Congratulations to the award recipients of the 2021 BC Cancer Excellence Awards. Award recipients will be celebrated at the Virtual BC Cancer Summit taking place Nov. 18 to 20 and recognized at their respective centres.
Stay tuned for stories on each winning individual and team in the weeks to come.
Dr. Caroline Lohrisch, Medical Oncologist, Systemic Therapy, BC Cancer - Vancouver
“Dr. Lohrisch is very approachable to those in her department. Her door is open to everyone including the residents, fellows, and staff. She listens, cares about the person and the issue, and genuinely wants to improve things. She truly strives to achieve what is best for individuals as well as the department."
Nicole Peterson, Medical Secretary, Radiation Oncology, BC Cancer – Vancouver
“In the many years that I worked with Nicole, she demonstrates intelligence, tactfulness, diplomacy, leadership through every interaction or approach to people. Of greater importance would be her dedication, care, humour, honesty, integrity and hard work to her job. She inspires and motivates others to focus on providing patient-centred care.”
Kelly Gill, Radiation Therapist, Radiation Therapy Area 2, BC Cancer – Surrey
“Kelly treats all patients as if they were a friend or family member. She comes to work not only with a smile on her face but with a willingness to make the lives of her cancer patients more tolerable. She shows a level of compassion and kindness that goes above and beyond the normal duties of ‘doing your job.’ Patients always look forward to seeing her.”
Dr. Florian Kuchenbauer, Clinician-Scientist, Hematology - Terry Fox Lab, BC Cancer Research Institute
“Dr. Kuchenbauer is doctor who meets me as a human being, treating me as an active partner in this fight. Defeating cancer isn’t like a road race: the finish line isn’t always visible, and it keeps moving all the time. It’s a marathon, not a sprint—and Dr. Kuchenbauer is brilliant in supporting, empowering, and guiding me as I move towards my goal of recovery so I can spend more precious time with family and doing the things I love. And our strategy is working. The whole world should know how amazing he is!”
Animal Resource Centre, BC Cancer Research Institute
Team members recognized for this award: Ashley Bitz, Ashley Tait, Bill Bishop, Brandie Smith, Brian Tung, Bronwen Moeller, Chinda Nav, Dayna Evans, Diane Korvin, Donald Stewart, Gayle Paquette, Iona Oala, Jennifer Yeung, Jerzhel Rodriguez, Jianping (Jane) Jin Xu, Jonathan Sheps, Jordan Gavin, Joshua Rangel Gil, Larissa Patlan Ramirez, Mariam Oyinlola, Mari Miyamoto, Nicole Hofs, Selina Merrick, Steve Sharma, Tanya Ren and Tara MacDonald.
“The team provides outstanding assistance for our animal research by their diligence and ‘can do’ attitude. The ‘can do’ attitude extends from ensuring there are sufficient clean cages, careful monitoring of animal health, assisting with reducing animal numbers to minimize surpluses, to the outstanding skills of our technicians in surgery. All members are willing to work with the researchers to get the experiments done in a safe and humane manner. The service they provide is without question, vital to the success of cancer researchers at BC Cancer.”
Patient and Family Counselling Team, BC Cancer – Victoria
Team members recognized for this award: Marita Poll, Laura Daly, Kathy Green, Paula Myers, Beth Burton-Krahn and Josie Hessels.
“When the pandemic began, the Victoria Centre Patient and Family Counselling Team rose to the challenge. They asked questions like how can we provide care to patients and family on Vancouver Island during this time, and do they need anything different or additional? From handouts specifically on coping with cancer during the pandemic, to looking at practical considerations through a new lens when people lose their income due to the pandemic, this team looked at coping with cancer through a trauma-informed lens. Psycho-social oncology care not only continued, but it was adapted and improved.”
