Interdisciplinary
Oncology Program
Supervisors AcTIVELY lOOKING FOR Students
Looking for a potential supervisor?
Check out the list below for supervisors currently accepting students.
Last updated: August 2025
Jessica Chan
Email contact: jessica.chan@bccancer.bc.ca
Website: https://surgery.med.ubc.ca/people/j-chan/
Bio: Dr. Chan (MD, MPH, PhD, FRCPC) is a radiation oncologist at BC Cancer Vancouver, Clinical Assistant Professor in the Department of Surgery at UBC, and an Adjunct Lecturer within UBC's Branch for Global Surgical Care. Her research lies at the intersection of health services, health equity, and global oncology—driven by a deep commitment to uncovering and addressing systemic disparities in cancer care. Through a wide range of quantitative, qualitative, and community-driven methods, Dr. Chan explores systemic, upstream, and point-of-care barriers to access. Her work involves both global and local contexts, with a strong focus on improving cancer outcomes in partnership with Indigenous Peoples in Canada. She is the current co-chair of the Canadian Association of Radiation Oncology’s Equity, Diversity, Inclusivity and Indigenous Care Committee, and has been a consultant to the United Nation’s International Atomic Energy Agency.
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Aly Karsan
Email contact: akarsan@bcgsc.ca
Website: https://cbr.ubc.ca/our-people/investigators/aly-karsan/
Bio: Genomic and epigenomic aberrations that evolve with aging result in a greatly increased risk of developing blood cancers called leukemias. These aging changes also make leukemias more resistant to therapy. Dr. Karsan's research is focused on understanding the molecular basis of the blood cancers called myeloid leukemias, determining how aging related changes - including inflammation - increase leukemic risk, dissecting how distinct populations within a leukemia interact with each other, and using this knowledge to unravel the mechanisms that make these leukemic cells resistant to therapy. The lab uses various methodologies ranging from single cell sequencing to in vivo approaches to elucidate the mechanisms of therapy resistance, with current work focused on the role of the epigenome in imparting resistance.
Dr. Karsan translational research lab has generated seminal work on the role of noncoding RNAs and innate immune signaling in blood cancers. He currently leads a team of six principal investigators in a Terry Fox Research Institute Program Project in acute leukemia research. He is a member of various international hematology committees including: the International Working Group for Prognosis in Myelodysplastic Syndromes (MDS), the Experimental Hematology Subcommittee of the Society for Hematopathology, and the Laboratory Assays Working Group for the Myeloid Malignancies Precision Medicine Initiative.
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Jonathan Loree
Email contact: Jonathan.Loree@bccancer.bc.ca
Website: https://www.vchri.ca/researchers/jonathan-loree
Bio: Dr. Loree is a GI medical oncologist at BC Cancer – Vancouver Centre and a Senior Investigator with the Canadian Cancer Trials Group. His clinical interests are in colorectal and neuroendocrine malignancies and he has a translational research lab focused on biomarker development. He serves as the US NCI Colon Cancer Task Force Co-Chair, the Canadian Cancer Trials Group Colon Cancer Co-Chair, and is the North American Neuroendocrine Tumors Society (NANETs) Guideline Committee Vice-chair. He is the correlative lead for multiple national and international clinical trials and the Canadian lead for the DYNAMIC-III and CIRCULATE-North America phase II/III studies evaluating ctDNA to guide adjuvant therapy in stage III colon cancer.​
Michael Cox
Email contact: mcox@prostatecentre.com
Website: https://www.prostatecentre.com/about-us/people/dr-michael-cox
Bio: Dr. Cox’s research is funded by the Terry Fox Foundation, Canadian Cancer Society, the VGH & UBC Hospital Foundation and the Prostate Cancer Foundation of British Columbia. His work focuses on early genetic changes in prostate cells, how resulting tumor cells respond to growth factors in the presence or absence of testosterone and how these cellular changes allow prostate tumor cells to utilize these growth factors to aid development of testosterone independence. With colleagues at the Vancouver Prostate Centre and University of British Columbia, he is developing combinatorial antisense and small molecule drug strategies that decrease the responsiveness of tumor cells to growth factors and has shown that prostate cancer cells treated in this way are more sensitive to testosterone deprivation or treatment with other chemotherapies. These are first steps in developing effective treatments for patients with advanced prostate cancer.​
Julia Naso
Email contact: Julia.Naso@vch.ca
Website: https://pathology.ubc.ca/2023/09/13/julia-naso/
Bio: Julia R. Naso, MD/PhD FRCPC is an early career clinician scientist with an active clinical practice in Diagnostic and Molecular Pathology at Vancouver General Hospital. She maintains an independent research program using multi-omic and tissue-based technologies to develop novel biomarkers predictive of outcomes and treatment response for thoracic malignancies and sarcomas. Her research interests include translating novel molecular testing approaches into clinically available tests that aid in the diagnosis and characterization of cancers.​
Florian Kuchenbauer
Email contact: fkuchenbauer@bccrc.ca, arouhi@bccrc.ca
Website: https://www.bccrc.ca/dept/tfl/labs/kuchenbauer-lab
Bio: Dr. Florian Kuchenbauer (MD/PhD) is a clinician-scientist at Vancouver General Hospital specializing in malignant hematology, with a strong focus on translational research and clinical trial infrastructure. While his early work focused on the molecular pathogenesis of acute myeloid leukemia (AML), he has since expanded his research to multiple myeloma (MM), aiming to bridge laboratory discoveries with clinical applications and improve patient outcomes. As Associate Medical Director of the Hematology Research Program, he oversees hematology clinical trials at VGH, helping to ensure MM patients in British Columbia have access to cutting-edge treatments. He is also leading the development of the first in-patient Phase I clinical trial unit at VGH, which will provide additional new therapeutic options for patients with relapsed and refractory MM. Beyond clinical infrastructure, his research explores non-coding RNAs and gene regulation in hematologic malignancies, where he has made significant contributions to identifying novel therapeutic targets and advancing preclinical disease models. As co-lead of the Preclinical Therapeutics Unit at the Terry Fox Laboratory, he is building an integrated leukemia and myeloma research platform by expanding patient-derived cells in vivo, facilitating drug testing, and accelerating treatment development. The work of Dr. Kuchenbauer is instrumental in strengthening AML and MM research in BC and the local clinical trial landscape, ensuring that innovative therapies reach patients faster. ​
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Additional links to help you with finding a supervisor:
Supervisor Research Areas | iopubc
Research Supervisors | Graduate School at The University of British Columbia (UBC)