Sita Bhella, MD, MSc (HPE), FRCPC

Princess Margaret Cancer Centre

Dr. Sita Bhella completed her medical school training at University of Western Ontario. She completed internal medicine and hematology residency at the University of Toronto, and then went on to do a Leukemia and Allogeneic Bone Marrow Transplant Fellowship at Princess Margaret Cancer Center in Toronto.

She completed a Master’s in Education, with a focus in Health Professionals Education, at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education. Dr. Bhella has a strong interest in quality improvement and innovation and has completed several courses in the area. From 2015-2019, Dr. Bhella was an assistant professor at Queen’s University, where she was the Autologous Stem Cell Transplant Medical Director. She was engaged and involved in medical education as well as quality improvement in the complex malignant hematology program. Dr. Bhella joined Princess Margaret Cancer Centre in 2019, as an assistant professor. She is the medical director of the Autologous Stem Cell Transplant Program and the deputy quality director of the Blood and Marrow Transplant- Immune Effector Cell Therapy program at Princess Margaret. 

Steven Chan, MD, PhD

Princess Margaret Cancer Centre; University of Toronto

Dr. Steven Chan is a Senior Scientist and Staff Physician at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre and an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Toronto. He obtained his M.D. and Ph.D. in Immunology from Stanford University, where he also completed his residency in Internal Medicine, fellowship training in Adult Hematology, and postdoctoral research. Dr. Chan established his independent research program at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre in 2015. His laboratory is focused on the biology of acute myeloid leukemia and clonal hematopoiesis, with an emphasis on developing novel therapeutic strategies to target malignant and pre-malignant hematopoietic stem cells.

Corey Cutler, MD, MPH, FRCP(C)

Harvard Medical School; Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

Dr. Corey Cutler is the Director of the Stem Cell Transplantation Program at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and a Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School.   

A lifelong Habs fan, Dr. Cutler graduated from McGill University’s Faculty of Medicine, completed a residency in Internal Medicine at the McGill University Health Science Center, and completed fellowship training in hematology, medical oncology, and stem cell transplantation at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.  Dr. Cutler earned an MPH degree at the Harvard School of Public Health.  

Dr. Cutler’s research is in the prevention and treatment of acute and chronic graft-vs.-host disease. Dr. Cutler also studies the role and timing of transplantation for the myelodysplastic syndromes and is a contributing author on more than 300 peer-reviewed publications.  

Dr. Cutler is the Immediate Past-President of the American Society for Transplantation and Cellular Therapy.

Jillian Gunther, MD, PhD

MD Anderson Cancer Center

Dr. Jillian Gunther received her MD, PhD at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Dr. Gunther received her residency training at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center before becoming a full time faculty in the Hematology Section of Radiation Oncology in 2017. Her primary clinical goal is patient care with an emphasis on maintaining and improving cure rate in patients with lymphoma while decreasing the short and long term side effects of treatment. She is extensively involved in clinical trials to investigate multiple strategies to deliver better treatment options for lymphoma patients with the goal of minimizing long term side effects.

David Hodgson MD, MPH, FRCPC

Princess Margaret Cancer Centre; University of Toronto; International Lymphoma Radiation Oncology Group (ILROG); Children’s Oncology Group; US Childhood Cancer Survivor Study

Dr. David Hodgson is a Professor and vice-Chair for research in the Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Toronto.

In addition to practicing radiation oncology at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, Dr. Hodgson is a founding member of the International Lymphoma Radiation Oncology Group (ILROG), serves on the Hodgkin Lymphoma Steering Committee of the Children’s Oncology Group and the Scientific Advisory Committee of the US Childhood Cancer Survivor Study. His research is primarily focused on improving the treatment of pediatric and young adult patients, specifically by better understanding the long-term late effects of treatment and how they relate to optimally managing contemporary patients.

Richard Hoppe, MD, FACR, FASTRO, FARS, FASCO

Stanford University;National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN); International Lymphoma Radiation Oncology Group (ILROG); Global nLPHL One Working Group (GLOW)

Dr. Richard Hoppe is the Henry S. Kaplan–Harry Lebeson Professor of Cancer Biology in the Department of Radiation Oncology at Stanford University and a former 19-year department chair. A graduate of Cornell University and Cornell University Medical College, he is an internationally recognized expert in Hodgkin lymphoma, lymphomas, radiation immunosuppression, and late effects, with more than 300 research articles and 100 book chapters.

He serves on the NCCN Hodgkin, T-Cell, and Cutaneous Lymphoma Guidelines Committees; the Steering Committee of ILROG; and the Executive Committee of GLOW. His past leadership roles include President and Board Chair of ASTRO, Trustee of the ABR, Chancellor of the ACR, membership on the NIH/NCI Board of Scientific Counselors, and service on the Board of Stanford Hospital and Clinics.

Dr. Hoppe’s honors include the Gold Medals of ASTRO, ACR, and ARS; the Karl Musshoff Prize; the NCCN Rodger Winn Award; and multiple distinguished lectureships worldwide. He has also received major teaching awards and is an Honorary Professor at Shantou University Medical College.

Brandon Imber, MD, MA

Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK)

Dr. Brandon Imber is a radiation oncologist who specializes in treating people with blood cancers — including lymphoma, multiple myeloma, and leukemia — as well as tumors affecting the brain and central nervous system. He cares for patients in Manhattan and through Memorial Sloan Kettering’s Regional Care Network on Long Island, proudly serving the communities where he grew up.

After earning his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in chemistry from Harvard University, Dr. Imber received his medical degree from the University of California, San Francisco, and completed his residency and a clinical research fellowship in lymphoma radiation oncology at Memorial Sloan Kettering.

Dr. Imber’s research focuses on improving outcomes and reducing side effects for blood and brain cancers, including studies combining radiation with novel therapies such as CAR T cell treatments and evaluating advanced radiation techniques like stereotactic radiosurgery. He is dedicated to compassionate, collaborative, and personalized care for every patient.

Christopher Kelsey, MD

Christopher Kelsey, MD, is a Professor of Radiation Oncology at Duke University Medical Center with a clinical and research focus on hematologic malignancies. He serves as the department’s Vice Chair of Clinical Research and has several national responsibilities, including membership on the NCI Myeloma Steering Committee and Vice Chair of the NCCN Hodgkin Lymphoma Panel.

Dennis Kim MD, FRCPC

Princess Margaret Cancer Centre; University of Toronto

Dr. Dennis Kim, Head of the Malignant Hematology Program for the Division of Medical Oncology and Hematology, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre. Dr. Dennis Kim is a Malignant Hematologist at Princess Margaret Cancer Centre and a Professor in the Department of Medicine at the University of Toronto. Dr. Kim obtained his PhD in Hematology in 2004 from the Kyungpook National University School of Medicine, South Korea. Dr. Kim has over 300+ publications including multiple landmark papers published in Blood, Journal of Clinical Oncology, Leukemia, Haematologica etc., as well as numerous published abstracts and book chapters. He has 3 major subjects of research: 1) genomics in leukemia including chronic and acute myeloid leukemia, 2) genomic-based leukemia monitoring in leukemia/hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HCT), 3) post-transplant relapse and its mechanism, and 4) clinical trial development in chronic myeloid leukemia (CML).

Robert Kridel, MD, MPH, PhD

Princess Margaret Cancer Centre; University of Toronto

Dr. Robert Kridel is an Assistant Professor at the University of Toronto and a Staff Physician at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre in Toronto, Canada. He earned his medical degree from the Catholic University of Louvain in Belgium and his PhD in pathology and laboratory medicine from The University of British Columbia.

Dr. Kridel’s research focuses on understanding how follicular lymphoma (FL) develops and evolves across different patient groups using genomic profiling of tumor samples. His goal is to identify unique molecular vulnerabilities that can be targeted with novel therapies.

He is inspired by his patients and the rapid progress in lymphoma research, particularly the emergence of targeted and immune-based treatments that may one day replace chemotherapy. Dr. Kridel is dedicated to advancing personalized approaches that tailor therapy to the unique characteristics of each patient’s lymphoma.

John Kuruvilla, MD, FRCPC

Princess Margaret Cancer Centre; University of Toronto; Canadian Cancer Trials Group (CCTG); Lymphoma Canada

Guido Lancman, MD, MSc

Princess Margaret Cancer Centre; University of Toronto; Canadian Myeloma Research Group

Dr. Guido Lancman is an active staff member within the Lymphoma, Myeloma, and Transplant Program at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre and an Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicine at the University of Toronto. He is a clinician-investigator with a clinical focus on plasma cell dyscrasias and a research interest in optimizing the efficacy and safety of novel therapies for multiple myeloma, with a particular emphasis on immunotherapies.

He is actively involved in the development of multiple myeloma clinical trials through the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre and the Canadian Myeloma Research Group, and serves as site principal investigator for several large multi-centre trials.

Abi Vijenthira, MD, SM, FRCPC

Princess Margaret Cancer Centre

Dr. Abi Vijenthira is a hematology/oncology senior resident (PGY-6) at the University Health Network. She received her MD from the University of Ottawa and completed her hematology/oncology fellowship at the University of Toronto.

Her research focuses on improving outcomes for older patients with lymphoma, particularly those with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL), the most common and aggressive type of blood cancer in Canada. Through her LRF research project, Dr. Vijenthira is studying how frailty — a syndrome of decreased physiologic reserves and increased vulnerability — affects survival in older adults with DLBCL, and whether it remains a predictor of outcomes even after adjusting for other prognostic factors.

Dr. Vijenthira is passionate about clinical research aimed at enhancing patient experience, advancing care delivery, and improving treatment effectiveness for people with lymphoma.