Rebecca Auer
Executive Vice-President, Research and Innovation
The Ottawa Hospital
CEO & Scientific Director
Ottawa Hospital Research Institute
The Evelyne & Rowell Laishley Chair
Ottawa Hospital Research Institute
Senior Scientist, Cancer Research
Ottawa Hospital Research Institute
Surgical Oncologist, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Biochemistry, Immunology & Microbiology
The Ottawa Hospital
Professor, Department of Surgery and Department of Biochemistry, Microbiology and Immunology. Faculty of Medicine
University of Ottawa
Research Interests
Dr. Rebecca Auer is interested in all aspects of cancer surgery, from diagnosis to surgery for metastatic disease. As a Surgeon-Scientist, Dr. Auer heads a research laboratory and is the principle investigator in related clinical trials. Her translational research program focuses on understanding the promotion of metastatic disease in the perioperative period, following surgical stress. In particular she is studying novel perioperative cancer therapies, including oncolytic viruses, cancer vaccines and low molecular weight heparin, which inhibit the formation of metastases postoperatively.
Brief Biography
Dr. Rebecca Auer is the CEO and Scientific Director at the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute as well as the Executive Vice-President, Research and Innovation at The Ottawa Hospital. She is a Surgical Oncologist at The Ottawa Hospital and a Professor in the Department of Surgery and the Department of Biochemistry, Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Ottawa.
Dr. Auer leads a translational research program focused on understanding the promotion of metastatic disease in the postoperative period. She had defined a mediating role for Myeloid-Derived Suppressor Cells and effector Natural Killer and T cells in cancer recurrence following surgery. Using surgically relevant preclinical animal models, Dr. Auer has identified candidate immunotherapies capable of counteracting the immunosuppressive effects of surgery. Dr. Auer has led six translational clinical trials of perioperative cancer therapies based on this preclinical research. She has authored over 100 peer-reviewed publications and received over $30 million dollars in peer-reviewed funding to support her work. Dr. Auer is also the co-founder of the Canadian Cholangiocarcinoma Collaborative (C3) which aims provide hope to Canadian patients with biliary tract cancers by integrating research into care, funded by the Canadian Cancer Society.
Selected Publications
Diseases, conditions and populations of interest
Research and clinical approaches
