I am a hematopathologist at the Kingston Health Sciences Centre. I am trained in anatomic pathology, hematopathology, and have also completed formal research training in cell biology and cancer biology at several academic medical centers across Canada and US.

My clinical practice mainly focuses on the diagnosis of leukemias and lymphomas. My translational pathology research interest is in the implementation of whole-slide fluorescence microscopy and advanced quantitative image analysis technique to improve laboratory reporting of the tumor immune microenvironment, with the ultimate goal of guiding cancer patients and their oncologists regarding treatment decision for immunotherapy and other experimental therapy.

Research Focus

Multiple Myeloma is a common and incurable blood cancer of plasma cells. It causes bony fracture, anemia, and kidney dysfunction. There has been significant improvement in the treatment of this disease over the last two decades, but disease relapse remains a challenge.

As laboratory physicians, we want to improve the diagnostic evaluation of bone marrow biopsies from myeloma patients, in order to inform patients of the appropriate immunotherapy or other novel therapy to treat disease relapse.

In addition, a small number of myeloma patients unfortunately develop a second unrelated blood cancer, known as therapy-related myelodysplastic syndrome / acute myeloid leukemia (t-MDS / t-AML).

We want to study if a weakened immune system may contribute to the development of this aggressive second blood cancer, and offer opportunity to predict and possibly intervene before its development.

Research Expertise

Research Environment

• We work toward the eventual deployment of the next-generation of immunostaining assays and quantitative analytic techniques in both the routine diagnostic and clinical trial setting.

• We strive for a multi-disciplinary and team-based approach to carry out innovative translational pathology research projects.

• We are interested in mentoring trainees to develop cross-domain expertise in image analysis, data science, and immuno-pathobiology, through structured self-directed learning and problem-solving on translationally impactful research projects.

• We welcome multi-institutional collaborations, pharma or industry partnerships.