The 2025 Gairdner Lecture Series
Date: Monday, October 20, 2025
Time: 11:30 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.
Location: Libin Theatre, Health Sciences Centre, Foothills Campus
Registration not required but appreciated.
ABOUT THE SPEAKERS
Dr. Gelareh Zadeh, MD, PhD, was awarded the 2023 Peter Gilgan Canada Gairdner Momentum Award for advancing the molecular and genomic understanding of brain tumours, leading to better ways of discriminating, classifying and managing brain tumour subtypes with potential to transform the clinical care of the disease.
Dr. Zadeh is a neurosurgeon and senior scientist who combines her in-depth clinical knowledge of brain cancer with clinical and translational research to improve the diagnosis and management of adult brain tumours. Dr. Zadeh’s research program applies advanced genomic and epigenomic profi ling to further our understanding of the molecular regulators of brain tumours and to develop tools that can refi ne biomarkers of diagnosis to predict treatment responses and ultimately, improve patient outcomes.
Dr. Laura Evgin, PhD, is a Scientist in the Genome Sciences Department at the BC Cancer Research Institute (BCCRI) and an Assistant Professor in the Department of Medical Genetics at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver.
In 2020, Dr. Evgin established her research group at the BCCRI, focusing on enhancing the efficacy and accessibility of T cell therapies for cancer treatment. Dr. Evgin's laboratory leverages diverse tools and model systems to design innovative chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) constructs, develop CAR T cell engineering strategies both ex vivo and in vivo, and evaluate CAR T cell function in immune-competent models of cancer and autoimmune diseases.
Time: 11:30 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.
Location: Libin Theatre, Health Sciences Centre, Foothills Campus
Registration not required but appreciated.
ABOUT THE SPEAKERS
Dr. Gelareh Zadeh, MD, PhD, was awarded the 2023 Peter Gilgan Canada Gairdner Momentum Award for advancing the molecular and genomic understanding of brain tumours, leading to better ways of discriminating, classifying and managing brain tumour subtypes with potential to transform the clinical care of the disease.
Dr. Zadeh is a neurosurgeon and senior scientist who combines her in-depth clinical knowledge of brain cancer with clinical and translational research to improve the diagnosis and management of adult brain tumours. Dr. Zadeh’s research program applies advanced genomic and epigenomic profi ling to further our understanding of the molecular regulators of brain tumours and to develop tools that can refi ne biomarkers of diagnosis to predict treatment responses and ultimately, improve patient outcomes.
Dr. Laura Evgin, PhD, is a Scientist in the Genome Sciences Department at the BC Cancer Research Institute (BCCRI) and an Assistant Professor in the Department of Medical Genetics at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver.
In 2020, Dr. Evgin established her research group at the BCCRI, focusing on enhancing the efficacy and accessibility of T cell therapies for cancer treatment. Dr. Evgin's laboratory leverages diverse tools and model systems to design innovative chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) constructs, develop CAR T cell engineering strategies both ex vivo and in vivo, and evaluate CAR T cell function in immune-competent models of cancer and autoimmune diseases.