Inspired by our patient and caregiver community who ask "what if there is another way" for patient care, the goal of the Imagine Lecture is to showcase a Trainee who has taken a patient-focused approach to their research in hopes of ultimately improving on the quality of life of cancer patients.

Guided by a senior BioCanRx network clinician and/or scientist, the successful candidate develops and presents a lecture that speaks to their experience with patients, focusing their talk on a topic that is relevant and accessible to all delegates. This lecture highlights the impact that patient or caregiver engagement has had on the trainee's current or future research or professional activities and touches on the perceived impact the engagement has had on the patient or caregiver.

Emma Gerber, PhD Candidate, Ottawa Hospital Research Institute

Emma is supervised by Drs. Benjamin K. Tsang and Dylan Burger. Her work aims to investigate how small extracellular vesicles mediate chemoresistance and disease progression in ovarian cancer. She coordinates a biobank in the Tsang Lab that collects clinical samples from ovarian cancer patients at The Ottawa Hospital, allowing her to study candidate biomarkers. Emma is inspired by work in collaboration with ovarian cancer patient partners and hopes to inspire the next generation of cancer researchers through community outreach with elementary and high school students.