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 Name: Dr. David Huntsman
Title: Genetic Pathologist
As a young family doctor in rural Labrador, David Huntsman was eager to learn more about the diseases he was treating. After returning to medical school to study pathology at the University of British Columbia, he became aware of the potential of genetics and genomics to change the way we think of disease.
Today, David heads the Centre for Translational and Applied Genomics in the BC Cancer Agency’s Vancouver Centre. He is involved in a broad range of translational research and has been studying the genetic and molecular structure of ovarian cancer for the past several years as a leader of the OvCaRe (ovarian cancer research) team, a partnership of BC Cancer Agency and Vancouver General Hospital researchers.
Above all, David is proud of OvCaRe’s teamwork. “For me, an important part of the appeal to study ovarian cancer is my collaboration with a very committed, highly talented and extremely pleasant group of people. The OvCaRe team came together when my BC Cancer Agency colleague Dr. Dianne Miller invited interested ovarian cancer researchers to meet, thinking that if we worked together, we could do more. Our research team operates on the principle of shared resources and open data sharing. We agreed that any research platforms or resources we developed would be made available to all team members and, where possible, to the global ovarian cancer research community. We also interact with other teams; the next best drug may have been developed for another cancer.”
“My work is rewarding intellectually and personally. Like many researchers, I have workaholic tendencies. Finding a balance between work and spending unencumbered time with my young family can be a challenge. Fortunately, we have a small cabin in Point Roberts which we escape to some weekends to play games, read books and hang out together. For some reason my cell phone does not work there, but that may be a good thing.”
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