UBC President\u2019s Excellence Chairs<\/a> were created to support world-class academic leaders in advancing solutions to society\u2019s most urgent challenges.<\/p>\nAs the UBC President\u2019s Excellence Chair in Precision Oncology, Dr. Wyatt will lead a comprehensive research program to advance the use of precision diagnostics and treatments in cancer care. Precision oncology is a rapidly-evolving field that applies advanced genomic and molecular tools to understand the unique characteristics of each patient\u2019s cancer \u2014 enabling more effective and personalized treatment strategies.<\/p>\n
The UBC President\u2019s Excellence Chair provides a strong platform to accelerate the development and uptake of patient-friendly cancer genomics tools across the major research and health care institutions in our province.<\/p>\n
Dr. Alexander Wyatt<\/p>\n
Dr. Wyatt will work closely within a rich ecosystem of cancer researchers at UBC, the BC Cancer Research Institute, the Michael Smith Genome Sciences Centre \u2014 Canada\u2019s largest cancer genomics facility \u2014 and other affiliated health research institutions across B.C.<\/p>\n
By combining UBC\u2019s world-class research expertise and specialized clinical activities at BC Cancer and other research hospitals, Dr. Wyatt will help accelerate the translation of genomic advances into better cancer care for patients in B.C.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am really grateful for this new opportunity to lead and connect precision oncology research efforts in B.C. The UBC President\u2019s Excellence Chair provides a strong platform to accelerate the development and uptake of patient-friendly cancer genomics tools across the major research and health care institutions in our province,\u201d said Dr. Wyatt. \u201cI am particularly excited to expand our work developing blood-based tests to help us understand the unique features of each person\u2019s cancer, which could have a near-term impact on patients by allowing for more personalized care and informed use of the latest treatments.\u201d<\/p>\n
Since joining UBC as a faculty member in 2015, Dr. Wyatt has developed advanced laboratory and computational techniques to characterize the genetic and epigenetic features of circulating tumour DNA (ctDNA) in blood plasma. Through clinical trials, Dr. Wyatt and his team have shown that ctDNA provides a highly representative view of metastatic cancer, can predict treatment resistance or response, and can reveal how cancers will evolve during therapy.<\/p>\n
\u201cDr. Wyatt\u2019s groundbreaking research exemplifies the impact that precision oncology can have in improving diagnostics, treatment and care for people with cancer,\u201d said Dr. Mieke Koehoorn, Dean pro tem of the Faculty of Medicine and interim Vice President of Health at UBC. \u201cAs the UBC President\u2019s Excellence Chair, Dr. Wyatt will expand research in this critical area and strengthen partnerships to translate precision oncology discoveries into better health outcomes for people here in B.C. and around the world.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dr. Wyatt received his PhD in genetics from the University of Oxford and conducted his postdoctoral research at UBC and the Vancouver Prostate Centre. He has been recognized with numerous honours, including a Coalition to Cure Prostate Cancer Young Investigator Award from the Prostate Cancer Foundation, a Movember Rising Star in Prostate Cancer Research Award from Prostate Cancer Canada and an Early Career Investigator Award from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.<\/p>\n
Nationally, Dr. Wyatt is the co-chair of correlative sciences and tumour biobanking for the Canadian Cancer Trial Group (CCTG) where he is involved in the design and execution of phase I-III clinical trial protocols across Canada. He is also scientific director of the Clinical Cancer Genomics Laboratory at BC Cancer where he helps develop and implement province-wide cancer genetics and genomics testing programs for patients with cancer in B.C.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dr. Wyatt will advance precision cancer diagnostics and treatments for people across B.C. and globally. Dr. Alexander Wyatt,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":250520,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[2667,49,48,7714,84,2668,44],"class_list":{"0":"post-250519","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health","8":"tag-byline-date-only","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-canada","11":"tag-cancer","12":"tag-health","13":"tag-homepage","14":"tag-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250519","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=250519"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250519\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/250520"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=250519"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=250519"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=250519"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Alexander-Wyatt-photo-1920x1080-1-940x529.png\")
Dr. Alexander Wyatt, UBC President\u2019s Excellence Chair in Precision Oncology<\/p>\n