Open lecture by prof. William D. Foulkes
William D. Foulkes is a Professor in the Departments of Medicine, Oncology and Human Genetics at the McGill University in Montreal (Canada). He is a scientist - clinician, practices clinical genetics of cancer in hospitals affiliated with McGill University since 1996, and manages scientific laboratories dealing with cancer genetics in 2 research-hospital institutions affiliated with McGill University: The Lady Davis Institute for Medical Research of the Jewish General Hospital, and The Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre. The scientific research conducted by Professor William Foulkes on the hereditary susceptibility to cancer has significantly improved the understanding of the role of genetics in cases of frequent and rare cancers. His works on breast cancer linked with the BRCA1 identified important connections with the underlying phenotype. Professor Foulkes identified new genes playing a role in the development of cancers of genital organs, lungs, brain, and thyroid gland. Professor Foulkes is a co-editor of most important manuals on genetic causes of cancer development, and the Scientific Director of the leading scientific conference on hereditary breast and ovarian cancer (International Symposium on Hereditary Breast and Ovarian Cancer).
William D. Foulkes is a Professor in the Departments of Medicine, Oncology and Human Genetics at the McGill University in Montreal (Canada). He is a scientist - clinician, practices clinical genetics of cancer in hospitals affiliated with McGill University since 1996, and manages scientific laboratories dealing with cancer genetics in 2 research-hospital institutions affiliated with McGill University: The Lady Davis Institute for Medical Research of the Jewish General Hospital, and The Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre. Professor Foulkes is recognized for his work on clinical and pathological features of the hereditary breast cancer, for discovering a mutation of the MSH2 gene in Ashkenazis, and for the identification (discovery) of a mutation of the PALB2 gene, a gene of susceptibility to breast cancer. In a cooperation with Jacek Majewski, he identified the mutations of the SMARCA4 in the small-cell ovarian cancer (type with hypercalcaemia). Professor Foulkes also cooperates with numerous scientists around the world in order to better understand the genetics of breast, large intestine, prostate, pancreatic, and ovarian cancer. He has recently thoroughly studied the characteristics of the DICER1 syndrome, a syndrome that predisposes to the development of numerous tumors/cancers. He collaborates with numerous scientists from around the world and from Poland. On the basis of 30 publications of his team, related to DICER1, he extended the phenotype of this syndrome by other phenotypes, such as the Wilms tumor, germ cell tumor of the pituitary, or germ cell tumor of the pineal gland.