The 2022 ARCC Conference has ended. Thank you to everyone who helped make this one of the best ARCC Conferences yet!
The Canadian Centre for Applied Research in Cancer Control (ARCC) is pleased to announce that its 11th annual conference, ARCC2022, will take place virtually on May 16-17, 2022. The objective of this conference is to bridge a connection between researchers and decision-makers, using health economics, services, policy and ethics research to improve cancer control and the delivery of cancer care.
Abstract submission for ARCC2022 is CLOSED.
Abstract Deadline: Friday January 28, 2022
Presentation Notification: ~Monday March 7th, 2022
View the 2022 ARCC Conference Abstract Guidelines here
Questions? Contact us at arcc@cc-arcc.ca
Historically, ARCC has offered travel support for students and/or new professionals attending at our conference. With the switch to a virtual format, we will not be offering travel awards this year, but want to let you know we are working on developing a program to offer additional awards and supports at ARCC2022.
To be eligible for an award, the student or new professional must be submitting an abstract to and presenting at the ARCC2022. We will provide additional details in the coming months – and invite any suggestions you may have for how we can support trainees at ARCC2022. Email us at ARCC@cc-arcc.ca or contact Rebecca at Rebecca.Mercer@ontariohealth.ca
Registration for #ARCC2022 has ended
We are keeping registration fees for 2022 at less than half of what our in-person registration fees are in order to encourage and support broad participation in our event. In addition, we continue to support new professionals (defined as someone who received their final degree within the last 5 years) with discounted rates, and will offer complimentary registrations to patients who wish to attend.
Registration Fees:
Member $75
Non-Member $125
Student (Member) $25
Student (Non-member) $50
New Professional* (Members only) $50
Industry $300
Patients $0
Non-member? Consider Joining today!
Invited Speakers
Kathleen Decker, PhD, MHA
Dr. Kathleen Decker is an Associate Professor at the Department of Community Health Sciences at the University of Manitoba and a Senior Scientist in the CancerCare Manitoba Research Institute at CancerCare Manitoba, where she leads the Cancer Health Services Research Platform. The goal of Dr. Decker’s research is to generate new knowledge and evidence-based solutions to improve health outcomes, reduce inequities, and optimize health system performance and sustainability across the cancer control continuum, from screening and diagnosis to treatment and end-of life care. Current areas of focus include implementing and evaluating health care interventions and new models of care, developing and using integrated data sources, and using data science and informatics methods to answer HSR questions. Dr. Decker’s research is supported by grants from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Canadian Cancer Society Research Institute, Research Manitoba, and the CancerCare Manitoba Foundation.
Jonathan Irish, MD MSc FRCSC FACS
Dr Jonathan Irish is Professor and Division Head of the Head and Neck Oncology and Reconstructive Surgery Division at the University of Toronto. He is a surgical oncologist and reconstructive surgeon with particular expertise in oral cancer, melanoma and skin cancer and thyroid cancer.
Dr Irish served as the Chief of the Department of Surgical Oncology at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre from 2000 to 2016. Since 2004, he has been a major health policy advisor and responsible for access to care, quality improvement, and healthcare funding for the Surgical Oncology Program at Cancer Care Ontario. From 2008 until 2021, Dr Irish was appointed as the Provincial Head of the Surgical Oncology Program at Cancer Care Ontario. As of 2021 he was appointed Vice President, Clinical, Ontario Health-Cancer Care Ontario.
As the Kevin and Sandra Sullivan Chair in Surgical Oncology at the University of Toronto, Dr Irish leads a multidisciplinary program in Guided Therapeutics developing novel nanomedicine-based contrast agents, which, in combination with near real-time navigation and tracking systems, can create innovative solutions for minimal-access surgical approaches in cancer therapy. In 2017, he and his co-investigators were awarded a $6.6M grant from The Terry Fox New Frontiers Program Project Grant for ‘Porphysome nanoparticle-enabled image-guided cancer interventions’ and in 2022 as the PI was awarded the Canadian Cancer Society Challenge Grant for “Nanoparticle enabled photodynamic therapy and fluorescence guided surgery for treatment of oral cavity cancer”. Dr Irish has over 420 peer review publications and over 30 book chapters which represent other research interests in population-based outcomes in head and neck cancer, utilization of molecular biological techniques for prediction of clinical outcomes, and quality-of-life in head and neck cancer.
Talía Malagón, PhD
Dr. Talía Malagón is an Epidemiologist, Mathematical Modeller, and Academic Associate in the Gerald Bronfman Department of Oncology at McGill University. Her research projects include understanding the predictors of human papillomavirus transmission between sexual partners, risk factors for cervical precancer, and decision modeling to evaluate the balance of screening harms and benefits of cervical cancer screening. Dr. Malagón is a member of the McGill Department of Oncology COVID-19 and Cancer Program, whose goal is to generate evidence to assess the impact of the COVID-19 impact on cancer-related services across its network, and inform decision-making for resumption and improvement of cancer-related services. She has been a course instructor and guest lecturer for graduate-level and resident courses in epidemiology in the Departments of Oncology and the Department of Epidemiology, Biostatistics, and Occupational Health. Her expertise includes using decision models, multilevel mixed effects modeling, generalized estimating equation, meta-regression models, multi-state Markov models, transmission dynamic models, and Bayesian analyses for answering causal questions in the fields of oncology and infectious diseases.
Kimberlyn McGrail, PhD
Kimberlyn McGrail is a Professor in the UBC School of Population and Public Health and Centre for Health Services and Policy Research, Director of Research for UBC Health, and Scientific Director of Population Data BC and Health Data Research Network Canada. Her research interests are quantitative policy evaluation and all aspects of population data science. Kim is Deputy Editor of the International Journal of Population Data Science, the 2009-10 Commonwealth Fund Harkness Associate in Health Care Policy and Practice, 2016 recipient of the Cortlandt JG Mackenzie Prize for Excellence in Teaching, and 2017 recipient of a UBC award for Excellence in Clinical or Applied Research. She is currently a member of the Global Partnership for AI as part of both the Data Governance Working Group. She is also part of the Expert Advisory Group for the pan-Canadian Health Data Strategy.
Rami Rahal, MBA
Rami Rahal joined the Canadian Partnership Against Cancer in 2011 and is currently Vice-President, Cancer Systems, Performance and Innovation. In this role, he leads the integration of regional perspectives from across Canada into the Partnership’s work and is responsible for ensuring the Canadian Strategy for Cancer Control achieves its goals through data, research, technology and information.
For more than 20 years, Mr. Rahal has helped health-care organizations and governments across Canada make informed decisions in policy, planning and service delivery. He combines his expertise in health-care management information, quality measurement and evidence-based decision support with a broad knowledge of the Canadian health-care system and more specifically, the cancer system.
Mr. Rahal has published on a range of topics, including more than 30 peer reviewed articles on cancer system performance measurement and its use in evidence-based practice and policy. He has presented on the topic at a number of international conferences and has led workshops and courses on system performance measurement and knowledge mobilization in Canada, the United States, South America, Europe, the Middle East, and Australia.
Mr. Rahal holds a Master of Business Administration in Health Services from McMaster University and a Bachelor of Science in Molecular Biology from the University of Toronto.
Eric Sutherland, MMath
Eric is a “Data Guy with personality” and Data Strategist with a passion for enabling trusted insight through implementation of leading information management practices and linking enterprise strategy to practical solutions with business, technology, and data partners. He is the head of the Pan-Canadian Health Data Strategy which envisions the better use of data for health systems, public health, population health, research, and care. This work is led by the Public Health Agency of Canada in collaboration with all jurisdictions.
Previously, Eric worked as Executive Director, Data Governance Strategy at the Canadian Institute for Health Information, and Director, Information Management Strategy and Policy at the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care. He continues to recover from 20 years at a major Financial Institution, with a variety of roles lead data, business, and technology groups across Finance and Risk.
Conference Committee
Mr. Riaz Alvi, MSc (Co-Chair)
Riaz is the Director of Epidemiology and Performance Measurement at the Saskatchewan Cancer Agency. As well, he is an Adjunct Faculty Member with the University of Saskatchewan’s College of Graduate Studies, Department of Community Health and Epidemiology. He is also the founding Scientific Director of Healthy Future Sask, a provincial partner of CanPath (the Canadian Partnership for Tomorrow’s Health)
A graduate of the University of Saskatchewan, Riaz has been with the Saskatchewan Cancer Agency for over 20 years, leading the Epidemiology and Performance Measurement team for over half of that time. His portfolio includes cancer surveillance, program evaluation, analytics, scientific leadership of the Saskatchewan Cancer Registry, and performance measurement across the spectrum of cancer control. His interests include: health services research, patient reported outcomes, health equity, Real World Evidence, cancer prevention and early detection, and cancer in Indigenous populations.
Dr. Kelvin Chan, MD, FRCP, MSc, PhD - (ARCC Co-Director)
Dr Kelvin Chan is a Medical Oncologist at the Sunnybrook Odette Cancer Centre, an Associate Professor at the University of Toronto, and an associate scientist at the Sunnybrook Research Institute. He specializes in GI oncology and Head and Neck oncology. He has recently completed his PhD in Biostatistics (focusing on statistical methods in health economic evaluations) at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto.
As a clinical epidemiologist and biostatistician, Dr. Chan’s research interests include health services research, health technology assessment, meta-analysis including network meta-analysis, cost-effectiveness analyses, and statistical methods research in health economics. He is the Co-Director at the Canadian Centre for Applied Research in Cancer Control (ARCC), funded by the Canadian Cancer Society (CCS).
Professionally, Dr Chan has an interest in cancer drug reimbursement related issues. He is a member of multiple provincial and national committees related to cancer drug assessments and recommendations including membership at the pan-Canadian Oncology Drug Review (pCODR) Expert Review Committee (pERC), the Committee to Evaluate Drug (CED) and the Interim Chair for the Ontario Steering Committee of Cancer Drugs (OSCCD), Ontario MOHLTC and Cancer Care Ontario. He is also the Clinical Lead for the Provincial Drug Reimbursement Programs (PDRP) at Cancer Care Ontario (CCO).
Dr. Winson Cheung, MD, MPH, FRCPC (Co-Chair)
Winson Y. Cheung, MD, MPH, FRCPC, is a medical oncologist and a nationally and internationally recognized health services and outcomes researcher. He is currently appointed as a Professor of Medicine and Oncology in the Departments of Medicine and Oncology at the University of Calgary where he is also the Chair and Provincial Director of the Health Services Research Program for Cancer Control Alberta.
He is the recipient of numerous accolades for his work to improve health services delivery, quality of life, resource utilization, and costs throughout the cancer continuum, including the National Cancer Institute of Canada Dorothy Lamont Award, the Novartis Oncology Young Canadian Investigator Mentor Award, the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer Investigator Award, and several merit awards from the American Society of Clinical Oncology. He has secured over 15 million dollars in grant funding.
Dr. Cheung’s primary research interest is discovering and operationalizing new methods of cancer care delivery, including implementing strategies to improve the efficacy and real world effectiveness of diagnostic and therapeutic interventions. His projects focus on understanding the interplay of various patient, physician, and system level factors as well as innovative models of care that drive practice patterns in the real world setting and learning how processes can be modified to better inform care, especially for vulnerable segments of the population (e.g. immigrants, those with low socioeconomic status, and older patients). The overarching goal of his work is to ensure that cancer care is appropriately accessed and provided to all patients. To date, he has published over 200 peer-reviewed manuscripts.
Dr. Manraj Kaur, PT, PhD (Student & New Professional Representative)
Manraj Kaur is a Canadian Institutes of Health Research’s postdoctoral fellow at the Patient-Reported Outcomes, Value and Experience (PROVE) Center, Brigham and Women’s Hospital and is cross-appointed at Harvard Medical School, Boston, United States. Her value-based healthcare-relevant research focuses on breast cancer programs using methods of decision science and economic evaluation, including preference assessment. For her doctoral thesis, Manraj completed the development of a preference-based instrument for assessing healthcare interventions in women diagnosed with breast cancer (BREAST-Q Utility module). During her postdoctoral fellowship, she will assess the psychometric properties of the Utility module and develop preference weights. Dr Kaur is also interested in understanding and measuring the impact of cancer diagnosis and treatment interventions on the health-related quality of life using patient-reported outcome instruments using modern psychometric methods.
Ms. Valerie McDonald, MSW (Patient & Family Representative)
Valerie McDonald earned her MSW from the University of Toronto and currently works as a free-lance writer and editor. Valerie’s interest in cancer is deeply personal. Within a five year period, her eldest daughter was treated for Burkitt’s Lymphoma, her mother died of lung cancer, and her second daughter died after relapsing on treatment for Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. She has volunteered in many capacities in the health care sector since 1996 to promote family and patient partnerships and to advocate for more effective palliative care. As a writer and researcher, Ms. McDonald worked on initiatives led by the Centre for Effective Practice for the Ontario Ministry of Health, CAMH, and Cancer Care Ontario. She has developed family resources for the Canadian Cancer Society and Canadian Virtual Hospice. She served as patient member on CADTH’s pan-Canadian Oncology Drug Review Expert Review Committee (pERC) for six years.
Dr. Rebecca Mercer, PhD (ARCC Network Manager)
Rebecca Mercer is the Network Manager for the Canadian Centre for Applied Research in Cancer Control (ARCC). Rebecca works as a Research Lead with Ontario Health, under the Provincial Drug Reimbursement Programs. She has significant experience with knowledge translation, and an interest in facilitating information transfer among stakeholders. Rebecca received her PhD in Medical Genetics from the University of Alberta in 2012, and also holds an Honours BSc in Biomedical Sciences from the University of Guelph.
Dr. Stuart Peacock, DPhil - (ARCC Co-Director)
Stuart Peacock holds the Leslie Diamond Chair in Cancer Survivorship and is a Professor in the Faculty of Health Sciences, Simon Fraser University. He is currently Co-Director of the Canadian Centre for Applied Research in Cancer Control (ARCC). ARCC is a pan-Canadian research centre providing interdisciplinary leadership in health economics, services, policy and ethics research. Stuart is also a Distinguished Scientist in Cancer Control Research at the BC Cancer Agency, a member of the Board of Directors of the Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technologies in Health, and past President of the International Society on Priorities in Health Care. He has held university positions in Canada, Australia and the UK. Over the past 20 years, Stuart’s main research interests have focused on research into developing more effective cancer services, making health system funding decisions fairer and more transparent, and improving the quality of life of cancer patients and survivors.
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