UBC seeks to advance cancer research as a priority research area with the recruitment of a President’s Excellence Chair in Precision Oncology.
Precision oncology is a major multidisciplinary driver for cancer researchers at UBC, in partnership with affiliated institutions, notably BC Cancer, BC Children’s Hospital and Research Institute, Vancouver Coastal Health, UBC Life Sciences Institute and other UBC and Faculty of Medicine Centres and Institutes.
The role of the research chair will be to enhance UBC’s capacity in precision oncology clinical trials, and facilitate the translation of new genomic assays and other biomarkers to improve our understanding of currently incurable metastatic cancers, with an interest in the use of e.g. whole genome and single cell sequencing technologies and proteomics and/or metabolomics to study treatment resistance. The chair will work closely within a rich environment of cancer researchers at the BC Cancer Research Centre, including Canada’s largest cancer genomics facility (Canada’s Michael Smith Genome Sciences Centre), UBC, and other affiliated institutions.
The chair will be expected to lead and coordinate a program focused on precision oncology at UBC and will combine world-class research with focused and specialized clinical activities at the BC Cancer Agency’s Vancouver Centre and/or other hospital institution as appropriate. The role is empowered by dedicated, protected time for academic activities.
Confirmed appointment
Dr. Alexander Wyatt, a leading cancer genomics researcher, has been appointed the UBC President’s Excellence Chair in Precision Oncology. As the UBC President’s Excellence Chair in Precision Oncology, Dr. Wyatt will lead a comprehensive research program to advance the use of precision diagnostics and treatments in cancer care. Precision oncology is a rapidly-evolving field that applies advanced genomic and molecular tools to understand the unique characteristics of each patient’s cancer — enabling more effective and personalized treatment strategies.
Dr. Wyatt will work closely within a rich ecosystem of cancer researchers at UBC, the BC Cancer Research Institute, Canada’s Michael Smith Genome Sciences Centre — the country’s largest cancer genomics facility — and other affiliated health research institutions across B.C. By combining UBC’s world-class research expertise and specialized clinical activities at BC Cancer and other research hospitals, Dr. Wyatt will help accelerate the translation of genomic advances into better cancer care for patients in B.C.
Dr. Wyatt is an associate professor in the UBC Department of Urologic Sciences, a senior research scientist at the Vancouver Prostate Centre, and a senior scientist at BC Cancer. He is internationally recognized for his research examining how tumour DNA in the bloodstream can be used as a “liquid biopsy” to better understand and support the treatment of aggressive prostate and bladder cancers. This work has directly led to genomic biomarker tests now used in routine clinical practice to improve cancer care.
Since joining UBC as a faculty member in 2015, Dr. Wyatt has developed advanced laboratory and computational techniques to characterize the genetic and epigenetic features of circulating tumour DNA (ctDNA) in blood plasma. Through clinical trials, Dr. Wyatt and his team have shown that ctDNA provides a highly representative view of metastatic cancer, can predict treatment resistance or response, and can reveal how cancers will evolve during therapy.
Dr. Wyatt received his PhD in genetics from the University of Oxford and conducted his postdoctoral research at UBC and the Vancouver Prostate Centre. He has been recognized with numerous honours, including a Coalition to Cure Prostate Cancer Young Investigator Award from the Prostate Cancer Foundation, a Movember Rising Star in Prostate Cancer Research Award from Prostate Cancer Canada and an Early Career Investigator Award from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.
Nationally, Dr. Wyatt is the co-chair of correlative sciences and tumour biobanking for the Canadian Cancer Trial Group (CCTG) where he is involved in the design and execution of phase I-III clinical trial protocols across Canada. He is also scientific director of the Clinical Cancer Genomics Laboratory at BC Cancer where he helps develop and implement province-wide cancer genetics and genomics testing programs for patients with cancer in B.C.