An Introduction to Molecular Testing

Dr Stockley is the Head of the Department of Clinical Laboratory Genetics at the University Health Network in Toronto. The Department is the largest molecular pathology laboratory service in Canada and consists of two labs, the translational Advanced Molecular Diagnostics Laboratory at the Princess Margaret Cancer Center, and the clinical Genome Diagnostics Laboratory at Toronto General Hospital. Dr Stockley’s role at UHN includes oversight of genetic testing for oncology including companion diagnostics, genomic test development for clinical laboratory use, and applications of next-generation sequencing to clinical care. Dr Stockley has an interest in quality improvement related to high-complexity laboratory testing, and has participated in standard development for molecular diagnostics with multiple national and international organizations including Health Canada, Clinical Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI), European Molecular Quality Network and the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). Dr Stockley is an Associate Professor in the Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology at the University of Toronto, and the current President of the Canadian College of Medical Geneticists.

Dr David S. Hong is a Professor, Deputy Chairman in the Department of Investigational Cancer Therapeutics (Phase I Program), Clinical Medical Director of the Clinical Translational Research Center (CTRC), and Associate Vice President of Clinical Research at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.

Dr Hong was instrumental in forming one of the largest and most innovative Phase 1 clinical trial units in the world, with over 1300 patients enrolled in clinical trials in FY2021 and over 400 active ongoing clinical trials.

Dr Hong has been the Principal Investigator of over 120 research protocols that involve a wide range of sponsors, including the Cancer Therapy Evaluation Program (CTEP) at the National Cancer Institute. He has published over 374 publications in Peer-reviewed Journals such as NEJM, Lancet Oncology, JCO and Nature.

He has been involved in the early development of cabozantinib, siltuximab, dabrafenib, trametinib, regorafenib, lenvatinib, larotrectinib, tesotumab vendotin, and sotorasib the first drug to target KRAS that have led to FDA approval.

He has also helped found 2 companies OncoResponse and Telperian.

He is an expert on c-Met, NTRK, KRAS, and adoptive cellular therapy in solid tumors and has led several national trials such as the c-Met amplified, c-Met exon 14 deleted, and NTRK arms of the NCI-MATCH trial. He been awarded the ASCO Young Investigator Award, the Jesse Jones award, Best Boss award at MD Anderson, Irwin Krakoff Award for Clinical Research, and the Gerald P. Bodey award for education and Mentor of the year award in the Division of Cancer Medicine, MD Anderson.