Consortium for Canadian Surgical Oncology Research (CanSOR)
CanSOR is an initiative sponsored by the Canadian Society of Surgical Oncology executive to promote and coordinate research completed by members and trainees. The purpose and vision of CanSOR is to foster and collaborate on research completed in a collegial group setting, with focus on discussions of prospective / potential project design, sharing expertise in methodology, identification of appropriate funding sources, and work on abstract and manuscript submission for greatest impact. It is expected that CanSOR members may work to facilitate sharing of deidentified data for larger sample sizes, collaborate on recruiting patients for pilot studies or trials at individual centers, and act as a pathway toward larger grant applications by members. Various methodologies utilized by the group will reflect the complexity of surgical oncology research and research questions, including clinical outcomes (retrospective, prospective), clinicopathologic correlation, qualitative research and mixed methods, quality of life studies, surveys, patient experience and patient-reported outcomes, patient, clinician and trainee education projects. Disease site focus will include: breast cancer, soft tissue sarcoma, cutaneous malignancies, upper and lower GI cancers including HPB, and peritoneal-based cancers.
CanSOR members will participate in virtual meetings q 2 months to start, with agenda items including specific projects brought forth by members set in advance.
Director - Dr. Valerie Francescutti, MD, MSc, FRCSC, FACS
Dr. Francescutti is an Associate Professor in the Department of Surgery, Division of General Surgery at McMaster University. She is a Surgical Oncology based at the Hamilton General Hospital and Juravinski Cancer Center.
She completed her undergraduate degree with honours at the University of Toronto, followed by her MD and her General Surgery Residency at McMaster University. Dr. Francescutti then completed her Surgical Oncology Fellowship at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center in Buffalo NY. During fellowship, she began her studies towards her Master’s Degree in Health Research Methodology at McMaster, completing her thesis focusing on knowledge translation and barriers to referral for major surgical oncology procedures, using the cytoreduction and hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy procedure as a model. Following fellowship, Dr. Francescutti was recruited as an Assistant Professor of Surgery and Oncology at Roswell Park where she worked for 6 years, with clinical practice focusing on melanoma and other skin malignancies, sarcoma, and peritoneal based malignancies such as pseudomyxoma peritonei and appendix cancers for which CS/HIPEC is offered. During her time at Roswell Park she was the Assistant Program Director and subsequently the Program Director for the Complex General Surgical Oncology fellowship program.
In 2018 Dr. Francescutti returned to McMaster University, as an Associate Professor of Surgery in the Division of General Surgery. She is a member of the Skin and Sarcoma disease site teams at the Juravinski Cancer Center. Her research focuses on knowledge translation and clinical outcomes. She is currently the undergraduate and post-graduate clinical teaching unit director for surgery at Hamilton General Hospital, and is the Head of Service for Surgical Oncology for Hamilton Health Sciences.
Co-Director - Dr. Meghan Delisle
Dr. Megan Delisle is an Assistant professor in the Department of Surgery in the Max Rady College of Medicine at the University of Manitoba. Her primary research focus is advancing precision oncology in the real-world environment. She aims to use these findings to effectively and safely mitigate both the excessive and inadequate utilization of healthcare throughout the entire cancer control continuum, from prevention to end-of-life care and survivorship. Her methodological expertise is in pragmatic clinical trials, implementation science and health services research. I combine these methodological approaches to develop innovative methods of designing and conducting research and facilitate the seamless translation of research findings into real-world practice.
The Pan-Canadian Merkel Cell Collaboration
is made up of Canadian Surgical Oncologists that have worked together to put together the largest clinical database on Merkel Cell Patients. I would like to acknowledge all of the following people for their great Collaboration in this work.
PI: Carolyn Nessim
The Ottawa Hospital: Stephanie Johnson, Megan Delisle, Brittany Dingley, Joshua Helfer, Andrea Ibrahim, Gabreille Paull
University of British Columbia: Trevor Hamilton, Heather Stuart, Martha Talbot
University of Calgary: Greg McKinnon, Evan Jost, Eva Thiboutot
University of Manitoba: Pamela Hebbard, Olivia Hershorn
McMaster University: Valerie Francescutti, Sal Samman
Sunnybrook Health Sciences Center: Frances Wright, David Berger Richardson
University of Toronto Health Network: Alexandra Easson, Angela Schellenberg
Queen’s University: Shaila Merchant, Julie La, Kaitlin Vanderbeck
University of Sherbrooke: Jessika Hetu, Samuel Rodriguez-Qizilbash
University of Montreal: Rami Younan, Erica Patocskai, Samuel Rodriguez-Qizilbash
McGill University: Ari Meguerditchian, Vanina Tchuente, Suzanne Kazandjian
Newfoundland Memorial University: Alex Mathieson, Farisa Hossain
Projects in Progress
Primary Mucosal Melanoma of the Pelvis: Evaluating Disease Management and Outcomes in the Era of Immunotherapy - PI: Valerie Francescutti, Co-I: Meghan Bourque
Radiation-Associated Angiosarcomas of the Breast - PI: Barbara Heller, Co-I: Alexandra Allard-Coutu
Is Nodal US Surveillance in SLNB-positive patients still relevant in Melanoma, in the era of effective adjuvant therapy - PI: Carolyn Nessim, Co-I: Alexandra Allard-Coutu
Absence of benefit of routine screening following resection of Low Risk and Very Low Risk Gastric GIST- PI: Carolyn Nessim, Co-I: Erika Scmitze
Effectiveness of IL-2 intralesional injection for in-transit melanoma - PI: Ari Meguerditchian
Development and Integration of Synoptic Reporting in Peritoneal Surface Malignancies to Facilitate a Pan Canadian Peritoneal Surface Malignancy Database - PI: Brittany Dingley, Co-I: Megan Delisle