Understanding the body and disease process Cancer

Cancer is a group of diseases that involves abnormal growth of cells in potentially every part of our bodies. Some cancers are serious while others can easily be cured.  Survival rates of many types of cancers continue to improve, thanks to early detection, and timely, high quality management.

Doctor and patient Research
  1. 1951

    World’s first non-commercial cobalt-60 therapy unit went into operation at the University of Saskatchewan

  2. 1951

    The December 15th issue of Nature contained the first formal publication with the details of cobalt therapy

  3. 1953

    Harold Johns' influential textbook, The Physics of Radiology, was published.

  4. 1954

    Dr. Charles Beer joined Noble’s research team

  5. 1958

    Beer and Nobel successfully isolated “vinblastine”

  6. 1960

  7. 1965

    Along with Samuel Freedman, a noted allergist and immunologist, Dr. Phil Gold published the ground-breaking discovery of CEA

  8. 1970

  9. 1976

    Dr. Gold established and became the inaugural director of the McGill Cancer Centre

  10. 1980

  11. 1985

    Established a collaboration with The Liposome Company (Princeton, NJ) to develop nanomedicines to treat cancer

  12. 1989

    Nahum Sonenberg, PhD, led the first study to show that control of mRNA translation plays a role in oncogenesis, as demonstrated by increasing elF4E levels

  13. 1990

  14. January 1992

    Co-founded Inex Pharmaceuticals with four members of his UBC laboratory

  15. 2000

  16. 2003

    Bernard Langer - Cancer care champion

  17. 2004

    Tak Wah Mak became Director of the Campbell Family for Breast Cancer Research Institute at the Princess Margaret Hospital

  18. 2009

    Marco Marra and his team became the first to publish a genomic study of breast cancer and its metastasis

  19. 2010

  20. 2012

    The Personalized Oncogenomics (POG) project at BC Cancer was established under Marco Marra’s leadership

  21. 2016

    Dr. John Dick provided the first evidence that leukemia stem cell gene expression signatures are clinically relevant

  22. 2018

    Dr. John Dick demonstrated that detection of pre-leukemia haematopoietic stem cells can predict individuals at risk for progression to acute myeloid leukemia up to a decade in advance

  23. 2020

About the CMHF

The Canadian Medical Hall of Fame (CMHF) celebrates Canadian heroes whose work advances health in Canada and the world, fostering future generations of health professionals through the delivery of local and national youth education programs and awards.

This enduring tribute to our country’s rich medical history is showcased here and in our physical exhibit hall in London, ON.