New head named for cancer research organization

Toronto, ON – Dr Elizabeth Eisenhauer, an internationally recognized Canadian oncologist, has been appointed president of the National Cancer Institute of Canada. Dr Eisenhauer is one of Canada’s leading researchers in cancer clinical trials.

As president, Dr Eisenhauer will chair the organization’s board of directors, steer it in its mission, and play a critical leadership role in determining how the board will distribute more than $60 million per year to fund the top cancer researchers in Canada.

“We are closer than ever to understanding, treating and controlling the many diseases called cancer,” she says. “I am very excited and honoured to be taking on this new role at the NCIC, an incredible organization with a profound commitment to funding some of the best and highest impact cancer research in the world.”

She is a professor of oncology at Queen’s University in Kingston. Since 1982, she has been director of the investigational new drug program at the cancer institute’s clinical trials group where she has made significant inroads into the identification of new anti-cancer drugs and the development of clinical trials to test them. She has coordinated more than 150 clinical trials which have been carried out in institutions in Canada, the US and Europe. In addition to her research position, Dr Eisenhauer also maintains a practice in medical oncology at the Kingston Regional Cancer Centre.

“We are delighted to welcome Dr. Eisenhauer as our new president,” says Dr. Michael Wosnick, executive director of the NCIC. “I have worked with her for many years in various capacities and cannot help but be hugely impressed, not only by her wealth of knowledge and experience and her bold vision for the future, but also her integrity, her passion and her commitment to beat this disease. She is most definitely the right person to have at the helm as the NCIC continues to implement its new strategic plan.”

In taking on the two-year position as the institute’s president, Dr Eisenhauer succeeds Dr Gerald Johnston, associate dean of research in the Faculty of Medicine at Dalhousie University in Halifax.

Funded by the Canadian Cancer Society and the Terry Fox Foundation, the National Cancer Institute of Canada supports outstanding cancer research. Last year, for example, it provided $67 million to support cancer research and related programs across the country.