CCRA is an Alliance of cancer research funding organizations and other affiliated partners working together as part of the Canadian Partnership Against Cancer to:

• identify, develop, and initiate large transformative cancer research initiatives

• coordinate cancer research at a pan-Canadian level

• document cancer research activity in Canada (i.e., the Canadian Cancer Research Survey)

• act as the Partnership’s Research Advisory Group

The Alliance is currently overseeing the implementation of the pan-Canadian cancer research strategy released in May 2010. The pan-Canadian cancer research strategy provides a framework to guide cancer research investment in Canada and a vision for Canadian cancer research achievements over the next five years. This process has, and will continue to involve consultations with researchers, research funders, decision-makers, cancer patients, their families, and other members of the public.

 

CCRA’s main activities have been, to date, to function as the Research Advisory Group of The Canadian Partnership Against Cancer and recommend investment in two large partnered cancer research initiatives, which address some of the urgent needs within the global cancer research arena. In terms of the first project, CCRA has been involved in facilitating the creation of a 300,000-person Canadian cancer cohort, based on a confederate model that builds on five identified nodes across the country. A unique component will be an environmental study, built on emerging new technologies, to assess environmental influences on cancer and other chronic diseases. The Partnership, along with The Tomorrow Project (Alberta), Atlantic Partnership for Tomorrow's Health The Atlantic PATH), BC Generations Project, Ontario Health Study, and CARTaGENE (Quebec), provides financial support to facilitate planning and start-up over a five year period. The ultimate goal will be to link with similar cohort studies in other countries and establish an international population health research laboratory.

 

In terms of translational research, CCRA worked through The Partnership to partner with the Terry Fox Research Institute (TFRI) on an initiative intended to develop a roadmap for biomarker development. TFRI was launched in 2007 with new funds raised by The Terry Fox Foundation. Using a network of four nodes in well-established cancer research centres in British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario and Quebec, the objective is to rapidly move research discoveries into clinical practice leading to improvements in standard patient care. The biomarker initiative focuses on studies of the detection and therapeutic aspects of cancer control, and projects are underway on lymphoma and leukemia, and breast, ovarian, lung and prostate cancers.

 

While many member organizations play pivotal roles in key international efforts, such as the Cancer Stem Cell and International Cancer Genomics Consortiums, there may be future international partnership opportunities that arise through CCRA’s membership in the International Cancer Research Partnership, as this group expands its membership and widens its scope and direction.

 

Co-chairs of the CCRA Board

	Elizabeth A. Eisenhauer, MD, FRCP, is the Research Advisory Group Chair for the Canadian Partnership Against Cancer, Director of the Investigational New Drug Program at the NCIC Clinical Trials Group, and Senior Scientist & Professor at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario.
	Mario Chevrette, PhD, is the President of the Board of Directors of The Cancer Research Society, and Associate Professor, Department of Surgery and Associate Member of the Department of Medicine, Division of Experimental Medicine at McGill University in Montréal, Quebec.

 

CCRA Board

The Board is comprised of 13 organizational representatives and two patient/survivor/family representatives.

 

Organizational Representatives

• Dr. Cindy Bell, Genome Canada

• Mr. Brian Bobechko, Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation

• Dr. Heather Bryant, Canadian Partnership Against Cancer

• Dr. Mario Chevrette, The Cancer Research Society

• Dr. Tom Hudson, Ontario Institute for Cancer Research

• Ms. Susan Langlois, Prostate Cancer Canada

• Dr. Victor Ling, The Terry Fox Foundation

• Dr. Anne-Marie Mes-Masson, Fonds de la recherche en santé du Québec

• Dr. Maureen O'Connor-McCourt, National Research Council

• Dr. Morag Park, CIHR Institute of Cancer Research

• Ms. Theresa Radwell, Alberta Cancer Foundation

• Ms. Theresa Marie Underhill, Canadian Association of Provincial Cancer Agencies

• Dr. Michael Wosnick, Canadian Cancer Society

Patient/survivor/family Representatives

• Mr. Darren Dick

• Ms. Annette Cyr