This session discusses Pragmatic Clinical Trials and how they’re transforming ovarian cancer care by testing treatments in real-world settings. Discover what makes pragmatic trials unique and why these trials are crucial for closing the gap between research and clinical care. You’ll hear firsthand reflections from patient partners who participated in a workshop on pragmatic clinical trials, sharing what they learned, how they contributed and why patient voices shape the future of ovarian cancer research and care.
This session was part of Ovarian Cancer Canada's 2025 National Symposium.
Speaker bios:
Dr. Helen MacKay is a Medical Oncologist and Professor of Medicine at the University of Toronto. She is Head of the Division of Medical Oncology and Malignant Hematology at the Odette Cancer Centre at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, and Senior Scientist at the Sunnybrook Research Institute. Dr. MacKay’s clinical practice and research focus is on gynecological cancers. Her research involves collaborating with translational and basic scientists in the development and validation of novel therapeutic strategies. She is the former President of the Society of Gynecologic Oncology of Canada (GOC) and currently leads the GOC Research Unit. She is a member of the Board of Directors for the Society of Gynecologic Oncology (USA). She co-chairs the National Cancer Institute’s (NCI), USA, Ovarian Cancer Task Force. Dr. Mackay was also appointed to the NCTN Core Correlative Sciences Committee of the NCI (USA) in June 2022. She is the past chair of the Ovarian Group and sits on the executive of the Gyne committee of the Canadian Cancer Trials Group (CCTG) and represents CCTG at the Gynecologic Cancer Intergroup. She is a past chair of both the Gynecologic Cancer Education and Scientific Committees for the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO). With specific reference to uterine cancers, she is a member of the TRANSPORTEC group, and sits on the Corpus Committee of NRG, and was the co-chair of the NCI Endometrial Cancer Clinical Trials Planning Committee.
Dr. Laura Hopkins is a Professor in the Department of Oncology and a Gynecologic Oncologist with the Saskatchewan Cancer Agency. Laura completed her Fellowship in Gynecologic Oncology at the University of Toronto in 2002 and worked in Ottawa until 2019. She moved to Saskatoon in 2019 and established an academic program for patients with gynecologic cancer. The path to an academic focus began with the creation of Saskatchewan’s first tumor bank in 2021, which allowed Saskatchewan to become a member of the Terry Fox Marathon of Hope Cancer Network. The first clinical trial in gynecologic oncology was activated in 2021, and we launched our robotic surgery program in 2022. Laura leads the Saskatchewan Cancer Agency’s first investigator-initiated clinical pragmatic trial which explores patient’s preferences for precision medicine in ovarian cancer. This trial was activated in 2023 and leverages the cooperation of patients, oncologists, pathologists and basic scientists in order to improve patient quality of life and promote informed patient decision making. Preliminary results of this trial have been used to justify a new precision standard of care for patients with ovarian cancer in Saskatchewan and additional provinces are now following with the same approval.
Shannon Kadar is the Co-Lead of Ovarian Cancer Canada’s Patient Partners in Research Program. Shannon was diagnosed with high grade serous ovarian cancer in 2019 at the age of 40, and learned she also carried a BRCA1 mutation. Throughout treatment and recurrences, being a passionate patient advocate has remained Shannon’s top priority.
Karen Bemister was diagnosed with endometrioid ovarian cancer stage 3C in November of 2019 after seeking out medical opinions for her “bloating". Karen joined Ovarian Cancer Canada’s Patient Partners in Research team in January 2021 after hearing about the program at the National Symposium. Karen was so excited by the prospect of becoming involved in the research and advocacy, she emailed Dr. Alicia Tone during the presentation. Since then, she has been an active member of the team, collaborating on grant reviews, research projects and speaking and education engagements. Karen says, “we have lost too many of our Teal Sisters already, I Will Not Rest until we are able to prevent new cases and change the outcomes of newly diagnosed people born with ovaries.”