Dr Mathieu Quesnel‑Vallières and his team are taking on cancer
[Dr Mathieu Quesnel‑Vallières appears on screen, wearing a lab coat and speaking directly to the camera.]
Dr Mathieu Quesnel-Vallières: Every patient that dies from cancer is one too many patients. In 2026, it's unacceptable to tell a patient that there is no therapeutic avenue for them because they have a rare cancer.
Words on screen: Dr Mathieu Quesnel-Vallières. Canadian Cancer Society-funded researcher.
[Dr Quesnel-Vallières smiles directly at the camera.]
Dr Quesnel-Vallières: My name is Mathieu Quesnel-Vallières. I'm a researcher funded by the Canadian Cancer Society.
[Close‑up of a daffodil pin on Dr Quesnel‑Vallières’ lab coat.]
Dr Quesnel-Vallières: We're working on cholangiocarcinoma, which is a bile duct cancer.
[Dr Quesnel‑Vallières points to an image on a computer screen in the lab while speaking with a colleague.]
Dr Quesnel-Vallières: So we're trying to develop immunotherapies.
[Dr Quesnel‑Vallières sits on a stool in his lab, speaking directly to the camera.]
Dr Quesnel-Vallières: The idea is to teach the patient's immune system to recognize and kill cancer cells.
[Dr Quesnel‑Vallières and a colleague look through microscopes.]
Dr Quesnel-Vallières: Rare cancers, it's not because we call them rare that they don't exist. You know, they can affect anyone and everyone. They're still very present. And this is exactly why we're working on cholangiocarcinoma.
[Dr Quesnel‑Vallières and a colleague look at a computer screen.]
Dr Quesnel-Vallières: One interesting aspect of our research is that we're all working toward the same objective.
[A lab colleague works while a patient partner smiles at the camera.]
Dr Quesnel-Vallières: Our team consists of scientists, patient partners, clinicians, we all come together, and without this community that involves different people with different perspectives, different expertise, this wouldn't be possible.
[Dr Lee‑Hwa Tai appears on screen, wearing a lab coat and speaking directly to the camera.]
Words on screen: Dr Lee-Hwa Tai. Canadian Cancer Society-funded researcher.
Dr Lee-Hwa Tai: My name is Lee-Hwa Tai and I'm a Canadian Cancer Society funded researcher.
[Blue lab coats hang on racks in the lab.]
[Dr Tai sits on a stool in the lab, speaking directly to the camera.]
Dr Tai: It really takes a research team, it takes a research society with different expertise to bring their bioinformatics expertise, or in my case, my cancer immunology expertise, to come up with a treatment option that could hopefully one day translate to a better treatment for these patients.
[Dr Quesnel‑Vallières sits on a stool in his lab, speaking directly to the camera.]
Dr Quesnel-Vallières: In the long term, we hope to be able to manufacture a vaccine for every single patient.
[Lab instruments are shown.]
[Dr Quesnel‑Vallières sits on a stool in his lab, speaking directly to the camera.]
Dr Quesnel-Vallières: Research saves lives and provides hope for the future. Words on screen: HELP HOPE BLOOM.
[Four daffodils bloom in the four corners of the screen.]
Dr Quesnel-Vallières: Please donate today.
Words on screen: DONATE NOW. CANCER.CA/DAFFODIL.
[The Canadian Cancer Society logo and the words “It takes a society”]
