Elizabeth Eisenhauer
- Clinician Scientist, KGHRI
- Term Associate Staff, Kingston Health Sciences Centre
- Professor Emerita, Department of Oncology, cross-appointment in the Department of Medicine
- Past Head, Department of Oncology, Queen’s University
- Past Director, IND Program, Canadian Cancer Trials Group
Cancer clinical trials, therapeutic drug development
In 1982 Dr. Eisenhauer became Director of the Investigational New Drug Program (IND) of the NCIC Clinical Trials Group (NCIC CTG), where her major responsibilities lay in identifying and bringing into clinical trial novel cancer agents. In 2012 she left the NCIC CTG to become Head and Professor of the Department of Oncology at Queen’s University and Program Medical Director of the Cancer Centre of Southeastern Ontario at Kingston General Hospital.
Dr. Eisenhauer has served in numerous national cancer research leadership roles, including President of the National Cancer Institute of Canada (2006-2017) and Chair of the Research Advisory Group of the Canadian Partnership Against Cancer. In 2012, she became its Expert Lead, Research, which includes the role of Co-Chair of the Canadian Cancer Research Alliance (2008-2017). Most recently Dr. Eisenhauer served as Head and Professor for the Department of Oncology at Queen’s University.
She has also received numerous awards including, in 2002, the O. Harold Warwick Prize from the National Cancer Institute of Canada, the Society of Gynecologic Oncology of Canada Presidential Medal Award in 2010, and the NDDO Award Lecture at the international conference on Targeted Anti-Cancer Therapies in Amsterdam in 2012. That same year, Dr. Eisenhauer received the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee medal for “her tremendous commitment to the advancement of cancer therapy, supportive care and prevention across Canada and internationally.” In 2015 she was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. In 2017 she received the Exceptional Leadership in Cancer Research award from the Canadian Cancer Research Alliance (CCRA) and she was named an Officer of the Order of Canada in the 2018 New Years list.
- MD, Queen’s University
Through her work in the IND Program, Dr. Eisenhauer has directed the coordination of over 170 phase I, II and III trials across Canada, the U.S. and Europe, which included some of the first trials of paclitaxel and docetaxel, studies of topotecan, gemcitabine, various targeted antisense agents, angiogenesis inhibitors, and small molecule signaling inhibitors.
