The McPeak-Sirois Group for Clinical Research in Breast Cancer has been in operation for nine years!
Now one of the largest breast cancer clinical research consortia in Canada, it brings together 14 hospitals (13 in Quebec and 1 in Ontario) dedicated to research that cares.
Since April 2016, the consortium led by Dr. Dominique Johnson has been pursuing its mission to fight breast cancer more effectively by increasing patients’ access and participation in clinical trials.
- Under her leadership, our Group has positioned itself with clinical research sponsors to be THE gateway to breast cancer clinical trials in Quebec. It provides access to a vast network of hospitals and clinical researchers as well as to a larger pool of patients, which leads to an increase in the number of clinical trials offered to patients.
- To date, more than 1,000 patients have been included in nearly sixty clinical trials selected by the Group’s Scientific Committee, composed of world-renowned Quebec and Ontario researchers and chaired by Dr. Jamil Asselah, a medical oncologist at the McGill University Health Centre.
- Thanks to our partner Breast Cancer Canada, we are implementing the Programme Accès-recherche Dr André-Robidoux to bring clinical research closer to patients in Quebec and soon in other Canadian regions.
- Through the sharing of expertise and skills it generates, our Group also facilitates knowledge transfer and practice optimization within the Quebec and Canadian medical community, which can benefit the medical staff of the participating hospitals.
- Thanks to several partners, including the Canadian Cancer Society, the Group also launched in 2021 the first Quebec Metastatic Breast Cancer Registry to support projects that will lead to a better understanding of the disease and, eventually, to the optimization of clinical practice.
As Dominique Johnson points out at the Colloque sur la recherche qui soigne 2024, our model is a win-win for patients, hospitals and their researchers, as well as clinical research sponsors. Moreover, this project was initiated by Susan McPeak, a patient who, along with her partner Charles Sirois, got involved in bringing together key stakeholders in the field around their vision.