Rena Buckstein is a clinician investigator at the Odette Cancer Centre, Sunnybrook Health Sciences who specializes in malignant hematology.  She is an associate professor in the department of medicine at University of Toronto.

She completed her medical school training at Boston University and Internal Medicine/Hematology specialty and subspecialty training in Toronto, followed by a fellowship in lymphoma and high dose therapy at Sunnybrook Hospital. She also completed a diploma in clinical epidemiology.

She chaired the hematology site group for 15 years and currently leads the hematology clinical trials program at the Odette Cancer Center. Rena founded and chairs a national registry for myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS-CAN) of more than 1400 patients and is an affiliate scientist of Sunnybrook Research Institute. She is a member of the International MDS Foundation scientific advisory board, the Canadian Cancer Society hematology clinical trials sub-committee, a co-chair of an international MDS Guidelines panel for MDS-RIGHT and has chaired national clinical trials in lymphoma and MDS.  She has authored and co-authored 144 publications and holds peer reviewed grants from Canadian Cancer Society Research Institute (CCSRI), Canadian Institute of Health Research (CIHR), Ontario Institute for Cancer Research (OICR) and the Leukemia Lymphoma Society of Canada (LLSC) that fund investigator-initiated research in MDS and lymphoma.  She is a recipient of the LLSC/UFCW award for leukemia research in Canada. As an associate professor in the department of Medicine at University of Toronto, she enjoys teaching and mentoring undergraduate and graduate students.

Her interventional research focuses on novel targeted biologic and immunologic therapies for hematologic malignancies focusing on myelodysplastic syndromes and acute myelogenous leukemia and improving the transfusion experience for MDS patients.   Her non-interventional research focuses on documenting QOL longitudinally and its predictors and  the impact of patient-related factors like frailty and disability on quality of life and clinical outcomes independent of disease-related prognostic factors.  She collaborates on health services research pertaining to ‘real-life’ experience of approved therapies in MDS and the cost/predictors of health care resource utilization. Currently,  she is evaluating the impact of  age-related clonal hematopoiesis (ARCH) on chemotherapy outcomes in older adults with lymphoid cancers, the association of specific mutations with occult coronary artery disease in MDS patients.

Dr. Geddes is a hematologist and clinical associate professor at the University of Calgary and Tom Baker Cancer Centre in the departments of Medicine and Oncology.  She trained in Internal Medicine at the University of Alberta and in Hematology and Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation at the University of Calgary.  She has an interest in acute leukemias, myelodysplasia, myeloproliferative disorders and aplastic anemia and has a practice in general hematology and hematopoietic cell transplantation.  She is active in clinical trial enrolment and teaching at the medical school and resident level.

Dr. Houston is a hematologist and clinician investigator at the University of Manitoba and CancerCare Manitoba. She is also a scientist at the CancerCare Manitoba Research Institute. Her research focuses on blood conservation and supportive care strategies to optimize care and improve outcomes for patients affected with MDS and acute leukemia.

Dr. Karsan is a clinician-scientist at BC Cancer, Professor of Pathology at UBC, and Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Myeloid Cancers. His current research is focused on epigenetic mechanisms of resistance and relapse in the myeloid cancers using various omic, in vitro and in vivo models, with a focus on single cell approaches, to understand normal and leukemic stem cell function. His clinical interest centres on developing genomic methodologies, and improving automation and quality assurance in clinical genomics. In 2010 he established the first accredited next-generation sequencing lab in Canada, and one of the first in the world, to deliver clinical genomic results. Dr. Karsan has mentored over 60 trainees at the graduate or postdoctoral level, many of whom have gone on to lead their own labs in academia and industry, or are clinician-scientists who hold positions at academic hospitals in Canada and internationally. Funding for Dr. Karsan’s research is supported by grants from CIHR, TFRI, Genome BC, Genome Canada, CCSRI, LLSC.

Dr. Heather Leitch is a Hematologist at St. Paul’s Hospital in Vancouver, Canada, and Clinical Professor in the Department of Medicine at the University of British Columbia. Dr. Leitch’s clinical and research interests include transfusional iron overload in acquired anemias such as the myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS), and a longstanding interest in lymphoproliferative and other blood disorders in the setting of HIV infection. She is Director of Hematology/Oncology Research at St. Paul’s Hospital, a reviewer of scientific papers for several medical journals and an active member of the UBC Department of Medicine Research Advisory Committee.

April Shamy MDCM completed her medical school at McGill University, where she then pursued her training in Internal Medicine and Hematology. She completed additional training in hematologic malignancies at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas. She is currently an Associate Professor of Medicine at McGill University and is an active member of the Division of Hematology at the Jewish General Hospital in Montreal. Her interests lie in clinical malignant hematology , both patient care and clinical research.
She is an original and active member of the CCMDS and the GMPQ (Groupe de Myelome Plasmacytaires du Quebec).

Dr. Trottier is originally from Halifax and completed her undergraduate degree and a Master’s in physical chemistry at Dalhousie University before entering into medical school. She completed medical school training at Dalhousie University then moved to Calgary for Internal Medicine and Hematology residencies. It was while in Calgary, that she became exposed to and interested in patients and families that seemed predisposed to developing hematologic malignancies. She pursued this interest through undertaking a postdoctoral research fellowship at the University of Chicago. She moved back to Halifax in January of 2020 and is currently an associate professor in the Division of Hematology and Hematologic Oncology. She runs a local translational research program and established a hereditary hematologic malignancy risk clinic, the first of its kind in Canada, with local clinical germline genetic testing capabilities for hereditary hematologic malignancy syndromes.

Ania Kielar is an abdominal radiologist at the Joint Department of medical imaging at the University of Toronto. She is the deputy chief of quality and practice improvement. Her research focuses on standardization and error reduction in the field of radiology. She is on the executive committee for LI-RADS and has been an active member since 2014. She is also the immediate past president of the Canadian Association of Radiologists.