Building knowledge that improves the lives of everyone affected by cancer

The BC Cancer Agency has the advantage of having both research and cancer care as part of the same organization. In this way, research and care are inextricably woven together, so that knowledge gained from caring for each patient flows directly to researchers, and new knowledge learned from the research bench can be applied directly to patients.

This allows for a cycle of continual improvements in cancer prevention and care, so that each time it is done better and better.

This is called translational research.

The advantage of translational research
The advantage of translational research is that it encourages collaborative creativity between physicians and scientists, so that the BC Cancer Agency is much more likely to have consistent breakthroughs - breakthroughs that are used throughout B.C. and worldwide to better the lives of people with cancer.

Uniqueness of the BC Cancer Agency's approach
The BC Cancer Agency has a unique approach - a population-based approach to cancer that looks at the disease in terms of patterns in the population, and an extensive cancer registry, started in 1938, that carefully documents information about cancer patients in BC so that researchers and clinicians can track the effectiveness of treatment.

Original research
The BC Cancer Agency works not to duplicate other research in the world. Instead, their approach is to make use of knowledge from elsewhere and funnel it into their own work and share their own knowledge through collaborations with other research countries around the world.

Emerging new field of genomics
With the emerging new field of genomics, doctors now have the promise of being able to predict cancer before it is even formed. It is already known that cancer starts in the genome. This is one of the reasons the BC Cancer Agency created the Genome Sciences Centre (GSC).

In the future, it is predicted that using someone's genome information, prevention and treatment strategies can be customized to each cancer patient. In this way, cancer could be prevented from occurring in the first place for example through a vaccine that is specific to an individual.

With your help and support, the future of a world free from cancer through prevention and improved care is being brought closer every day.