Researcher Spotlight: Robert Kridel, MD, MPH, PhD

UNIVERSITY HEALTH NETWORK, TORONTO

Despite therapeutic advances that have transformed the treatment of follicular lymphoma (FL), the disease remains incurable for many patients. Using genomic profiling of tumor samples from large numbers of patients, Dr. Kridel’s research aims to illuminate how FL develops and evolves in different groups of patients, with the goal of identifying unique vulnerabilities that can be targeted with new therapies.

Dr. Kridel earned his medical degree from the Catholic University of Louvain in Belgium. He earned his PhD in pathology and laboratory medicine from The University of British Columbia in Canada. He now serves as an Assistant Professor at the University of Toronto and a Staff Physician at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre in Toronto, Canada. “The patients I have the privilege of caring for are the primary source of inspiration for my dedication to science and lymphoma research,” he says.

“The most thrilling advancement is the creation of new targeted and/or immune therapies that are effective, even when chemotherapy has failed, and could potentially replace chemotherapy entirely in the future,” Dr. Kridel says as he looks forward to the future of FL care. “Furthermore, the rapidly advancing understanding of the pathobiological aspects of FL gives me hope that in the future, every patient’s lymphoma can be treated based on the unique characteristics present in their tumor.”