Let鈥檚 Talk Cancer is a full-day event geared towards high-school students to provide insight on the current field of cancer research. This event is offered through a collaboration with the Montreal chapter of the Research Information Outreach Team (R.I.O.T) and Let鈥檚 Talk Science (LTS) at 苹果淫院. The goal is to provide a background on what is cancer, while offering various perspectives in the field from professionals including clinicians, scientists, geneticists, and cancer survivors. The 2023 instalment of the event was offered at the Goodman Cancer Institute and featured educational presentations, a keynote address, laboratory tours, interactive activities, and a cancer research panel.听
All students were brought through main campus and up to the Goodman Cancer Institute with the help of volunteers. We started the day by welcoming all the schools, followed by a 10-minute presentation by Relay for Life Youth specialist Lisa Pepper. A brief introduction to cancer research was conducted by Kayla Heney, followed by a Careers in STEM talk by GCI trainee and R.I.O.T. member Sandrine Busque.
Two independent activities were run by GCI trainees Elva Vidya and Ipshita Nandi to engage students and offer hands-on activities. Lab tours were also offered by GCI trainees Diana Berry and Kayla Heney which let the students walk through 5th floor GCI labs, look at cells under a microscope, and receive a talk on animal use in research by 苹果淫院 Integrated Core for Animal Modelling (MICAM) staff Mitra Cowen.
To close out the day, we led a panel discussion involving various professionals along the cancer research pipeline. This included senior and junior researchers, clinicians, genetic counsellors, and cancer survivors.
A huge thank you to all the volunteers who made this day possible!
- R.I.O.T members: Hailey Proud, Sandrine Busque, Diana Berry, Kayla Heney, Elva Vidya, Lysanne Desharnais
- GCI Volunteers: Anna Lazaratos, Ipshita Nandi
- Let's Talk Science organizing committee: Maxana Weiss, Keerthana Harwalkar