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MEET OUR MEDICAL ADVISORS
Dr. Juliet Daniel
Dr. Juliet Daniel is a Professor in the Department of Biology at McMaster University. Dr. Daniel received her B.Sc. from Queen’s University (Kingston), her Ph.D. from UBC (Vancouver), and completed postdoctoral fellowships at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and Vanderbilt University in Tennessee. At McMaster, Dr. Daniel’s research team focuses on understanding how disruptions in cell-cell adhesion and signaling through transcription factors contributes to breast cancer initiation and progression.
Dr. Daniel is most interested in the aggressive triple negative breast cancer subtype, TNBC, which is associated with poor prognosis due to an absence of specific therapies. Intriguingly, young pre menopausal women of African ancestry have a higher TNBC prevalence and mortality compared to other ethnicities despite a lower incidence and lifetime risk of breast cancer. Since socio-economic status does not fully explain the racial disparity in TNBC prevalence and mortality, Dr. Daniel seeks to identify unique biomarkers or gene mutations that may explain this racial disparity.
Her team will utilize genetic, genomic, molecular and cell biology techniques to analyze TNBC tissues from populations of shared African ancestry (Caribbean and West Africa) to identify genetic risk factors that can be used as biomarkers to diagnose or develop therapies for TNBC patients worldwide.
Dr. Aisha Lofters
In addition to her position at DLSPH, Dr. Lofters is a family physician with the St. Michael’s Hospital Academic Family Health Team and a scientist with the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute of St. Michael’s Hospital. She is an assistant professor at the University of Toronto in the Department of Family and Community Medicine and an adjunct scientist at the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences.
She currently holds a Career Development Award in Prevention from the Canadian Cancer Society Research Institute. Her research interests include cancer screening, immigrant health, and health equity, using a broad range of methods including secondary database analysis and community-based participatory research.
Dr. Onye Nnorom
Dr. Onye Nnorom is a Family Doctor and a Public Health & Preventive Medicine specialist. She practices at TAIBU Community Health Centre, in Scarborough and is the Primary Care Lead for the Central East Regional Cancer Program (Cancer Care Ontario), providing leadership on matters of cancer prevention and care to primary care physicians in the region.
She is also the Associate Program Director of the Public Health & Preventive Medicine Residency Program at the University of Toronto and holds a cross-appointment in the Department of Family and Community Medicine.
Dr. Nnorom completed her medical degree at McGill University and then completed a Masters of Public Health (Epidemiology) and residency training at the University of Toronto. Being of Nigerian and Trinidadian heritage, she is particularly interested in immigrant health, and Black community health and wellness. Her main area of interest is in the prevention of chronic diseases, particularly cancer.