Research awards

The Robert L. Noble Prize is given for outstanding achievements in cancer research. It honours Dr Noble, an esteemed Canadian investigator whose research in the 1950s led to the discovery of vincristine, a widely used anticancer drug. At the time, vincristine was one of the most effective treatments available for Hodgkin lymphoma.

The award comes with a $20,000 contribution to the recipient’s research program.

Dr Michel Tremblay, 2012 recipient

Dr Michel Tremblay is internationally recognized for his extensive research focusing on protein tyrosine phosphates (PTPases), a family of genes that can act as cancer initiators or tumour suppressors.

Dr Tremblay has published close to 150 papers on the PTP gene family and his work has led to the establishment of two companies focused on improving treatment strategies for patients. Furthermore, his research has allowed hundreds of other scientists to develop drugs targeting this important gene family.

Dr Tremblay is a professor in the department of biochemistry and from 2000 to 2012 was the director of the Rosalind and Morris Goodman Cancer Center at McGill University.

He is a much sought after speaker at scientific meetings and has served on a number of committees, including the Advisory Council on Research, which plays a pivotal role in the stewardship of the Canadian Cancer Society’s grants and awards programs. Dr Tremblay is recognized as a highly collaborative scientist and excels at communicating his work to both scientific and public audiences.

Previous winners:

Dr John Bell, 2011
Dr Mitsu Ikura, 2010
Dr Brian Wilson, 2009
Dr Mark Henkelman, 2008
Dr Richard Hill, 2007
Dr Carol Cass, 2006

The O. Harold Warwick Prize is given to a scientist whose research has had a major impact on cancer control in Canada. The prize is named after Dr Warwick, a pioneering researcher in cancer control and treatment, who became the first executive director of both the former National Cancer Institute of Canada and the Canadian Cancer Society.

The award comes with a $20,000 to be equally shared by the recipients for their research.

Dr Steven Narod, 2012 recipient

Dr Steven Narod is a world leader in the field of breast and ovarian cancer genetics. He has had a profound impact on cancer control in Canada, particularly in the areas of prevention, screening and inherited breast and ovarian cancer risk, specifically amongst carriers of BRCA1 and BRCA2 gene mutations.

In 1991, Dr Narod was the first to show that familial breast cancer genes were also linked to the development of ovarian cancer. Since then, his continued work in understanding BRCA genetic mutations has uncovered their associated risks and how the mutations are distributed within populations.

Dr Narod has identified founder mutations in a number of ethnically diverse populations; his database of over 13,000 women from 51 centres in 30 countries supports numerous international collaborations in countries around the world. He has explored a number of approaches shown to be effective at preventing breast and ovarian cancers in these high-risk populations. He is now evaluating the impacts of various surgical treatments and chemotherapy regimens on survival of women with hereditary breast cancer.

Dr Narod is a Tier I Canada Research Chair in Breast Cancer, a professor in the Dalla Lana School of Public Health and the department of medicine at the University of Toronto, and a senior scientist at Women’s College Research Institute, where he leads the Familial Breast Cancer Research Unit.

Dr Narod is a very productive researcher, with more than 550 peer-reviewed publications. In 2005, he was named the most-cited breast cancer researcher in the world. Dr Narod strives for excellence in research and is always willing to share ideas and support the careers of his trainees.

Dr Michael Pollak, 2012 recipient

Dr Michael Pollak’s research focuses on cancer metabolism and the connection between insulin and insulin-like growth factor activity in relation to cancer development. In 1998, Dr Pollak published a landmark paper which showed that the risk of prostate cancer varies with the level of insulin-like growth factors (IGFs). This and his further work have described the influence of insulin and IGFs on certain cancers and have made Dr Pollak a world leader in this area.

He is active in both clinical and translational research and has used his research findings to initiate clinical trials of novel agents related to growth factor targets. He has several ongoing projects to develop new cancer therapies and cancer prevention strategies. His research interests are broad, and include fundamental work in cellular molecular biology, translational science, prevention research and clinical studies.

Dr Pollak is the director of the division of cancer prevention of the department of oncology and medicine at McGill University and is a medical oncologist at the Jewish General Hospital. He has published more than 300 research papers and collaborates with leading cancer research groups worldwide.

Dr Pollak is a sought after speaker and presenter at major cancer research meetings and participates on many national and international committees. His strength as a cancer research ambassador relates to his ability to link the human challenges of cancer care to the research community.

Previous winners:

Dr Ming-Sound Tsao, 2011
Prof Richard Gallagher, 2010
Dr Ronald Barr, 2009
Dr Harvey Max Chochinov, 2008
Dr Mark Greenberg, 2007
Dr Frances Shepherd, 2006

The William E. Rawls Prize is given to a young investigator whose work has led to important advances in cancer control within the past decade. Dr Rawls served on numerous committees and advisory groups of the former National Cancer Institute of Canada and was elected president in 1986. His research focused on viruses, particularly those involved in chronic diseases and cervical cancer.

The award comes with a $20,000 contribution to the recipient’s research program.

Dr David Huntsman, 2012 recipient

Dr David Huntsman is a leader in the field of genetic abnormalities. His notable contributions to the genetics of familial gastric cancers and ovarian cancer have changed the way these diseases are studied, diagnosed and managed. 

Dr Huntsman’s research uses biomarkers to assist patients in making better decisions about their cancer risk and treatments. He has worked with families from across Canada to determine the genetic basis of their gastric cancer risk and how best to manage. He has led the British Columbian ovarian cancer research team since its inception and has produced a series of high impact publications that laid the foundation for subtype specific ovarian cancer research and care and described the defining mutations in several ovarian cancer subtypes. Dr Huntsman has been the catalyst behind major international consortia and collaborations and is known for his ability to bring teams together to work on large problems.

Dr Huntsman is a professor of pathology and laboratory medicine and obstetric and gynecology at The University of British Columbia and is the medical director of the Centre For Translational and Applied Genomics at the British Columbia Cancer Agency.

A highly productive scientist, he has co-authored over 100 papers in the past five years. In addition to his scientific successes, Dr Huntsman is generous with his time and is an outstanding teacher and mentor. His skills as a public speaker, both to scientific public audiences, make him a highly sought after presenter. Dr Huntsman has generously contributed his time to the scientific peer review community.

Previous winners:

Dr Nada Jabado, 2011
Dr Camilla Zimmermann, 2010
Dr Lillian Sung, 2009
Dr Geoffrey Liu, 2008
Dr Linda Carlson, 2007
Dr Wan Lam, 2006

The Bernard and Francine Dorval Prize is given to a promising young Canadian investigator permanently residing in Canada who began their independent research career within the previous 10 years. The recipient must be doing laboratory work as the principal investigator in activities that are conducted in Canada, are judged to be outstanding contributions to basic biomedical research and have the potential to lead to, or have led to, better understanding of cancer, improved cancer treatments, cures or new advances in cancer control.

This award comes with $20,000 to be equally shared by the recipients for their research.

Dr Torsten Nielsen, 2012 recipient

Dr Torsten Nielsen is an international leader in the development of new diagnostic tools and predictive clinical tests that lead to improved treatments. His research focus is in the areas of breast cancer and musculoskeletal tumours.

The goals of Dr Nielsen’s research are to develop systemic treatments for musculoskeletal tumours and to develop practical clinical tests to identify aggressive subtypes of breast cancer. His research has already led to the adoption of new diagnostic and prognostic tests and to clinical trials in North America.

Dr Nielsen is a professor in the department of pathology and laboratory medicine and the associate director of the MD/PhD program at the University of British Columbia. He is a clinician-scientist at the BC Cancer Agency and the Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute. He also contributes to the planning of clinical trials for the Canadian Cancer Society’s NCIC Clinical Trials Group and the U.S.-based Alliance for Clinical Trials in Oncology.


Dr Nielsen is a highly productive and well published researcher, including a landmark 2002 article on the molecular characterization of soft tissue tumours, which is still among the most heavily cited papers in soft tissue pathology. Dr Nielsen is committed to public service, teaching and education and works to communicate the work being done in his lab with the broader community

Dr Aaron Schimmer, 2012 recipient

Dr Aaron Schimmer’s research focuses on drug discovery for leukemia and identifying new treatment strategies that target leukemia and leukemia stem cells. His work uses automated and robotic equipment to screen chemicals in order to identify probes that can be used as tools to better understand unique biological vulnerabilities in these cells. He has advanced 3 drugs from his lab into clinical trial for patients with leukemia and related blood disorders.


Dr  Schimmer is a staff physician in the department of hematology/oncology at Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, University Health Network, a senior scientist at the Ontario Cancer Institute, and an Associate Professor in the Departments of Medicine, Medical Biophysics, and Institute of Medical Sciences at the University of Toronto.


Dr Schimmer has been highly productive since becoming an independent investigator and has published over 135 scientific papers in peer-reviewed journals from both his lab-based and clinical work. His work in novel therapeutics has resulted in over 20 patents and patent applications.
He is a strong cancer research ambassador with the ability to convey the importance of his research to public audiences and has been a dedicated peer-review committee member for several research organizations.

Previous winners:

Dr Andrew Craig, 2011
Dr Daniel Durocher, 2010
Dr Michael Ohh, 2010
Dr Michael Taylor, 2009 

Nomination guidelines for Canadian Cancer Society Awards for Excellence in Cancer Research are outlined through the Canadian Cancer Society Research Institute.

For assistance, contact: research@cancer.ca