OTB’s Team at OICR
Leadership
Lincoln Stein, PhD
Principal Investigator of OTB and Head of Adaptive Oncology at OICR
Prior to joining OICR in 2006, Dr. Stein played an integral role in many large-scale data initiatives at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory and at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Genome Center. He led the development of the first physical clone map of the human genome, and ran the data coordinating centre and the data portal for the SNP Consortium and the HapMap Consortium. Dr. Stein has also led the creation and development of Wormbase, a community model organism database for C. elegans, and Reactome, which is now the largest open community database of biological reactions and pathways.
At OICR, Dr. Stein has led several international cancer data sharing and research initiatives, including the creation and development of the data coordination centre for the International Cancer Genome Consortium and other related projects. He continues to collaborate with national and international partners to create and promote data sharing standards, protocols and implementations.
Dianne Chadwick, PhD
Associate Director of OTB
Dianne Chadwick joined OTB as Associate Director in October 2022 after more than 10 years working in biobanks at the University Heath Network and Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre. With a PhD in Medical Biophysics and fellowship training in clinical laboratory genetics, she brings a strong understanding of the clinical side of hospital operations and appreciation for the needs of research.
Ilinca Lungu, M.Sc.
Operations Manager of OTB and Project Manager of Tissue Portal
Ilinca Lungu joined OICR in 2012. Prior to entering the cancer research field, she held roles at the Public Health Agency of Canada and the University of Guelph. In 2018 she became the lead for OICR’s Tissue Portal, a new centralized facility for tissue sample processing and characterization.
Since taking on the supplementary role of Operations Manager for OTB in early 2022, Ms. Lungu has effectively managed the rebooting of OTB’s collection operations, which were temporarily suspended during the COVID-19 pandemic. She has initiated several new OTB projects, including the selection and acquisition of a new Biobanking Information Management System, bespoke prospective collection, and living tissue collection. Ms. Lungu is passionate about interdisciplinary collaboration and helping researchers get the most out of their biospecimens.
Team members
Riley Cox, MBiotech
Senior Client Coordinator
Riley joined OICR in 2021. As OTB’s Senior Client Coordinator, Riley manages OTB’s roster of academic and industry clients from around the world, helping researchers to safely and efficiently obtain the samples and data they need in order to conduct their life-changing research.
Larry Phouthavongsy
Analyst
Larry, who began as an analyst at OTB in 2019, oversees the database, facilitating the distribution of data to researchers worldwide. His commitment contributes to driving impactful discoveries.
Katarina Maksimovic, M.Sc.
Project Lead, AOTB
Katarina joined OICR in 2024. Along with her strong project management skills and scientific background, she is spearheading the formation of a provincial oncology biobank network headquartered at OICR.
OTB’s Teams at Participating Healthcare Sites
OTB is a collaboration between OICR and leading healthcare institutions in Ontario. Partner academic teaching hospitals across Ontario currently collect biospecimens and clinical data from participating donors for OTB: London Health Sciences Centre, St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton, The Ottawa Hospital, and Unity Health Toronto. Each collection centre has a team of professionals that work in collaboration with the local principal investigator. Specially trained staff members include a pathologists’ assistant and a clinical research coordinator who are committed to the operations of the OTB.
London Health Sciences Centre
Principal Investigator
Dr. Jeremy Parfitt
Department of Pathology
Tumour Bank Staff
Jennifer Petzke
Clinical Research Coordinator
Carolyn Shire
Pathology Research Assistant
London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC) is one of Canada’s largest acute-care teaching hospitals and is dedicated to excellence in patient care, teaching, and research. As a leader in medical discovery and health research, LHSC has pioneered many national and international medical breakthroughs.
Located in London, Ontario, LHSC is a multi-site facility that encompasses University Hospital, Victoria Hospital and Children’s Hospital, two family medical centres as well as two community-based outpatient service programs, and is the home of Lawson Health Research Institute and Children’s Health Research Institute, CSTAR (Canadian Surgical Technology & Advanced Robotics), Fowler Kennedy Sport Medicine Clinic, as well as Children’s Health Foundation and London Health Sciences Foundation. As a regional referral centre, LHSC cares for the most medically complex patients including critically injured adults and children in southwestern Ontario and beyond. The hospital’s nearly 15,000 staff, physicians, students and volunteers provide care for more than one million patient visits a year.
The London Regional Cancer Program (LRCP) at LHSC is committed to translational research that transfers and advances knowledge back and forth between the clinic and the laboratory.
Successful translational research requires strong collaboration between clinical and basic researchers. Together, they identify the high-priority clinical questions for study by basic scientists – questions that, if answered, will lead to improved quality of life and life expectancy in cancer patients. The LRCP is uniquely configured to accomplish this by bringing the cancer care program and the basic cancer research program together.
St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton
Co-Principal Investigators
Dr. Vina Alexopoulou
Anatomical Pathology
Dr. Asghar Naqvi
Anatomical Pathology
Tumour Bank Staff
Dr. Anbreen Zaidi
Clinical Research Coordinator
Gino Celebre
Pathologists’ Assistant
St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton (SJHH) is a regional leader in patient-centred care providing acute care, research, teaching, community and international outreach programs throughout its network. Since being founded by the Sisters of St. Joseph in 1890, the hospital now spans three specialized campuses in the Greater Hamilton Area (Charlton Campus, West 5th Campus and King Street Campus). Two other members of the St. Joseph’s Health System, St. Joseph’s Villa Dundas and St. Joseph’s Home Care provide long-term care and personalized home care, respectively, traversing the reach of care in the region.
As a premier academic and research healthcare organization, SJHH is committed to excellence and dedicated to discovery; to make a difference in people’s lives and create a lasting future for our community through integrated health services and internationally recognized programs. Its threefold mission is to provide dynamic research, revolutionary methods in health sciences education, and the highest standard of clinical care in a spirit of compassion, innovation and commitment.
SJHH has earned a national reputation for outstanding patient care and innovative medical and surgical treatments. The hospital is particularly well known for excellence in respiratory care, kidney and urinary care, mental health and addictions, surgical services, cancer surgery and women’s and infants’ care. SJHH underscored its commitment to research as a driver of better health outcomes in 2014 through the creation of The Research Institute of St. Joe’s Hamilton (RSJH).
SJHH and RSJH are members of the St. Joseph’s Health system and have affiliations with McMaster University, and Mohawk College and are home to the several prestigious centres and institutes, including: Firestone Institute for Respiratory Health, the Peter Boris Centre for Addictions Research, the Urologic Cancer Centre for Research and Innovation, Hamilton Centre for Kidney Research, and the Michael G. DeGroote Centre for Medicinal Cannabis Research.
The Ottawa Hospital
Principal Investigator
Dr. Harman Sekhon
Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine
Co-Principal Investigators
Dr. Sebastien Gilbert
Department of Thoracic Surgery
Tumour Bank Staff
Waad Matar
Clinical Research Assistant
The Ottawa Hospital is one of Canada’s top learning and research hospitals, where excellent care is inspired by research and driven by compassion. As the third-largest employer in Ottawa, our support staff, researchers, nurses, physicians, and volunteers never stop seeking solutions to the most complex health-care challenges.
Our multi-campus hospital, affiliated with the University of Ottawa, attracts some of the most influential scientific minds from around the world. Our focus on learning and research leads to new techniques and discoveries that are adopted globally to improve patient care.
We are the Regional Trauma Centre for eastern Ontario and have been accredited with Exemplary Standing for health-care delivery — the highest rating from Accreditation Canada. We are also home to world-leading research programs focused on cancer therapeutics, neuroscience, regenerative medicine, chronic disease, and practice-changing research.
Backed by generous support from the community, we are committed to providing the world-class, compassionate care we would want for our loved ones.
Unity Health Toronto
Principal Investigator
Dr. Sunit Das
Department of Neurosurgery
Co-Principal Investigator
Valeria DiGiovanni, PhD
Biobank Program Manager
Tumour Bank Staff
Christine Giuffrida
Research Technician
Sorcha Kellett
Research Manager
Unity Health Toronto is one of Canada’s largest Catholic healthcare networks serving patients, residents and clients across the full spectrum of care, spanning primary care, secondary community care, tertiary and quaternary care services to post-acute through rehabilitation, palliative care and long-term care, while investing in world-class research and education. We are comprised of St. Joseph’s Health Centre, St. Michael’s Hospital and Providence Healthcare.
St. Joseph’s has been serving the health-care needs of the diverse communities of southwest Toronto for over 100 years, and continues to do so as a teaching health centre affiliated with the University of Toronto, delivering care to nearly half a million people.
St. Michael’s Hospital is a teaching and research hospital in downtown Toronto. St. Michael’s is renowned for providing exceptional patient care. As downtown Toronto’s adult trauma centre, the hospital is a hub for neurosurgery, complex cardiac and cardiovascular care, diabetes and osteoporosis care, minimally invasive surgery and care of the homeless and disadvantaged. Fully affiliated with the University of Toronto and home to the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute, St. Michael’s provides outstanding medical education to health-care professionals in 29 academic disciplines.
Providence is a leader in rehabilitation, palliative and long-term care, and community programs in Toronto. Providing care through its hospital, long-term care home and adult day program, the organization’s innovative approaches benefit more than 5,000 people each year.
At Unity Health Toronto, our mission supports learning as an essential part of providing high quality care. We continually seek to incorporate new science and a wide variety of perspectives to better respond to clinical and ethical issues as they emerge. This includes collaborating with patients to better understand what matters to them in order to be responsive to their needs. It also includes listening to staff, physicians, learners and volunteers, who may bring different perspectives and new ways of doing things to improve patient care.