Dr. Paul Karanicolas appointed as Sherif and Mary-Lou Hanna Chair in Surgical Oncology Research
Dear colleagues,
Please join me in congratulating Paul Karanicolas MD, PhD, FRCS(C), FACS who has been appointed as the Sherif and Mary-Lou Hanna Chair in Surgical Oncology Research as of March 1st, 2024.
The Sherif and Mary-Lou Hanna Chair in Surgical Oncology Research is a joint Sunnybrook - University of Toronto Named Chair that was established in 2008 to support surgical oncologists as they conduct research that enhances cancer surgery in Canada and around the world. The Chair honours one of Sunnybrook’s leading surgical oncologists, Dr. Sherif Hanna and his wife, Mary Lou.
Dr. Karanicolas is a Professor in the Department of Surgery and in the Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation at the University of Toronto. He is a surgical oncologist at the Odette Cancer Centre and a scientist at the Sunnybrook Research Institute.
Dr. Karanicolas obtained his medical degree and general surgical training at the University of Western Ontario, with a PhD in Health Research Methodology from McMaster University. He completed advanced fellowship training in complex surgical oncology at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Centre in New York prior to taking up his appointment in the Department of Surgery at the University of Toronto.
His primary clinical focus is on surgery for cancers involving the liver, gallbladder, bile ducts, pancreas, and stomach and he emphasizes maintenance and improvement in quality-of-life in the care of his patients, in addition to cancer treatment. He is the surgical lead for the hepatic arterial infusion pump chemotherapy program at the Odette Cancer Centre, the only program of its kind in Canada.
The focus of Dr. Karanicolas' research is designing and leading clinical trials in surgical oncology. He has spearheaded the establishment of the HepatoPancreaticoBiliary Community of Surgical Oncologists: Clinical, Evaluative, and Prospective Trials Team (HPB CONCEPT Team), a Canada-wide consensus-based framework for liver and pancreas cancer research. The HPB CONCEPT team's goals are to improve the care of patients with HPB cancers through investigator-initiated research and to provide a forum for developing high-impact clinical trials.
Dr. Karanicolas serves as the Medical and Scientific Director of the Centre for Clinical Trial Support at Sunnybrook Research Institute. He is also involved in several national clinical trials as the Co-Chair of the Canadian Cancer Trials Group (CCTG) Hepatobiliary Disease Oriented Group.
Congratulations on this well-deserved appointment, Dr. Karanicolas.
Sincerely,
Carol J. Swallow, MD, PhD, FRCSC, FACS
RS McLaughlin Professor and Chair
Department of Surgery, University of Toronto