Uniting specialists to fight a rare and deadly cancer

This week on Health Matters, Tarah Schwartz speaks with Professor Sara Mahshid about nanotechnology and how it can help in health care. Dr. Jonathan Meakins describes the Art and Heritage Centre at the MUHC and how a donation from RBC will help it bring more art into the hospital. Dr. Basil Petrof discusses how the funds raised at Le Bal Rouge will help push the boundaries of respiratory research and care. And, Dr. Ramy Saleh shares how SaRC-Q and uniting specialists from across Quebec will offer sarcoma patients the best possible care. 

Cette semaine à Questions de santé, Tarah Schwartz discute avec la professeure Sara Mahshid de la nanotechnologie et de la façon dont elle peut être utilisée dans les soins de santé. Le Dr Jonathan Meakins parle du Centre des arts et du patrimoine du CUSM et d’un don de RBC qui permettra d’offrir plus d’occasions de contact avec l’art à l’hôpital. Le Dr Basil Petrof explique comment les fonds recueillis dans le cadre du Bal Rouge contribueront à repousser les frontières de la recherche et des soins des maladies respiratoires. Et le Dr Ramy Saleh précise comment le SaRC-Q, qui réunit des spécialistes du sarcome de l’ensemble du Québec, permettra d’offrir les meilleurs soins possibles aux patients atteints de cette maladie.

Transcript

Tarah Schwartz: 0:00

Hello there. Thank you for joining us. I'm Tarah Schwartz and this is Health Matters on CJAD 800. On today's show, the MUHC holds one of the biggest public art collections in the province. We'll discuss a significant donation from RBC that hopes to promote the healing power of art and the goal to make the hospital a beautiful and restorative environment. Plus, the MUHC Foundation's signature fundraising gala was a huge success. Later in the show, we'll share how much this special event raised. But first, it is always fascinating to learn about some of the research being conducted at the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Center. Professor Sara Mahshid is the principal investigator of a study on nanotechnology and an Assistant Professor in the Department of Bioengineering at McGill. She joins me now; thanks so much for being with us.

Prof. Sara Mahshid: 0:50

Thank you very much for inviting me.

Tarah Schwartz: 0:52

So, Professor Mahshid, first of all, tell us what nanotechnology is. How do you help people understand what that is?

Prof. Sara Mahshid: 1:02

Simply said, a nanotechnology is the use of matter on atomic and molecular scale for any technological or industrial applications that we use nowadays. A very simple example is using nano-gold or nano-silver particles in dryers; for example, or washing machine. That's a very simple example.

Tarah Schwartz: 1:28

So how does nanotechnology impact medicine? How is it used in the medical world?

Prof. Sara Mahshid: 1:37

Since the introduction of nanotechnology to the world and back in let's say 1990. So there have been a lot like application around using nanotechnologies, nanoparticles in the world of medicine. A very good example is lateral flow assay that we hear. It's basically using nanoparticles; gold nanoparticles. So this is a very good example of using nanotechnology based on nano-material in basically diagnosis like a lateral flow assay pregnancy test.

Tarah Schwartz: 2:13

Now what is the most exciting part about this field for you?

Prof. Sara Mahshid: 2:17

For me, as a researcher, knowing that's how by using nano-material, which are defined by basically material that are less than just 100 nanometers in size. I can change the properties and application of diagnostics tool and improve basically the performance and enhance the phenomenal application that we can get. It's something notable, that I very much like to explore in my research.

Tarah Schwartz: 2:58

In your last answer, you started to describe the size of a nanoparticle. How did you describe it in that last answer?

Prof. Sara Mahshid: 3:06

Basically, by this dimension, the particles are material between one nanometer to 100 nanometers already considered in the world of nano material. They can have exciting and more enhanced properties compared to bulk material. And that's what we use, we basically manipulate these a nanoscale material and we fabricate, synthesize the nanoscale material and bring it to medical healthcare application.

Tarah Schwartz: 3:41

You obviously can't see this with the human eye. So when you look through a microscope? What is it that you see?

Prof. Sara Mahshid: 3:49

That's the exciting part actually. None of these is something you can see by eye. So that's completely a blind experiment. But that's why nanotechnology and understanding the word of nanotechnology can help us to basically define protocols and design protocols that can help us to fabricate or synthesize that particular material or platform. And then there are microscopy tools, advanced microscopy tools; like electron microscopes that can let us observe the surface of platform or the status of the size and morphology of the material under microscope.

Tarah Schwartz: 4:36

We are speaking to Professor Sarah Mahshid, we're talking about her research on nanotechnology. Now, Professor, I know you recently published a paper. I know it's hard to break down years of study into an answer that fits into a radio show like this one. But can you tell us a little bit about what you were looking for or looking at in this recently published paper?

Prof. Sara Mahshid: 4:56

This paper that has been a recently published in Journal of Nature Nanotechnology describes the use of particular nano-material again by destination. There are absolutely small, below 100 nanometers, but they have some exciting optical properties that when it is coupled with an amplification protocol, such as PCR. It can accelerate the rate of amplification and that's what we see. By using this material, we can run a complex assay like PCR, or lab which is usually couple of hours into minutes in this case. 13 minutes.

Tarah Schwartz: 5:48

So, what are some of the problems that you hope can be solved or can be improved with this kind of nanotechnology.

Prof. Sara Mahshid: 5:58

Obviously, our research is in health care and nothing would be more satisfying to see how the fundamental word of nanotechnology can solve or address the problems in health care. One of the very important ones is diagnostics, and what we call point of care or point of need diagnosis. Having people have access to diagnosis tools at any location anytime, especially in low resource areas. It's what we are trying to achieve.

Tarah Schwartz: 6:39

Now, we talked briefly about the speed with which nanotechnology is moving. You say that it's moving quite quickly; where do you see this technology in in 10-15-20 years down the road?

Prof. Sara Mahshid: 6:51

Obviously, the field is emerging. And we see more and more applications of nanotechnology, not even in diagnostics in different fields than health care. I'm sure that what we see in the emerging technology; it can help us to translate more rapidly technologies that are developed in the lab facilities into real-life application. And our paper is a very small example of how we did it; how we translated technology from the lab into real-life application by demonstrating the success of a clinical study. I believe nanotechnology will play an important role to help us to bring more tools and application for real life.

Tarah Schwartz: 7:55

My final question for you, Professor Mahshid, I think it's the average person doesn't have access to nanotechnology or the kind of lessons in growth that you experience with it in your field. If you were going to leave us with one idea of what you want us to know about nanotechnology, what would that be?

Prof. Sara Mahshid: 8:15

Oh, that's a very interesting and difficult question I would say. Of course, nanotechnology is not just about seeing things is about learning. Definitely like any science or an engineering, we have to learn about the fundamentals. We have to learn about them and there are powerful studies and literature about fundamentals; in particular, nano-material that plays an important role in my research. So understanding the fundamentals, understanding the core concept through literature will help us a lot, and has helped us a lot to understand more and more about the different application possibilities. And of course, bring it to our research. That's what I think everyone that one and research nanotechnology needs do at the beginning.

Tarah Schwartz: 9:18

Professor Sara Mahshid, I want to thank you so much for your time today. I have no doubt that this this area is going to grow quickly and significantly in our world. So thank you for your time today.

Prof. Sara Mahshid: 9:29

I thank you very much for the opportunity.

Tarah Schwartz: 9:31

Next up on Health Matters, a significant donation showcased the art of giving and how healing art can be. I'm Tarah Schwartz, welcome back to Health Matters on CJAD 800. In April, the MUHC Foundation celebrated a $300,000 gift from RBC in support of the Art and Heritage Centre at the MUHC. This is one of my favorite programs. The hospital holds one of the biggest public art collections in Quebec. And if you walk through the hospital you see that art, on walls and in rooms and public spaces. The relationship between art, healing and health is deep and long-standing. In a health care environment, art is important in helping patients recover and is behind moments of joy and peace for patients and their loved ones. Dr. Jonathan Meakins is the Director of the art and Heritage Centre and joins me now. Dr. Meakins, it is always a pleasure to speak with you. How are you today?

Dr. Jonathan Meakins: 10:27

I'm well, thank you. One of the other things that is sort of the hidden agenda with the art that we're hanging on the walls is that it creates an environment for the workers that is much more agreeable, than is to the long corridors of white walls.

Tarah Schwartz: 10:49

That is true. I want to begin, Dr. Meakins, with the history of the Art and Heritage Centre at the MUHC because it's quite fascinating. Tell us about that.

Dr. Jonathan Meakins: 11:00

In 2012, when the vision of the new building and moving to it was crystallizing, it was very much under construction. There was no thinking that had been put into how they were going to transport any heritage items or art items that had been previously donated to either the Children's or the Royal Victoria to the new site. So with a little bit of trepidation, the CEO at the time, Norman Reinfret was approached. We got ourselves on to the agenda of the annual general meeting. The proposal regarding the Art and Heritage Centre and some slides that were shown were sufficiently compelling that the board was persuaded that we had to create an organization. I went ahead and discussed with Norman about the creation of the Art and Heritage Centre. It eventually became the RBC Art and Heritage Centre when they made their first contribution, six years ago. That helped us with salaries and the present contribution of $100,000 a year for three years, puts firmly in place, our curator, Alexandra Kirsh and an additional amount to hire an associate curator, which will allow us to move much more quickly in terms of getting all the material we've accumulated, and all of the material was transferred from the Children's and the Royal Victoria, into our storage facility.

Tarah Schwartz: 13:13

Now I want to talk about some of the art that is there. Dr. Meakins. Now we've said that it's one of the largest public art collections in Quebec. Can you describe some of the pieces perhaps mentioned a couple of your favorites?

Dr. Jonathan Meakins: 13:26

In terms of recruiting artworks, one of the things we have done is what happened at the announcement for the RBC donation where Catherine Farish has loaned us 11 works. And those works will be up for about six months. But part of the quid pro quo is that she will donate at least one of those works to the hospital. And it actually gets donated to the MUHC Foundation. We then place these large works in fairly conspicuous areas. The areas in front of elevators, for example, and so on. There have been quite a number of those. We've been through six or seven cycles, actually eight cycles of these events. There's always a vernissage and the artists donate anywhere between one and three works. That allows us to make a gallery that can be focused around a particular artist.

Tarah Schwartz: 14:43

Do you have a favorite piece, Dr. Meakins? Is there a favorite sculpture favorite for you? I know everyone is different. But what is your favorite piece?

Dr. Jonathan Meakins: 14:53

Well, you know, that's a very difficult question. In fact, I suppose one of Peter Crouse's drawings and he also gave us a painting. So that we have a little corner that sort of the Crouse Corner where we have an etching, a painting and a drawing.

Tarah Schwartz: 15:13

That is beautiful.

Dr. Jonathan Meakins: 15:15

They are all landscapes and they transform the space in which they are. They are hung and that area suddenly becomes much more human.

Tarah Schwartz: 15:29

Yeah, and I think everyone has a different perspective of how art contributes to healing. As director of the Art and Heritage Centre; as a lifetime art lover, what is your perspective on how art contributes to healing and feelings of calm and peace within the hospital?

Dr. Jonathan Meakins: 15:46

I think in that sense, its impact. As I've mentioned this, the people who work and the workers, if they're happier, the patients get better care. But the families and the patients are exposed to a distraction. All of the patient rooms have a window. That means in a sense, as you look out the window that's already a piece of art, if you will. It's a form of distraction, if you're looking out over the river, or onto the mountain or onto greenery. All of those views changed the way the patient feels about being in that room. Just as the family will feel differently. The other area where it's very important is in the clinical areas; where they are frequently waiting for something to happen. They're waiting to see the doctor; the

Tarah Schwartz: 16:52

Dr. Meakins, I only have a little bit of time family is waiting for news. Sometimes the patient is waiting for news. To provide them with an environment where they can be distracted by something that is not pretty to look at, but interesting to look at. The data now is pretty good on all of this that it allows people to get up and about more quickly. They're able to get home more rapidly. I suppose it's almost obvious but it has required some quite good studies to make it clear that this is an advantage. left but I want to shift gears briefly now. The 50th anniversary of the Meakins-Christie laboratory is being celebrated this year. The Meakins-Christie lab, for those who don't know, is a leading pulmonary research center in the province. So the focus really on respiratory illnesses and diseases and its affiliated with the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre. I bring this up because the lab is named after your grandfather. What is it like for you to be celebrating the 50th anniversary of such a storied institution?

Dr. Jonathan Meakins: 18:07

Well, it's really very exciting. I was a resident. I was the chief resident of surgery when the lab was created. And the donation from a tobacco company- McDonald. It was only $300,000 that got it started in the pathology building. That inauguration is an example of the kind of leadership that transforms a unit so that the sequential leaders of Meakins-Christie labs have expanded it so that it is a world renowned centre for the study of respiratory disease in all of its manifestations. So Is that exciting? You bet.

Tarah Schwartz: 19:05

You bet. Dr. Jonathan Meakins it is always a pleasure. I feel like I could talk to you for much longer, but I do have my restrictions. But I thank you for taking the time to join this on the show. And I look forward to seeing you again soon.

Dr. Jonathan Meakins: 19:17

Lots of fun, Tarah, thanks a lot.

Tarah Schwartz: 19:18

Take good care. Next up on Health Matters, the MUHC Foundation's signature fundraising gala Le Bal Rouge raised an incredible amount in support of respiratory care. The details are next. I'm Tarah Schwartz and this is Health Matters. The MUHC Foundation's signature fundraising gala Le Bal Rouge took place on Friday, May 26 and it was an incredible evening. The theme was The Great Gatsby and the Roaring 20s- and it was stunning! Beautiful flower arrangements and gorgeous decor with incredible music, food, and dancing. It was a special evening for all those who attended and it raised $1.68 million for respiratory research and care at the Montreal Chest Institute of the McGill University Health Centre. Dr. Basil Petrof is the Director of the Translational Research in Respiratory Diseases Program of the RI-MUHC. He joins me now to discuss the gala and also the 50th anniversary of the Meakins-Christie lab. Thank you for being here. Dr. Petrof.

Dr. Basil Petrof: 20:15

Well, it's a pleasure to be here.

Tarah Schwartz: 20:16

Now you attended Le Bal Rouge last week. What was it like to celebrate your colleague, Dr. Kevin Schwartzman- who was being honored that night- but also really the entire Montreal Chest Institute and everyone who worked there.

Dr. Basil Petrof: 20:29

Le Bal Rouge was a fantastic event on so many levels. But I think the best part of for me, personally, was being able to honor Kevin Schwarzman for his leadership of the respiratory group over the past 10 years. Kevin is a great doctor. He's an accomplished researcher. And he's really been a fantastic partner for me in supporting and promoting respiratory research. And he really is an incredible leader in the sense that all of us are willing to follow him into battle, because we always trust that he'll do the right thing. So this was a terrific night all around.

Tarah Schwartz: 21:17

Wow, that's a lovely way to see it. Now, we raised $1.68 million in support of respiratory research and care. How special is it to know that so many people donated because they believe in the excellent patient care and research at the Montreal Chest Institute?

Dr. Basil Petrof: 21:33

It really means the world to us and inspires us to keep trying to push the boundaries and develop innovations for our patients. We all know that our hospital system is stretched to the limit in many respects. This kind of support from philanthropy really allows us to do things that we wouldn't otherwise be able to do. Both on the traditional patient care side; as well as in research. We can try thinking outside of the box. And these kinds of innovative ideas, sometimes they don't work. But if they do, they're game-changing. So this is really key to us.

Tarah Schwartz: 22:16

Can you break that down a little bit more in terms of how that money is going to help? Where do you see the need the most at the MCI, the Montreal Chest Institute?

Dr. Basil Petrof: 22:26

One of the things that's clearly the case in the future is this idea of moving towards what we call personalized medicine. In the past, we tended to have a one size fits all approach to treating many diseases. But what we're recognizing now with advances in genetics and other areas, is that each patient is very different. And being able to predict, what drug or treatment might work in one patient versus another, is now becoming possible. With these funds, what we intend to do at the Montreal Chest Institute is really start to systematically almost get a fingerprint for each patient that will allow us in that individual patient to be able to say- Okay, this drug probably will work that drug probably won't work and apply that to everything that we do.

Tarah Schwartz: 23:34

We're speaking with Dr. Basil Petrof, and we're talking about the MUHC Foundation's fundraising gala, which raised $1.68 million for the Montreal Chest Institute and he's talking about how that money will help. We mentioned earlier in the show in talking with Dr. Meakins who was the guest right before you Dr. Petrof, that this month, also marks the 50th anniversary of the Meakins-Christie lab. How significant has the contribution of this lab been to respiratory medicine over the last five decades?

Dr. Basil Petrof: 24:04

50 years is a long time in a sense for a unit such as ours to continue to exist and thrive as it has. It's rather unusual in our setting. It's interesting that you mentioned Dr. Meakins because his grandfather, in a sense, kicked the whole thing off in the 1920s when he was the first academic Chair of Medicine. And his student was Ronald Christie. And the two of them did groundbreaking research together. These are the individuals that the labs are named after. Over the past 50 years, the Meakins-Christie labs, have made many discoveries about the effects of smoking. How best to care for patients in the ICU, such as during the COVID outbreak, and other things that have really become standard textbook knowledge that's taught to our medical students today. It's a tradition that we're very proud of. And, of course, we feel a big responsibility to uphold it and continue to make these sorts of discoveries.

Tarah Schwartz: 25:20

Do you know how many people work in that lab now?

Dr. Basil Petrof: 25:25

Currently, we're about 20 investigators. If you put together all of the trainees, the students, the postdoctoral fellows, the clinical fellows who come to work with us, it's well over 100 individuals.

Tarah Schwartz: 25:48

Incredible. How special is it to celebrate this milestone anniversary? I guess it's being celebrated quite a bit in your world as being someone who works in respiratory care and research.

Dr. Basil Petrof: 26:00

Yes, we had a celebratory event, actually, shortly before Le Bal Rouge. One of the wonderful things, apart from the science itself, is that the Meakins-Christie labs have really been a magnet for brilliant people from all over the world. I think one of the most important roles actually of the Meakins-Christie labs has been as an international school for respiratory research. Many of our very talented trainees, over the years went back to their home countries, started their own very successful research units. They were many ways modelled on their experience here. And they still feel a strong bond to the Meakins-Christie labs, and many of them came to our celebratory event from Europe and Asia, Japan, Taiwan. So that's very special to us the fact that they still feel this connection

Tarah Schwartz: 27:05

That is nice. We're speaking with Dr. Basil Petrof. He's the Director of the Translational Research in Respiratory Diseases Program at the RI-MUHC. Before I let you go, Dr. Petrof, I feel it would be remiss not to ask; in light that COVID is no longer a pandemic, and that we're winding down from it and looking ahead to the future. I imagine that a lot has been changing in terms of what research is being done now. Because so much of it impacts the lungs and that's your area of expertise, your world. What is going on now in your expertise that's going to lead us into understanding better and more about what happened and what we can do to prevent it?

Dr. Basil Petrof: 27:43

Of course, we're continuing our work into diseases such as asthma and emphysema and lung fibrosis and this is ongoing. One of our strengths of our group is in lung immunology and lung infection. You're mentioning COVID, one of the things that the pandemic did was it directed a lot of our efforts into that area. We've been studying new ways to vaccinate against COVID, also to deal with some of the lung damage that remains in some unfortunate people after they've had COVID. One of the areas that we're very excited about, where we've recently recruited a world expert in the area of lung regeneration, to try to, in a sense, teach the lung, how to repair itself; as an alternative to things like lung transplantation. We think that by using these techniques and methods such as 3D printing, we can actually make new lung tissue that could be used to help patients.

Tarah Schwartz: 29:00

Wow, this stuff of science fiction. 50 years ago, I'm sure people never would have imagined teaching the lungs how to heal itself. Incredible. Thank you so much.

Dr. Basil Petrof: 29:10

I think the future's bright.

Tarah Schwartz: 29:11

Yes, it sounds like it when you talk about it like that. Thank you so much, Dr. Petro. It's always a pleasure to speak with you. Thanks for being on the show.

Dr. Basil Petrof: 29:19

Well, thank you. It's been my pleasure.

Dr. Ramy Saleh: 29:21

Coming up on Health Matters, we'll meet a specialist in sarcoma research and care. I'm Tarah Schwartz, you're listening to Health Matters, sarcoma is a rare but life-threatening cancer that endangers the lives of young adults between the ages of 18 and 40. Many of the patients diagnosed with sarcoma in Quebec are treated at the MUHC. SARCQ is a network of doctors, uniting specialists from across the province to give patients access to more treatments. Dr. Ramy Saleh is a medical oncologist at the MUHC and the Medical Director of oncology clinical trials at the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre. Thank you so much for joining us Dr. Saleh. Thank you for having me.

Tarah Schwartz: 30:01

Let's start with sarcoma. What is it?

Dr. Ramy Saleh: 30:05

Sarcoma is a very rare and complex type of cancer. It mostly involves muscles, bones, blood vessels, or even nerves.

Tarah Schwartz: 30:15

And how many patients are diagnosed with sarcoma in Quebec every year? I know we mentioned it's rare but what is rare for you?

Dr. Ramy Saleh: 30:21

Rare for us means there's about 300 to 350 new cases of sarcoma a year in Quebec. In Canada, it's around 1000 in total.

Tarah Schwartz: 30:30

And when someone is diagnosed with sarcoma, or their symptoms, or signs that they've gotten? That they're reaching out and saying something doesn't feel right, and then you're able to diagnose that?

Dr. Ramy Saleh: 30:40

Most of the time, it is found by mistake, we call that incidental. For example, if it is present in the bone, people can present with severe bone pain, or some muscle pain in nature.

Tarah Schwartz: 30:52

And who is most vulnerable? Again, I mentioned in the introduction, it's 18 to 40. Why does it target that that age group?

Dr. Ramy Saleh: 30:59

So we have two major age groups that we see. We have what we call the adult and the young adolescent or the AYA, those are between the age of 16 and 40. The sarcoma is mostly located in the muscle or the bones in that category. We also see it in patients above the age of 60. Sometimes it's because they received previous treatments, for example, radiation can cause sarcoma later on in life. But those are the two big box of patients and those two age groups.

Tarah Schwartz: 31:29

And is there a predisposition to getting sarcoma? Is it something that can be genetic? Are there certain people that are more vulnerable to this specific type of cancer?

Dr. Ramy Saleh: 31:38

It can exist that there is a genetic component to it. However, it's extremely rare, we're talking less than 2% of all the sarcomas are being diagnosed.

Tarah Schwartz: 31:47

And if you are diagnosed with sarcoma, what is the treatment, prognosis? Is it one of the tough cancers to beat? Tell us a little bit about that.

Dr. Ramy Saleh: 31:55

Yeah, that's an excellent question. In sarcoma, the treatments are divided into two. So if you have what we call local disease, which means your cancer did not spread anywhere else, treatments are mostly surgical in nature, plus or minus chemotherapy and radiation therapy. If it has spread to other organs, then the treatment is complex chemotherapy. What you mentioned is true, it can be intense treatments. For example, if it is located in a bone, unfortunately, most of the times the surgery does require an amputation of that area. And as it becomes a little bit more aggressive in nature, the treatments.

Tarah Schwartz: 32:32

So it sounds like it's a challenging cancer to face.

Dr. Ramy Saleh: 32:36

It is a very challenging cancer because the surgeries are aggressive in nature. And sometimes the chemotherapy, again go on and on for months at a time we can speak up to six or nine months at a time.

Tarah Schwartz: 32:49

Now we're speaking to Dr. Ramy Saleh. We're talking about sarcoma. Now Dr. Saleh, you're working on a project with another doctor. I'm a huge fan of Dr. Nathaniel Bouganim to form the Sarcoma Research Consortium Quebec, which is being known as SARCQ. Tell us about this consortium.

Dr. Ramy Saleh: 33:05

Because the cancer is very rare in origin, we wanted to make sure that patients who get diagnosed in the periphery and community hospitals get a fair chance of being seen by the specialists. So we came about medical oncologists who knows sarcoma and treats sarcoma from 10 different hospitals so far. We all agreed to share our knowledge in order to provide the best care possible in the province for this very vulnerable population with sarcoma. Those doctors will not only provide their expert opinion, but will also make sure that the patients get access to cutting-edge treatments or clinical trials.

Tarah Schwartz: 33:46

You mentioned that they're their doctors joining across the province of Quebec? Are you planning on expanding it to Canada or potential international specialists? Is that the goal or the vision down the road?

Dr. Ramy Saleh: 33:57

I think the first thing is we want to ensure that we have a very solid foundation in our province. Definitely expanding is an option. But at the beginning, we want to make sure that the other hospitals also joined forces with us. Our main priority is to make sure that all the patients who are diagnosed with sarcoma, know about the research that is ongoing in the province, know about all the clinical trials. Because once you have advanced sarcoma, it's extremely important that you try to get on a clinical trial if there is one available.

Tarah Schwartz: 34:25

Right. This is something that actual patients can interact with. You have a website that's up. Tell us about that how people can get involved, how patients can see what you're doing.

Dr. Ramy Saleh: 34:36

This is a non for profit, it means it's us doctors who put the time and effort into this. We created a website called SARCQ.com, which stands for the Sarcoma Research Consortium of Quebec. On that website, you have a description on who we are. You can even see all of our faces and where we work, and what's our specialties. So you know exactly where we're spread around in the province. There's a tab that lists actually all of the clinical trials in sarcoma in Quebec. And to my knowledge, this is the only website in all of Canada, which lists all of the clinical trials in a province for a certain type of cancer. So it's very transparent for the patients to know. There's even an email if somebody wants to reach out to us or get in touch with us. It's also a place to encourage pharmaceutical companies to bring those cutting-edge treatments to our province and to our patients.

Tarah Schwartz: 35:28

I want to mention that website again. So if anyone's listening to this who has sarcoma, or a loved one with sarcoma, or was just interested in helping it's SARCQ.com. And people can also interestingly donate when they're on that website. If they're feeling inspired, they can actually help you mentioned that was all the doctors were putting your own effort and time into this people can get involved.

Dr. Ramy Saleh: 35:50

Correct, I highly encourage everybody who's able to donate to try and donate because we want to ensure the longevity of this project, to make sure that we're able to expand and provide the best service for those patients.

Tarah Schwartz: 36:03

We're speaking with Dr. Ramy Saleh, who is a medical oncologist at the MUHC, the Medical Director of the oncology clinical trials at the Research Institute. Tell me a little bit, Dr. Saleh, before we wrap up our conversation today. What are some of the benefits of specialists working together like this? Because it feels like it's such a positive; yet, impactful way to do your work.

Dr. Ramy Saleh: 36:27

I think the main reason why we're doing this, so we can all share our expertise. This is a very rare cancer, which means a lot of the doctors that see patients or diagnose patients with sarcoma might not have that much expertise. And the reason why we wanted to come all together is we can share, you know, the years of experience that we have, in order to provide the best surgical option or chemotherapy option for the patient; in order to make sure that we really gave them the best of the best treatment options. And if there is a trial or a cutting edge treatment, they can actually get access to it. Because at the end of the day, if they actually get a better treatment that could affect their quality of life as well as the quantity of their life.

Tarah Schwartz: 37:11

And ultimately, it's all about that. Dr. Ramy Saleh, thank you so much for joining us on health matters. I want to give that website one more time. It's www.SARCQ.com. Thank you so much, Dr. Saleh.

Dr. Ramy Saleh: 37:22

Thank you very much for having me.

Tarah Schwartz: 37:24

I'm Tarah Schwartz. Thank you for tuning in. Just a reminder that after three wonderful years, it is bittersweet that I announced that Health Matters is coming to a close on CJAD. We've had three amazing years and we're grateful for all of it. The good news is that Health Matters will live on as a podcast for the MUHC Foundation. And you can learn all about that by signing up to our newsletter, which you can do at MUHCFoundation.com or by following us on social media. Our final show is June 25. So I hope you join us again next Sunday. Thank you so much for listening to Health Matters and stay healthy.