Our History

Dr. Amit Oza is a Senior Staff Physician and Professor of Medicine at Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, University of Toronto. He is a Scientist with the Ontario Cancer Institute and cross-appointed to the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Toronto. He graduated from St. Bartholomew’s Hospital, University of London (UK), in 1983 and completed his internal medicine and medical oncology training in the UK. He completed Clinical Research Fellowships at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital/Imperial Cancer Research Fund, London (UK), Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, Toronto and at the Netherlands Cancer Institute, Amsterdam. His postgraduate research thesis was on Molecular Epidemiology of Hodgkin’s Disease. He is a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of London and Canada.

Dr Oza has been the principal investigator and co-investigator in phase I, II, and III trials for gynaecological cancer and advanced colorectal malignancies. His research interests are focused on the development, assessment, and validation of novel therapeutic strategies for cancer including molecular targeted therapies. Many of these studies also incorporate novel endpoints and translational research which is developed in close relationship with scientists and pathologists from the OCI/PMCC.

Dr Oza has been the recipient of various awards such as the University of Toronto Award for Teaching Excellence for the Medical Oncology Training Program, the Hasselback Award for Teaching Excellence from Princess Margaret Hospital and many others. He has also been principal and co-author of numerous publications in major peer-reviewed journals such as Cancer Research, Journal of Clinical Oncology, Annals of Oncology, Investigational New Drugs and Clinical Cancer Research.

He is currently Medical Director of the Clinical Cancer Research Unit at Princess Margaret Cancer Centre and Co-Director of the Robert and Maggie Bras and Family Drug Development Program at Princess Margaret Cancer Centre. This is the largest new drug development program in Canada and the only centre outside the US to have a contract with the NIH for Early Phase Therapeutic studies. He is also Co-Chair of the Gynecology Site Committee of the NCIC Clinical Trials Group and represents NCIC CTG at the Gynecologic Cancer InterGroup.

Dr. Jeffrey Coull is an entrepreneur and neuroscientist.  Presently, he serves as Head of Strategic Initiatives at the Weston Family Foundation (which encompasses the Weston Brain Institute) and is advising Sunnybrook Research Institute on the development of a revolutionary medical device for treating disorders of the central nervous system.

Previously, Jeff built and ran two venture-backed biotech companies (Chlorion Pharma and Encycle Therapeutics); Encycle Therapeutics was acquired by Zealand Pharma in 2019.  He also participated in the establishment of the Ontario Brain Institute and served as an Adjunct Professor at the University of Toronto for several years.

Jeff holds a PhD from McGill University, where he undertook neuroscience research.  Elements of his research findings were published in Nature and formed the basis for several patent applications.  In addition, his dissertation was recognized by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council with a Doctoral Prize, the highest distinction for PhD research in Canada.

Concurrently with his undergraduate education at Queen’s University, Jeff served in the reserve of the Royal Canadian Navy.

Jeff is an avid squash player and skier and resides in Toronto with his wife and three children.

Suranga Fernando is the Senior Director of Finance and Head of Research Financial Services, at UHN. Presently, Suranga oversees $500M of research spending across 6,000 research grants and support service departments at UHN, and delivers financial and business strategies to support sustainability, manage fiscal governance, compliance and risk. With 20 years of experience in the health care sector, Suranga has worked in progressive financial leadership roles at some of Canada’s leading clinical, research and academic hospitals, including CAMH, and SickKids, prior to joining UHN in 2013. His passion is to build sustainable business models in healthcare that are focused on outcomes and delivers exemplary services.

Suranga also has significant industry experience with Deloitte in the UK, in business assurance and audit. Suranga holds a BSc in Finance and Accounting from the University of London, and is a Chartered Management Accountant.

Arjeta Meneri is Senior Legal Counsel at the University Health Network (“UHN”), where she provides corporate and health law legal services to hospital executive leadership, medical professional leadership and hospital departments across all hospital sites of UHN. She received her B.Sc. in Anatomy and Cell Biology at McGill University and obtained her Juris Doctor degree at the University of Toronto, Faculty of Law.

Prior to joining UHN, she was an Intellectual Property associate lawyer at Norton Rose Fulbright Canada LLP, where she represented pharmaceutical companies before the Federal Court of Canada. At UHN she has previously held the position of Manager and Legal Counsel of the Clinical Trial Agreements Office, where she oversaw and managed the clinical research legal portfolio of UHN and provided advice to research executives, research leadership and the clinical research community. Arjeta is a graduate of the Rotman Executive “Business Leadership Program for In-House Counsel” and a Certified In-House Counsel with the Canadian Corporate Counsel Association.

Dr. Milosevic is a clinician scientist and radiation oncologist at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre and Professor and Vice-Chair (Research) in the Department of Radiation Oncology at the University of Toronto. His clinical practice is in the management of gynecologic cancers. His research is focused on improving radiotherapy effectiveness and patient outcomes by targeting tumor hypoxia and harnessing the radiation-induced antitumor immune response. His research has a strong, reciprocal bench-to-bedside focus with both laboratory and clinical translational components, including clinical trials of new treatment strategies. He has led numerous collaborative projects, published over 230 peer-reviewed papers and mentored a large number of medical residents, clinical fellows and graduate students, many of whom have gone on to become internationally recognized academic leaders with independent research programs.

Dr. Christine Williams is an immunologist and currently serves as the Deputy Director at the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research (OICR).

As part of OICR’s executive team, Dr. Williams works with the Institute’s scientists, senior leaders and partners to develop and implement strategic priorities across the Institute’s translational research programs. She leads coordinated engagement and communications strategies, oversees research operations and stewards OICR research assets through commercialization and into the health system to advance OICR’s mission. Dr. Williams focuses on developing and maintaining OICR’s collaborative relationships with a broad range of provincial, national and international stakeholders including clinical, academic, industry, government and patient partners.

Dr. Williams received an undergraduate degree in Life Sciences from Queen’s University and a PhD in Immunology from the University of Toronto. She received postdoctoral training at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard University where she studied the molecular pathways involved in the development of leukemia and lymphoma in children. Prior to her role at OICR, Dr. Williams held various leadership positions at the Canadian Cancer Society, most recently as its Chief Mission Officer & Scientific Director, responsible for strategy development and program delivery nationwide.

Dr. Williams is currently a member of boards and advisory committees for a number of organizations, including the Canadian Cancer Research Alliance, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, CanPath, The Canadian Cancer Clinical Trials Group and BioCanRx.