Kong Khoo, Vice Chair of the Board, BSc MD FRCP(C), is a medical oncologist based in Kelowna, British Columbia and clinical assistant professor, University of British Columbia. He has an undergraduate degree from University of Toronto and medical degree from McMaster University. He underwent post-doctoral training in Internal Medicine and Hematology (Dalhousie University) and Medical Oncology (University of British Columbia / BC Cancer Agency). He was Head, Clinical Investigations Office at Cancer Care Manitoba and oncologist at St. Boniface General Hospital from 1992-1997, and on faculty at University if Manitoba. He was Head, Medical Oncology, Centre for the Southern Interior, BC Cancer Agency from 1997-2004 where he helped establish a regional medical oncology department based in 5 centres to serve the most dispersed regional population in British Columbia. He has interests in new drug development, clinical trials, telemedicine, and Community Oncology Network models.

Darwin Kealey, Past Chair, BA, MA (corporate and political communications) is an international and entrepreneurial manager with 30 years experience in public policy, public affairs and communications as well as extensive advocacy experience. He provided executive leadership and vision in building Canada’s leading and largest public affairs and communications company, with offices across Canada, Europe, and the U.S. Previously, he was Vice President and Senior Counselor with the world’s largest public relations company, Principal Secretary and Chief of Staff to the Leader of the Official Opposition (Ontario), ADM for Community and Public Health with the Ontario Ministry of Health, Assistant Secretary to Cabinet for Federal-Provincial Relations (Federal) and Assistant Secretary to Cabinet in the Ontario government.   

Darwin recently retired from his position as founding President and CEO of Ontario’s Trillium Gift of Life Foundation, and has been an active volunteer on the boards of hospice associations, public policy institutes and community service organizations.

Jackie Manthorne, BA, BEd, is President and CEO of the Canadian Cancer Survivor Network, a national network of patients, families, survivors, friends, families, community partners and sponsors. Its mission is to work together by taking action to promote the very best standard of care, support, follow-up and quality of life for patients and survivors. It aims to educate the public and policy makers about cancer and encourage research on ways to alleviate barriers to optimal cancer care in Canada. Before that, she was CEO of the Canadian Breast Cancer Network (CBCN).

Previously, she was executive director of PEN Canada – the freedom of expression/human rights organization, and national administrator of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts as well as director of administrative service of the Women's Centre of Montreal. She was a member of the Metastatic Breast Cancer (MBC) Global Advocacy Advisory Board and the global initiative entitled the Breast Cancer Dialogue Series; a member of the Board of Directors of the Canadian Breast Cancer Research Alliance (CBCRA), an external reviewer for the Population Health Fund of Health Canada and the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation Ontario Chapter.

She has also been a member of many boards and committees of other organizations, including the steering committees of Up Front: Breast Care in Ontario, a CBCF Ontario Chapter project, Check it Out, a Parent Action on Drugs project, and the Ovarian Cancer Research Project. She is also the author of seven books of fiction.

Joseph Ragaz MD, FRCP, is presently a Senior Medical Oncologist, Clinical Professor, Faculty of Medicine, School of Population and Public Health, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, and an Adjunct Clinical Professor, Medicine & Oncology, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec. He is the past Director, Oncology Program, McGill University Health Center (2003 – 2007); prior to this, he spent 27 years as a senior Medical Oncologist and an internationally recognized Breast Cancer Researcher at the BC Cancer Agency, Vancouver, British Columbia (1977 – 2003).

David Saltman, MD, PhD, FRCP(C) is the current Chair and Professor of the Discipline of Oncology at Memorial University. He graduated from Memorial's medical school in 1982 and  completed his clinical training in internal medicine at McGill and the University of British Columbia before pursuing a PhD in cancer cell biology at the Medical Research Council Human Genetics Unit in Edinburgh, Scotland and a postdoctoral fellowship at the Laboratory of Experimental Oncology at Stanford University in California. Dr. Saltman has an interest in new drug development and is a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of Soricimed Biopharma Inc. His other interests include community oncology and telehealth as it applied to oncology.

Sandeep Sehdev MD, FRCPC, is a community focused medical oncologist at the William Olser Health Centre in Brampton, Ontario – one of Canada’s largest community hospitals – where he has worked since 1992. He is past chair (5yrs) of the Pharmacy and Therapeutics Committee.

Prior, he was a staff oncologist at a community hospital in upstate N.Y. and is thus familiar with the social and financial differences in medical care between Canada and the U.S. Currently, the Bayshore Clinic (administering privately funded cancer drugs) is affiliated with his medical office in Brampton, the first such association in an oncologist’s office in Canada.

He completed his fellowship at The Princess Margaret Hospital in Toronto in 1991 and his clinical practice treats most types of cancer, however he has keen interests in breast cancer, lung cancer web and patient education, and advocacy. Prior to medical school, he studied molecular genetics at the national Research Council in Ottawa.

Dr. Sehdev has been involved in breast cancer clinical trials through NCIC and BCIRG groups, and has recently chaired several medical advisory board meetings in the fields of breast and lung cancers, and has been an invited speaker for the Lymphoma Foundation of Canada.

Elizabeth (Liz) Whamond, has a long and distinguished history in the Canadian cancer community.  In 2001, Ms. Whamond was one of the founding members of the Canadian Cancer Action Network and currently serves as Chair as well as the CCAN representative on the Cancer Journey Advisory Group of the Canadian Partnership Against Cancer. 

In addition to a variety of key leadership roles with various organizations, Ms. Whamond was a co-founder of the New Brunswick Breast Cancer Network and served as its first president from 1995 to 1997.  As the first president of the Canadian Breast Cancer Network, Ms. Whamond has been actively involved in cancer advocacy activities at the national level and – at present - is a member of the board of directors of the Canadian Partnership Against Cancer. 

Ms. Whamond lives in New Brunswick.

Sandi Yurichuk, Vice-Chair of the Board, BS, MBA, possesses a comprehensive scientific and managerial background in oncology, anti-infectives, endocrinology, and immunology. She has extensive executive management experience covering more than 18 years in the Canadian and US pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries, specializing in general and executive management, strategic business development, market access strategy, health policy influence, corporate communications, commercial operations and sales. Sandi is a long-time patient advocate in the cancer area, with a personal desire and commitment to championing positive change in the areas of oncology, especially for improvements in legislation allowing for increased access to health care and medicines.