychosocial Oncology and Palliative Care at the Ontario Cancer Institute, Adjunct Scientist at the Division of Preventive Oncology, Cancer Care Ontario; an Adjunct Scientist with the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences (ICES); and an Affiliate Scientist with ELLICSR: Health, Wellness & Cancer Survivorship Centre. Her clinical research aims to understand the role of a patient’s central perception and evaluation of complex symptoms – such as fatigue, pain and breathlessness – on symptom response and behaviour to inform the development of theory and behavioural self-management intervention trials. Additionally, Dr. Howell leads implementation science mixed-method research on the integration of survivorship care planning and patient-reported outcome data in routine oncology practice with an emphasis on patient activation in self-management and improving the quality of patient experience.

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