Sabrina Hanna is the Founder and Chief Change Officer of the Cancer Collaborative (CoLab), a Canadian advocacy think tank designed to bridge science, policy, and advocacy in order to make a meaningful contribution to cancer care in Canada. Positively impacting patient outcomes through a multi-stakeholder platform, fostering collaboration and innovation to address challenges within the healthcare system.

Sabrina served as a member of the Innovative Medicines Canada (IMC) Québec Patient Advisory Committee (2017), of the All.Can group based in Europe (2017), Melanoma International Patient Advocates Coalition (MI-PAC 2015-17), the Global Melanoma Coalition (2015-2017), the Innovative Partnership for Action on Cancer Control in Europe (iPAAC 2019-2022), and the Cancer Action Now Alliance (CANA 2021-2023). She is currently a member of Colorectal Cancer Canada’s Patient Charter Initiative in Clinical Trials (now PACT 2018-) and CoLabXchange (2024-).

Sabrina graduated from Concordia University, in Montréal, with a Bachelor of Science in Exercise Science. After receiving her B.Sc., she earned a certificate in Public Relations. Sabrina has dedicated her career to the not-for-profit sector, beginning her professional career working in research at the Jewish General Hospital in Montréal. She founded the Cancer Collaborative in 2018. The Cancer Collaborative is a member of ASCO, ESMO, HTAi, and ISPOR.

Shaqil Kassam completed his Honours Bachelors of Science degree with a Minor degree in Medical Physics at McMaster University graduating Summa Cum Laude. He then pursued a Masters in Radiation Biology and DNA repair similarly at McMaster University. After completing his undergraduate medical training at the University of Toronto, he then trained in Radiation Oncology for 2 years after which he completed his Fellowship in Internal Medicine and Medical Oncology at the University of Toronto. During his Medicine and Oncology training, Dr. Kassam also continued his basic science research under the guidance of Dr. Gurmeet Singh at the Jurvinski Cancer Center, and also Dr. Robert Bristow at Princess Margaret Hospital- University of Toronto – for his research work Dr. Kassam received the University of Toronto’s Department of Medical Oncology Resident research award.

Dr. Kassam is currently the Medical Director of research at the Southlake Regional Health Centre, where he has consolidated research activities at the Centre and also facilitates further research in the areas of Cardiology, Medicine and Intensive care. He is also the head of Oncology Research at the Stronach Regional Cancer center – where he has brought several international Phase III randomized trials to the centre. Dr. Kassam is currently the Primary Investigator on several open and in progress trials at the Cancer Centre.

Currently Dr. Kassam is a Staff Medical Oncologist at the Stronach Regional Cancer Centre in Newmarket Ontario, specializing in the treatment of Thoracic, Gastrointestinal, Neuroendocrine and Genitourinary malignancies. He is also the Skin cancer Lead Oncologist for the Centre and is also the Centre’s Immunotherapy and NGS expert where he is instrumental in developing the Molecular diagnostics department at Southlake Regional Health Centre.

His research interests have stemmed in basic science and molecularly targeted agents. He has published several peer reviewed articles and text book chapters and has been involved in the development of several practice guidelines. Dr. Kassam is also actively involved in patient advocacy where he serves on the Medical Advisory Committee for Lung Cancer Canada, and has also advocated for patient access in several editorials in national NewsPapers. Shaqil Kassam has also inaugurated and produced the MedOncNow PODCAST series that has listeners in North America and Europe, and has included several National and International oncology experts [https://www.blogtalkradio.com/medoncnow].