Also in this issue:

Ottawa Hospital Puts Special Focus on Men's Health
The Ottawa Hospital has launched an ambitious campaign to raise $1.5 million to create Canada's first Research Chair in Men's Health...

New Study Shows Link Between Blood Clots and Cancer
Scientists at the Ottawa Health Research Institute (OHRI) have found a strong link...

Meet the Hospital's New Chief of Staff
In July 2008, Dr. Jeffrey Turnbull became The Ottawa Hospital's new Chief of Staff. In this role...

In August 2008, the Canada Foundation for Innovation awarded the Hospital's Ottawa Health Research Institute (OHRI) a $32-million grant—the largest ever given out for health research in Ottawa.

Past donations for facilities such as the Sprott Centre for Stem Cell Research have helped the OHRI become a world leader in stem cell research. Ongoing community support, along with the CFI grant, will allow the Hospital to purchase

state-of-the-art equipment and build new research facilities, including more lab space in The Ottawa Hospital Cancer Centre.

By expanding its facilities, the Research Institute can recruit more scientists who will move lab discoveries into patient clinical trials faster. This will have untold benefits for people in our community suffering from ailments such as cancer, diabetes and heart disease.

Dr. Rebecca Auer is one of the rising medical stars whose work will expand in scope and potential in the new research space planned for The Ottawa Hospital Cancer Centre.

Recently recruited from the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York, Dr. Auer has two areas of focus: surgery and research. She is a surgical oncologist, specializing in colorectal cancer and sarcomas. She is also working with Dr. John Bell to study oncolytic viruses (a certain type of virus that has been shown to infect and kill cancer cells while leaving healthy cells alone).

In early 2009, Drs. Auer and Bell will merge surgery with research in a clinical trial that will involve patients right here in Ottawa. They will inject oncolytic viruses into patients after all visible cancerous tissue has been surgically removed. It is hoped that the viruses will trigger the immune system to kill off any remaining cancer cells.

"Cancer cells can spread and hide in other parts of the body that we don't see during surgery," says Dr. Auer. "We hope that by adding virus therapy to a surgical procedure, we can remove and kill all cancer cells in the body, and prevent it from recurring."