Mark Basik, MD

Dr. Basik graduated in medicine from McGill University, and completed a general surgery residency at the Universite de Montreal, followed by a fellowship in surgical oncology at Roswell Park Cancer Institute. He practiced as a surgical oncologist at the University of Montreal and then was a visiting investigator at the National Human Genome Research Institute at the NIH for 2 years. He is now the Guerrera Family Cancer Scientist at the Segal Cancer Center in Montreal, QC, as well as an associate professor of oncology and surgery at McGill University. He heads the Cancer Genomics and Translational Research Laboratory at the Lady Davis Institute for Medical Research and practices breast surgery at the Jewish General Hospital, where he is the Medical Director of the inter-disciplinary Breast Cancer Team. His research interests include the genomics of breast cancer, with a focus on drug resistance, as well as novel diagnostics in breast cancer.

Lorenzo Berra, MD

After his medical school at the University of Milan, Dr. Berra spent three years under the mentorship of Dr. Theodor Kolobow in a research laboratory at the National Institutes of Health (Bethesda, MD). From 2006-2011 he completed his residency in Anesthesia and fellowship in Critical Care both at the Department of Anesthesia, Critical Care and Pain Medicine at MGH. Since 2011 he is a staff anesthesiologist and intensivist and a member of Dr. Warren Zapol's MGH Anesthesia Center for Critical Care Research. His current patient care activities are focused on caring for critically ill patients and their families. His primary research and academic interests involve translational research to improve diagnosis, treatment and care of critically ill patients with cardio-pulmonary failure or severe infections.

Marc Beauchamp, MD

Dr. Marc Beauchamp is an orthopaedic surgeon. He received his degree in orthopaedic surgery in Montreal in 1993. After graduating, He completed a fellowship in shoulder and elbow surgery, arthroscopy, and sports medicine at the University of Toronto from 1994 to 1995. He then supplemented his training with specialized courses in both the United States and Europe. From 1996 to 2005, he was affiliated with Université de Montréal as an assistant professor in the Department of Surgery, pursuing an academic career focused on teaching and clinical research. Being among the pioneers of shoulder arthroscopy in Canada in the 1990s, he introduced and developed several new minimal invasive shoulder procedures during his career. He is an author of numerous peer reviewed scientific articles and book chapters on shoulder and elbow surgery. In 2021, he opened his new surgical clinic in the heart of Montreal, where he performs mainly elective ambulatory surgery.

Josie Bruno, Unit Coordinator & Caregiver

Josie Bruno is born and raised in Montreal. Presently working as a unit coordinator at the McGill university health centre since 2010. In 2014 married her late husband, William D’Orazio M.Eng. William was a graduate of University Polytechnique Montréal in early 2000. He was diagnosed in 2008 with stage 4 Her2 triple negative metastatic Breast Cancer. Was followed 13 years by the oncology team at the Jewish General Hospital until his death in late 2021.

Anna Teresa Buono, Oncology Pivot Nurse

Anna Buono is a valued member of the oncology team. She joined the oncology department in 2001 where she cared for inpatient hematology/oncology patients. As her experience grew, she became a charge nurse and a senior member of that team. In 2007 she moved to the outpatient chemotherapy infusion center. She was part of the original nursing team that grew from a few nurses working same-day appointments to 10 nurses at 2 nursing stations and a ‘drop-in’ clinic on a 2-day appointment schedule that improved patient flow and reduced pharmacology waste. In 2019, after 2 replacements for maternity leave, Anna was offered and accepted the position of Oncology Pivot nurse for breast cancer patients. It is the role she fulfills today.

Aside from her role as a pivot nurse, Anna is also involved with Hope and Cope. She has been a guest speaker for Hope and Cope discussing topics related to cancer and survivorship. She also attended the Young Adult Retreat in 2018 where she discussed the problem of sex and sexuality in young adults with cancer. During COVID, many of Hope and Cope’s support groups were held on Zoom–type platforms and Anna continued to be involved especially with the ‘Newly diagnosed Breast cancer group’.

During COVID, Anna was also able to support the McGill nursing students with a preceptorship in the oncology department. She was able to demonstrate the importance of the interdisciplinary team, communication, patient advocacy, and strengths-based care in keeping with the McGill model. She instilled her love of oncology to her students and dismissed the fear and sadness many associate with oncology.

Cristiano Ferrario, MD

Dr Ferrario received his MD degree in 2001 and his Specialty Certificate in Medical Oncology in 2005, both from the University of Milan in Italy. After training in Milan (Istituto Nazionale Tumori), Dr Ferrario moved to Montreal (Canada) to work in basic research at the Lady Davis Institute for two years. In 2007 he was awarded the Terry Fox Foundation Post MD Research Fellowship Award and then started on a clinical fellowship program for four years in the Oncology Department of McGill University, training in clinical research in breast cancer, hepatobiliary and prostate cancers. In 2011 he moved back to Italy where he worked for two years as a medical oncologist at the “IRST” (Istituto scientifico Romagnolo per lo Studio e la cura dei Tumori) in Meldola, focusing on breast cancer and on the treatment of refractory testicular cancer with high-dose chemotherapy. In 2012 he accepted a position as Assistant Professor in the Oncology Department of McGill University (Montreal) and Medical Oncologist at the Segal Cancer Centre (Jewish General Hospital, Montreal), where he is currently working. In 2012 he was the recipient of the Kate McGarrigle Fellowship Award.

Dr Ferrario is very involved in the training of McGill Medical Oncology Residents and he is the Lead of the Competence Committee of the Residency program. In his busy clinics, Dr Ferrario treats several patients with prostate, bladder and breast cancers at the Segal Cancer Centre and is particularly dedicated to clinical research. He is the local responsible for more than 20 phase 1-3 clinical trials, offering innovative treatments to patients with advanced cancers. Many of these trials include new immunotherapy strategies and genomics-driven personalized therapies, also integrating ct-NDA screening.

As the local PI for the CCTG study Captur, Dr Ferrario started the first Molecular Tumor Board in Quebec, that he has been co-leading in biweekly meetings since September 2018.

Nicola Gentili, IT Analyst

Before working in IRST I spent a few years as an IT analyst in the private sector, in the fields of production, logistics, and quality. Since 2006 I have been working for the Romagnolo Institute for the Study of Tumors (IRST) "Dino Amadori" Research Institute. In IRST I worked as an IT for the first years (system administration, database administration, developer, ...). My curiosity has been oriented to the use of data, to the representation of reality through data, in order to support comparison, and discussion. In the meantime, I obtained a bachelor's degree in computer science and technology. During my experience in IRST I dedicated a few years to activities in the Institute's Outcome Research Group: explored clinical pathways and System issues (use of per capita resources, unwarranted variations, value in health, ...). In the meantime I started collaborating with SIMM (Italian Society of Leadership and Management in Medicine). With these friends we continued the lines of work already addressed with the IRST Outcome Research Group bringing the comparison at regional and national level. Context analysis, professional collaboration, training and communication have always been at the core of our activities. We have developed two small pieces of forum theater: the first was taken from a UK experience and is dedicated to the representation of the care path of a stroke patient, the second is an original piece that we created involving a focus group of patients suffering from breast cancer.

I started the second cycle of studies in Data Science but during the pandemic I suspended it and now I'm studying Digital Transformation Management. In recent years I have been working for the Health Department of IRST and of the Local Health Authority of Romagna, supporting the organization of processes and the use and sharing of information. I've written the Digital Strategy of Romagna with the Heads of ICT of IRST and Health Authority of Romagna with the collaboration of some professors of University of Bologna, Alma Mater Studiorum, Department of Engineering and Information Technology. Finally, in recent months, we have set up a small "Data Unit" to enhance our ability to extract knowledge from the information collected in all healthcare processes, including through artificial intelligence and machine learning techniques.

Kevin Hay, MD

Bio coming soon.

Mattew O’Brien, Manager

Matt is an administrative professional with eighteen years of service at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, MA. He has a very interesting background, since he completed his education at the Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in South Hamilton, MA, where he obtained a diploma in theology and a master of arts in Religion and Education. In these almost 20 years of service at Massachusetts General Hospital, he covered different roles from Operating Room Associate to Administrative/Fellowship Coordinator to the current position of Administrative Operations Manager in Emergency Medicine. Of note, during COVID time he was the Administrative Supervisor for Emergency Medicine. He received several awards, including the Partners in Excellence award for multiple years.

Victoria Sweet, MD

Dr. Sweet is an Associate Clinical Professor of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, and a prize-winning historian with a Ph.D. in medical history. For over twenty years she practiced medicine at Laguna Honda Hospital in San Francisco. In her first book, God's Hotel: A Doctor, a Hospital, and a Pilgrimage to the Heart of Medicine (Riverhead, 2012), she laid out her evidence—in stories of her patients and her hospital—for some radically new ideas about medicine and healthcare. She was a Guggenheim Fellow during 2014-2015. In 2017 she published what The New York Times calls her "wonderful new memoir," Slow Medicine: A Way to Healing, where she used her life as a doctor to show the Way of Slow Medicine, which is thoughtful, methodical, and personal. Her most recent work has to do with Conscience in Medicine, "Patients Need Doctors With Consciences," Perspectives in Biology and Medicine, 2019.

Luca Zazzeron, MD

Luca Zazzeron is currently completing his residency in Anesthesia, Critical Care, and Pain Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School.

Dr. Luca Zazzeron graduated from the University of Milan, Italy in 2010. He completed his residency in Anesthesia at the same University of Milan and he worked as a faculty anesthesiologist at the Policinico Hospital in Milan before moving to the US. While working at the Anesthesia Center for Critical Care Research of the Department of Anesthesia, Critical Care, and Pain Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Dr. Zazzeron participated and developed a number of research projects, with 16 peer-reviewed publications and a number of abstract presentations to international professional meetings.